Writer Alena Mornštajnová at the meeting with Vietnamese readers on the evening of May 10 - Photo: T.DIEU
Writer Alena Mornštajnová had a talk with Vietnamese readers in Hanoi on the evening of May 10 about her novel Uncle Hana about the Holocaust, which was published in Vietnam at the end of 2023, as well as her literary career.
The event is part of the European Literature Days in Vietnam program.
When writers start writing at an old age
Alena Mornštajnová was born in 1963 and graduated from the University of Ostrava, Czech Republic, majoring in English and Czech languages.
She started her writing career at a relatively late age. Her first novel Slepá Mapa was published in 2013 when she turned 50, but in just over 10 years she has become the best-selling author in the Czech Republic today.
At the talk, Alena Mornštajnová was asked what it was like to write at a relatively old age?
She said she had always wanted to write books. She had wanted to write books since she was a child. But her busy life kept her from writing until 2000, when she was 37, when she started writing her first novel.
The book took 10 years to complete and it was not until 2013, when she was 50 years old, that the first book was published.
Having started writing at a relatively late age, Alena Mornštajnová does not say whether it was good or bad, favorable or difficult.
But she realized that when she was 50 years old, with many life experiences, she also "realized" many things, "sometimes people don't want to write anything, of course they don't write fairy tales".
Writing at this age, the writer clearly sees what she wants to share with readers, what is truly valuable. However, Alena Mornštajnová was not immediately accepted. She says that at first, readers did not know who she was.
It was not until her fourth book that she began to be promoted by publishers, promoted by the media, and known by readers.
Uncle Hana, at first not many people bought it. But after a few months, people started talking about the book and buying a lot. After 10 months it became a bestseller, the most popular book of the year.
The book was later made into a play, released to audiences in July 2019. And next year a movie based on this book will be released.
Writer Alena Mornštajnová signs books for Vietnamese readers on the evening of May 10 - Photo: T.DIEU
Just write what you like
As a bestselling author, when writing, she chooses to write what she likes or what she thinks readers will like, writer Alena Mornštajnová affirms that she only writes what she likes and does not bother to search for what readers will like to write.
"I usually spend 2-3 years choosing a topic that I am really interested in for a new book. You have to be extremely interested in the topic you write about to be able to go through the very long and challenging journey of completing a book," says writer Alena Mornštajnová.
Regarding the subject of the books, author Uncle Hana said she often writes about family relationships and each book explores that subject from different aspects.
Alena Mornštajnová has not written a second part of any book, and so will not write another book on the topic of the Holocaust, although this topic is now very easy for her because she has done a lot of research and found documents about it.
The book Uncle Hana has been translated and published in 18 languages - Photo: Women's Publishing House
Uncle Hana has just been published by Women's Publishing House, translated by Binh Slavická from the original Czech.
This is a novel about the victims of the concentration camp and the 1954 plague in a Czech town, the same town where the author lived, about two generations of Czech Jews.
The uncle went through the war and the concentration camp, becoming nothing more than a human figure, suffering from severe Holocaust victim syndrome, losing all ability to communicate with others.
Next is Mira, Hana's nine-year-old niece, who lost her entire family to typhoid fever. The two rely on each other to overcome the terrible trauma that fate has forced upon them.
The book has been translated and published in 18 languages.
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/khi-lon-tuoi-nguoi-ta-khong-viet-co-tich-20240511090442343.htm
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