Army writer wins 2011 South East Asian Writers Award

Writer Nguyen Chi Trung received the 2011 South East Asian Writers Award for his book ‘Tieng khoc cua nang Ut’ (The Cry of Ut) in Bangkok, Thailand last week.

Writer Nguyen Chi Trung received the 2011 South East Asian Writers Award for his book ‘Tieng khoc cua nang Ut’ (The Cry of Ut) in Bangkok, Thailand last week.

Writer Nguyen Chi Trung
      Writer Nguyen Chi Trung

The book, which is Trung’s first novel, also won the Vietnam Writers’ Association Award and the Ministry of Defence Award in 2010.

The novel talks about the glorious historical period between 1954 and 1959 in the central region, during the resistance war against the US.

Major General Nguyen Chi Trung was a Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Military Arts Magazine.

The 2011 South East Asian Writers Award was also granted to seven other ASEAN writers from Thailand, Brunei, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines and Singapore.

The annual South East Asian Writers Award was first launched in 1979 by the Thai Royal Family. The prize aims to discover and promote leading literature talent in the region.

Since 1996, the award has honoured 14 Vietnamese authors, including 3 poets. Among them, Poet To Huu was the first Vietnamese to receive the award in 1996.

Sai Gon Giai Phong Newspaper has had two writer-journalists awarded the prize. Former Deputy Editor-in-chief Tran Van Tuan won the award in 2007 for his novel ‘Rung Thieng Nuoc Trong’ (Holy Forest, Pour Water), and journalist-writer Nguyen Nhat Anh got the prize in 2010 for the children’s book ‘Cho Toi Xin Mot Ve Di Tuoi Tho’ (Give Me a ticket to Childhood).


Other news