ELECTRONIC MAGAZINE OF WRITING
The Writers Post
LITERATURE & LITERATURE IN TRANSLATION
VOLUME 8 - NUMBER 1, JAN. 2006

Copyright © The Writers Post 1999-2006.

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ISSN 1527-5469 – US-based, founded 1999. Founder & Editor: N. Saomai

Current issue: VOLUME 8 -NUMBER 1 JAN 2006

Guitar and Lotus - Oil on canvas - 50x70 cm

Featured artist: HO HUU THU

Ho Huu Thu, born in 1940 in Nghe An, graduated from the National Fine Art College of Saigon in 1963. He is the former professor of the National Fine Art College of Saigon after 1971, and a Member of Vietnam’s Plastic Artists’ Association and of the Fine Arts Association of Ho Chi Minh City. STUDIO: 15B Nguyen Van Thu, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City

-----> Cover art Guitar and Lotus - Oil on canvas

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TWP’s Sister magazine:

WORDBRIDGE (ISSN: 1540-1723).

WORDBRIDGE, established 2002 by N. Saomai, published in the US, the first English-language literary magazine from the Vietnamese literary community, is a magazine of literature in translation, and a magazine for literary works of quality originally written in English by established and new writers, edited by the same editor of the Song-Van (ISSN: 1089-8123) and The Writers Post (ISSN: 1527-5469). Wordbridge contains selected literary pieces in a variety of genres: fiction (short stories, excerpts from unpublished novel), poetry (rhymed poems, free verse), translations, reviews, literary critiques, and essays on literature and art.

N. SAOMAI, WORDBRIDGE, PREMIER ISSUE, SPRING 2002: “Wordbridge is a magazine of literature and literature in translation. Its aim is nothing less than to bring to the reader literary works from established and new writers, in the original language and in translation. Its part in translation is to introduce a foreign literature to those who appreciate not only the enjoyment of reading, but also the knowing and understanding of other cultures. The magazine is published biannually. It features selected pieces in a variety of genres, and will include¾ apart from its main contents, reviews, criticism, and essays.

For the past two years I've had the opportunity to introduce to the online reader some English translations of fiction and poetry from Vietnamese authors through The Writers Post magazine at www. thewriterspost.net. This electronic literary magazine was launched on July 1999, with an emphasis on what the Wordbridge intends: to bring to readers who may want to read the literary works originally written in the Vietnamese language for long entrenched behind the barrier of language. Both magazines are under my editorship, and will work in association with each other…” (MORE…)

WORDBRIDGE is available from major universities and library collections:

 THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS Request in: Jefferson or Adams Bldg General or Area Studies Reading Rms

 CORNELL UNIVERSITY Request in: Kroch Library Asia

 HARVARD UNIVERSITY Request in: Widener Harvard Depository

 YALE UNIVERSITY Request in: Southeast Asia Collection.

 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, IRVINE. Request in: UC Irvine Library.

 POETS HOUSE 72 Spring Street, 2^nd fl, New York, NY 10012

 KYOTO UNIVERSITY [Japan] Request in: Center for Southeast Asian Studies.

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THE WRITERS POST

VOLUME 8 – NUMBER 1 OF JAN 2006

Editorial note: Most of the works published in this electronic magazine are simultaneously published in the printed Wordbridge (ISSN: 1540-1723), and vice-versa.

The author’s biographies, the notes on contributors published in THE WRITERS POST and simultaneously in the WORDBRIDGE are written by N. Saomai, the editor of the magazines. In The Writers Post, there are three sections in which an author’s biography or a note on the author appears: the issue itself, the author’s bio section, and the list of Vietnamese poets and writers abroad. The author’s bios are subject to change where needs be to bring factual information on the authors published in The Writers Post up to date. We thank the writers published in The Writers Post who grant the magazine permission to publish their photographs along with their works or their bios.

Editorial Page & Letter to the editor

The Writers Post welcomes letters to the editor, especially letters which are in response to a critique published in The Writers Post. Letters must include the sender’s address and telephone number for verification, and senders must identify themselves by real name. Anonymous letters will not be read. If you send your letter via e-mail, it must be pasted into the body of the e-mail. Don’t send attachments. If you prefer to send your letter via conventional mail, please find The Writers Post’s conventional mail address in The Writers Post Home Page. The editor forfeits the right to correct typing errors or known factual errors, and your letter will be printed as-is. The writers published in The Writers Post express their readiness to discuss any issues they wrote, and The Writers Post would like to print any response, especially to criticism, for other point of view. However, a letter that is considered potentially libelous, or a response that includes the response of a third person will not be published (Here we have a simple reason, an indirect response is considered personal issue, and a bad-behaved response, if intended to be hidden inside the other person’s feedback is considered of low quality and anonymous). Although The Writers Post doesn’t guarantee their publication, all letters are welcomed. ----

