The book connects two cultures, Vietnamese and French.

On March 12, Kim Dong Publishing House in collaboration with the French Institute in Vietnam organized an exchange program and launched the book Living by author Hai Anh - a French person of Vietnamese origin and French artist Pauline Guitton.

Life is The story of a mother telling her daughter about the thrilling memories throughout the time she lived and worked in the war zone.

Cuốn truyện kết nối hai nền văn hóa Việt Nam-Pháp

Cover of the comic book published in Vietnam. (Source: Kim Dong Publishing House)

With two timelines, past and present, and interwoven characters, the book parallelly depicts the images of two people: the young girl in her mother's memory, the young girl trying to adapt and integrate into life in the war zone, and the modern young girl trying to connect with her mother and the past, to understand more about her mother and her roots.

The past timeline is set in the nation's resistance war against America from 1969 to 1975.

During the seven years living in the war zone, the young girl Linh (in her mother's memory) got to know the revolutionary soldiers, who brought her to the resistance war for national liberation as well as to cinema.

The past stories in the work are not about intense confrontations but about everyday moments in the war zone.

Skimming through the frames of the past, readers will encounter the image of the young girl Linh, her father and teammates living, working, and making films passionately in all kinds of deprivation, amid the falling bombs and bullets and the roaring sound of planes in the sky.

Interwoven with the mother's moving memories of the past is her present life, portrayed from the daughter's perspective.

The young girl named Linh has now become a famous contemporary director in Vietnam, but somewhere inside her she is still influenced by the past. Those experiences have had a great impact on her life and the relationship between her and her daughter.

The Vietnamese girl born and raised in France had many difficulties connecting with her mother who lived during the war and connecting with her Vietnamese roots.

Through each story, the child gradually understands more about his mother and the past of his nation, thereby sympathizing, sharing, and building a bridge to shorten the gap between generations and cultures.

The stories of the mother and daughter's generational interactions in the book not only contribute to recreating the nation's history from a rarely mentioned perspective, but also depict the complex relationship between mother and daughter, along with the desire to learn about the roots of a young Vietnamese person born and raised abroad.

Through the vivid drawings of a talented young French artist, the pages of the book outline the historical memories of the nation, images of Vietnamese people during the resistance war and today, the youthful sympathy of two generations of mother and child; resistance-peace; nation-integration...

Choosing a new and modern graphic novel format, Live was first released in France in early 2023. Just a short time later, the book quickly impressed readers in France with 8,000 copies released.

Previously, when it was still a manuscript, the book received support from the Publishing Support Fund for Excellent Works in French - La Scam.

In early 2024, surpassing many French illustrated books, the book won the Prix du Jury oecuménique de la BD 2024.

Sharing at the book launch ceremony, French Ambassador Olivier Brochet expressed his joy when the book was launched in Vietnamese in Vietnam.

The Ambassador affirmed that this is a story of generational communication between mother and daughter, contributing to recreating the history of the nation from a rarely mentioned perspective, while also expressing the desire to learn about the roots of a young Vietnamese person born and raised abroad.

At the exchange program, director Viet Linh - the author's mother, also shared about her youth during the tumultuous time in the resistance zone, about the lives of previous generations, and learned more about the lives of second-generation Vietnamese children abroad who always look back to their roots.

For author Hai Anh, using his mother tongue and keeping the original accents to name the novel in pages was extremely important when it was first published in France.

Author Hai Anh shared at the event. (Photo: Le An)

The book is also a thank you to her mother - someone she has always admired and wanted to write about since she was a child.

Hai Anh shared: "Living is the word that came to my mind when my mother told me about her exciting childhood adventures and although it is an individual story, I decided to summarize each memory with a Vietnamese verb, so that I can record those memories differently."

In particular, accompanying the author in this project is artist Pauline Guitton, who has also been a close friend since childhood. Drawing a Vietnamese comic for the first time, Pauline Guitton said she was very happy that the work was well received and responded to, especially in the Vietnamese community abroad. With this good start, the couple will continue to collaborate on new projects in the future.

Author Hai Anh was born in 1993 and grew up in the 13th district of Paris (France), in a family that always looked back to its Vietnamese roots. She has a Master's degree in economics, culture and cinema. She was honored by Forbes magazine as one of the Outstanding Young Faces under 30 years old in Asia in 2023.

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