In 2021, the Vietnam Writers Association for the first time presented an award that has a great impact on life. That award is called “Impressive Female Writer”. The award is given to female writers who have left strong impressions on readers through their contributions to society and through their writings.
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| Chairman of the Vietnam Writers Association Nguyen Quang Thieu (middle) shares joy with poet Hue Trieu (left) and poet Tran Mai Huong. (Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper) |
The first two women to receive this award are poet Hue Trieu and poet Tran Mai Huong. Both poets live in Ho Chi Minh City. It was the time when the Covid-19 pandemic was ravaging the city. At that time, it was like an abandoned city. Almost every house was closed. The streets were empty. Death seemed to cover the whole city. Every night, we had to witness cars carrying people who died of Covid-19 from the city to the suburbs. The lives of the city's people were extremely difficult, especially the low-income workers. Right when the threat of death called Covid-19 was knocking on the door of every house, the Women Writers' Committee of the Writers' Association called on female writers in the provinces and cities being attacked by Covid-19 to find ways to share and help families in difficulty.
Poet Hue Trieu and poet Tran Mai Huong, two members of the Writers' Association, stepped out of their homes - their safest shelter. They went through the threats of death. They brought each kilo of rice, each bunch of vegetables, each pill and words of sharing and encouragement to hundreds of families who were besieged by Covid-19, who were suffering the pain of losing loved ones to the pandemic and to doctors and nurses, who were on the front lines fighting Covid-19. Poet Hue Trieu was infected with Covid-19 and she passed it on to her husband. And her beloved husband, a recently retired police officer, did not survive. But all the losses, pain and threats could not stop the two sisters. The image of the two poets on motorbikes loaded with supplies, food and medicine, traveling on empty streets into the deepest alleys of the city is a beautiful and extremely moving image.
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| Writer Nguyen Thi Kim Hoa (left) and writer and translator Nguyen Bich Lan received the 2022 Impressive Female Writer Award. |
In 2022, the second "Impressive Female Writer" award was given to writer and translator Nguyen Bich Lan and writer Nguyen Thi Kim Hoa. Both of these female writers were born with great disadvantages. They were disabled since childhood. Writer and translator Nguyen Bich Lan spent her whole life in a wheelchair. She always walked between the fragile boundary between life and death. But her desire to live and her extraordinary will to live turned a hopeless disabled person into a living symbol. Nguyen Thi Bich Lan studied on her own and gradually rose up. She translated and published 52 works, wrote 4 works for children. She received the award from the Vietnam Writers Association and the National Book Award. She built 5 bookcases for disadvantaged areas in Dak Nong, organized the "reading to children" program for 30 families, and introduced 45 books to young people. Looking at her sitting in a wheelchair, fragile as a withered leaf, no one would think that in the decrepitude of such a body there is an extraordinary strength and a beautiful dream of a life that never ends.
Along with writer and translator Nguyen Thi Bich Lan is writer Nguyen Thi Kim Hoa. Writer Nguyen Thi Kim Hoa lives in a remote land with a disabled body. But on her face, no one can find fatigue and weakness, but there is always a bright smile, full of inspiration for life and creativity. She has written and published 14 books and received many prestigious literary awards. In 2015, she received a certificate of merit from the Prime Minister. In 2021, she was voted by Forbes Vietnam magazine as one of 20 Vietnamese women who inspire the community.
| “The common point of what I write is hope. I believe in the power of hope, as I always believe in the light of goodness. In most of my works, I convey my own hope: hope to overcome difficulties and hope for humanity.” (Writer Nguyen Thi Kim Hoa) |
The Vietnam Writers Association awarded the prize to you, but it is precisely you who have given hope to those who are living and facing many difficulties and challenges. Because your lives have written a great book called Hope. You were born into this world and had to endure so many disadvantages. If you did not have the desire to live and extraordinary will, you would have let your lives be swept away by the stream of despair. But you have lived, worked hard and contributed good things to society. Your personal lives have brought people faith and hope in this life.
For every writer, there are always two books they have to write. Those are the books on paper of creativity. And another book that is extremely important is the book that each writer writes with his own life. Walking on the street, I often think that every person we meet, whether familiar or unfamiliar, contains a book. Most people in this world are quietly writing the book of their life. The book of love, forgiveness, sharing, the will to fight for justice and beauty, dedication to people and to the land they live on.
We are living in an era where people have to face many challenges and threats to humanity. There are many changes in human relationships. Indifference and neglect are spreading. People are becoming cold to each other. People are losing the beauty and meaning of life more than ever. People are living with "wariness" towards each other. There are even literary works filled with cruelty and contempt for people. That is why love for people and the desire to reach for beautiful and kind things are so important.
The 2023 Oscar was awarded to the film “Everything Everywhere All at Once”. The Oscar jury awarded 11 awards to that film for many reasons, but the most important reason was that the film reached a message that is extremely important to human existence and the great meaning of life, which is kindness.
That is why the Impressive Female Writer Award has been well received and shared by the public. Because it sends a message of love for humanity, of the dream of being human and the will to act for that dream. That is why at the award ceremony, I did not congratulate the female writers who received the award but thanked them for bringing people the faith to live. They are the ones who give us the hope to live, to act and to dedicate. For me, they have written a book called Hope for Humanity.
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