Featured

INTERVIEW

WITH THE AUTHOR

AN INTERVIEW

WITH AUTHOR NGO THE VINH

CONDUCTED BY

LE QUYNH MAI

Le Quynh Mai is a Canadian writer, interviewer, in charge of Literature and Art Program, The Voice of Vietnam radio station, Montreal, Canada. Her book of interview "Tac gia, voi chung ta" was published by Khoi Nguyen in 2004 (Canada: Khoi Nguyen, 2004). The following interview with author Ngo The Vinh is taken from "Tac gia, voi chung ta", pp 137-157, translated by Tam Binh. An interview with author Ngo The Vinh.

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Literature in translation

SHORT STORY & POETRY

Reading Vietnamese New Formalism by Khe Iem (click title)

Khe Iem, Vietnamese playwright, storywriter, poet, editor. Born in 1946 in Nam Dinh, North Vietnam, he went into immigration in South Vietnam after the 1954 Geneve agreement divided Vietnam into two separate parts and set each part under a different political regime: Communist North and Capitalist South Vietnam. “Hot Huyet”, his debut literary work, a play, appeared in South Vietnam in 1972. Thirteen years after the Communist conquest of South Vietnam in 1975, he escaped Vietnam by boat in 1988, spending a year in a refugee camp in Malaysia before coming to the United States in 1989, where he settled in California. In 1994, he founded Tap Chi Tho, a very successful poetry magazine which is under his editorship until 2004 (Poetry Magazine, US: Premier Issue launched in Fall 1994). He also published his other books: “Thanh Xuan” (poetry. US, California: Van, 1992), “Loi cua qua khu” (story collection. US, California: Van Moi, 1996), “Dau Que (poetry collection. US, California: Van Moi, 1996), “Tan Hinh Thuc, Tu Khuc va nhung tieu luan khac” (literary essay. US, California: Van Moi, 2003). In 2005, he founded the Website Tho Tan Hinh Thuc supporting Post Modernism and New Formalism Poetry. Khe Iem has in preparation an anthology of New Formalism Poetry, and is currently working with poets, and translator DO VINH (joseph dovinh tai), who is the author of “Green Plums”. BLANK VERSE, the anthology, which is intended for at least a hundred and eighty poems by sixty poets, and of which at least sixty of the poems are English translations, will be published bilingually by Tan Hinh Thuc Publishing Club, barring unexpected delays, at the end of this forthcoming May 2006. Reading Vietnamese New Formalism published in this issue is taken from the anthology-in-progress BLANK VERSE. Khe Iem’s Bio

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About DO VINH, the translator of Khe Iem’s anthology-in-progress: Do Vinh is pseudonym of Joseph Do Vinh Tai, who was born in Vietnam in 1968. He immigrated with his family to the US in 1975, and studied at the University of Washington, where he graduated in BS Political Science. He started in the literary community in 1980, and became active in the literary circles of the Pacific Northwest from the mid 1980’s to the early 1990’s. His poetry and writings have appeared in Tien Rong, The New Asian Journal, The Seattle Weekly, The Vietnam forum, Nguoi Viet and Viet Bao daily newspapers, Vien Dong, Van hoa, Viet Weekly, and Tap chi Tho. His collection of poetry ‘Green Plums’ was published in 2005. Do Vinh is currently living in Central Valley, California.

ÿ RETURN TO CONTRIBUTORS ÿ Do Vinh’s Bio

An introduction to the Vietnamese Classic Cung Oan Ngam Khuc by Nguyen Ngoc Bich

Nguyen Ngoc Bich, educator, lecturer, author, translator, born in Hanoi Vietnam, educated in Saigon, the US, Japan and Europe, received his B.A. in Political Science from Princeton University in 1958. He did graduate work in Asia studies at Columbia University (1959-65), Japanese literature at Kyoto University (1962-63) bilingual education and theoretical linguistics at Georgetown University (1980-85). In 1975, he came to the US, settled in Virginia, where he taught adult education, elementary school and high school in Arlington, then Vietnamese Literature and Vietnamese Culture and Civilization at Trinity College, George Mason University, and taught at Georgetown University as a teacher trainer in bilingual and Multicultural Education. He is also one of the founders of National News Service, which provides news of interest to readers of Vietnamese language newspapers worldwide. In 1997, he joined RFA (Radio Free Asia) as the Director of the Vietnamese Service at Free Asia in Washington DC.

Nguyen Ngoc Bich is the author of several books mainly in English, editor of the anthology War and Exile: A Vietnamese Anthology, an anthology of stories and poems, published by Vietnamese PEN Abroad East Coast Center in the US (1989). His first book 'The Poetry of Vietnam' published by Asia Society of New York in 1969 was followed by three others: North Vietnam: Backtracking on Socialism (1971), An Annotated Atlas of the Republic of Vietnam (1972), and A Thousand Years of Vietnamese Poetry (Knopf, 1975). He co-authored with his wife, Dr. Dao Thi Hoi, a bilingual collection of Christmas carols (1975), and had a hand in doing a photography book by Tran Cao Linh, Vietnam, My Country Forever (Aide à l’Enfance du Vietnam, 1988), the catalogue of a traveling exhibition of Vietnamese and Vietnamese American paintings, An Ocean Apart (Smithsonian, 1996), the book Thai Tuan: Selected Paintings and Essays (VAALA, 1996).

In the field of translation, he translated into English Truong Anh Thuy’s Truong Ca Loi Me Ru / A Mother’s Lullaby published (1989), a book on Vietnamese Architecture published (1972), two verse collections by Nguyen Chi Thien: Hoa Dia Nguc / The Flowers of Hell (1995) and Hat Mau Tho / Blood Seeds Become Poetry (1996), and poems by some poets living in the US.

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Regret a poem by Huy Can, translated by Vu Dinh Dinh (click title)

Vu Dinh Dinh was born and grew up in Vietnam. Pursuing higher education he came to the US in 1956 and attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Chicago, and University of Hawaii where he obtained his Ph.D. He was recipient of an East-West Center Grant, a National Endowment for the Humanities Grant, and a National Science Foundation Honorable Mention Award, and having served as Senior Heath Planner with the Houston Department of Health and Human Services, taught at the college level, and had scientific research works published in international journals. His publications on Vietnamese culture include “In Search of a Tradition Code of Behavior and Cochinchina: Reassessment of the Origin and Use of a Westernized Place Name”. In 2001, his ‘Selected Vietnamese Poetry’ was published by R&M (Stafford, Texas: R&M, 2001). Published bilingually, the book includes 100 original poems in Vietnamese language he selected, and 100 translation versions he translated into English. The poems, which cover a period of more than one thousand years beginning with Ly Thuong Kiet’s dating from 1077 when this General repelled the Tong invasion (from China), range over various topics taken as the translator’s main focus of human love and passions: the beloved land, patriotic appeals, family ties, human nature etc… ‘Regret’ republished in this issue is the translation version of ‘Ngam ngui’ (Selected Vietnamese Poetry, page 126) by Huy Can, a famous poet who was born on May 31, 1919 in Ha Tinh and died at 86 on Feb. 19, 2005 in Ha-Noi. Huy Can, the author of nearly remarkable 30 collections of poems and more than 10 literary books and essays, earned his fame and reputation in the Vietnamese new poetry movement at the age of 24, when he published his debut collection of poems ‘Lua Thieng’, from which Regret/Ngam Ngui later became one of his well-known poems. Through this reprint in The Writers Post, the poem includes the translator’s current 2006 note responding to a reader’s comment, the niece of the author’s best friend poet Xuan Dieu, on the translation version. [Translator’s note: I wish to thank Miss Ngo Mai Kha, Xuan Dieu’s niece, who told me that…]

ÿ RETURN TO CONTRIBUTORS ÿ Regret Vu Dinh Dinh’s Bio

The path by Huy Tuong, translated by N. Saomai (click title)

Huy Tuong, pseudonym Nguyen Duc Hiep, poet and translator, born in 1942 in Duc Phu, Tam Ky. He started in the literary community before 1975, contributed to several literay magazines published in Saigon, former capital of South Vietnam. In the oversea, his poems appeared in the US-based literary magazine Hop Luu. He is the author of several books of poems and translation, including Mua trong vuon chiem bao (poetry), Mot mua toc mo (poetry), Ao nguyet ca (poetry), Hoi duong cung may trang (poetry), Trang keu Xanh (poetry), Trong da (poetry), Nguoi nuoi lua tich mich (poetry), Chang tre tuoi gan da (translation), Tren chiec du bay (translation), Tuyet tren ngon Kilimanjaro (translation), Tho ca (transaltion). His works also appeared in the anthology ‘ Tho tinh Viet-Nam va the gioi’ (Nguyen Hung Truong, 1998). He is living in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

ÿ RETURN TO CONTRIBUTORS ÿ The path Huy Tuong’s Bio

Paths of Ants by Kinh Duong Vuong, translated by Pham Viem Phuong

Kinh Duong Vuong, pseudonym of Nguyen Tuan Khanh, artist, poet, and short story writer, born in 1941, known as Rung for his painting, Dung Nham/Co Dong for poetry, and Kinh Duong Vuong for short story. Kinh Duong Vuong’s Chiec Mat Na Cuoi, his first collection of short stories published by Van Moi (US) in 1997, was followed by two collections of poetry and prose: “Dung Nham - Tho Toan Tap” / Dung Nham - The complete works of poetry (Ho Chi Minh City: 2003, hard cover, 450 pages) and “Kinh Duong Vuong – Van Xuoi Toan Tap”/Kinh Duong Vuong – The complete works of Prose (Ho Chi Minh City: 2003, hard cover, 1198 pages). In the field of art, Kinh Duong Vuong is a graduate of Hue Fine Art School, member of Vietnamese Young Artists Ass. (1966), member of Vietnamese Association in Northwest OR. (1995), and member of Artcore Gallery, Los Angeles (1996). His most recent exhibition was at Nguoi Viet Daily News (CA, 2005). “Paths of Ants” is his third short-story to be translated into English.

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Translator PHAM VIEM PHUONG:

Pham Viem Phuong, born in 1955 in Long Xuyen Province, South Vietnam, graduated from HCMC University of Education in 1977, and worked as a teacher in Vinh Long Province from 1977 to 1987. He began translation career and published his first translation work in 1986. Since 2000, he has been a managing editor for the Economic Development Review, the English version of Phat Trien Kinh Te, a monthly published by the HCMC University of Economics. Pham Viem Phuong’s Bio

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starting from logos in silence, Dalat by Nguyen Phan Thinh

Nguyen Phan Thinh, born in 1943 in Ha Nam, resettled in South Vietnam in 1954. He started in the literary community with his poems contributed to several magazines published in Saigon, including Mai, Tieu Thuyet Tuan San, Van, Van Hoc, Van De, Bach Khoa. After 1975, he contributed to Vietnam and overseas journals: My Thuat Thoi Nay, Tri Thuc, Van Nghe Tp.HCM, The Gioi Moi, Kien Thuc Ngay Nay, Van Tuyen, Van Chuong (VN), Tap Chi Tho, Van Hoc, Hop Luu, Khoi Hanh, Thu Quan Ban Thao, Tien Ve, Talawas. He is the author of four books of poetry.

ÿ RETURN TO CONTRIBUTORS ÿ Nguyen Phan Thinh’s Bio

Returning to the old place by Song Thao, translated by Thien Nhat Phuong and Rhonda Corcoran (click title)

Song Thao, pseudonym of Ta Trung Son, short story writer, born in Ha-Noi (North Vietnam) in 1939. He began to write in early 1991. Song Thao’s ‘Returning to the old place’ translated by Thien Nhat Phuong & Rhonda Corcoran and published in this issue is his fourth short story being translated into English, after his Eva, The Dangling Love, and Roots rediscovered. Song Thao’s most recent publication is Phiem 2, published by Van Moi in 2005. This is the eighth book of the author, after Phiem 1 (Los Angeles: Van Moi, 2005), Ben Lung Nhung Con Chu (Los Angeles: Van Moi, 2003), Cuoi Ngay Mot Lan Ngoi Lai (Los Angeles: Van Moi, 2000), Chan Mang Giay so 6 (Los Angeles: Van Moi, 1999), Con Do Bong Hinh (collection of short-stories, Van Moi Publisher 1997), Dong Dua Cuoc Tinh (collection of short-stories, Ngay Nay Publisher 1996), and Bo Chon Mu Suong (collection of short-stories, Kinh Do Publisher 1993). His works were republished in many anthologies in USA and Canada: Viet Thuong Anthology 2000, Hai Muoi Nam Van Hoc Vietnam Hai Ngoai 1975-1995 (Vietnamese Pen, 1995), Hai Muoi Nguoi Viet Tai Canada (Nang Moi, 1995), and Hai Muoi Nam Van Hoc Vietnam Hai Ngoai 1975-1995 (Dai Nam, 1995). Song Thao contributed to numerous established literary magazines: Van Hoc, Van, Hop Luu, The Ky 21, Song Van, Nang Moi, Lang Van, The Writers Post, and Wordbridge.

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Translator THIEN NHAT PHUONG

Thien Nhat Phuong, pseudonym of Douglas Van Dung, born in 1937 in Ha Dong, North Vietnam, translator, social worker in the State of Washington (1975-2002), former teacher at Vietnamese American Association School and several high schools in Vietnam before 1975. Thien Nhat Phuong received his BA. in Education from Saigon University, Faculty of Pedagogy (1962), and his MSW from University of Washington (1993). As a translator, he translated into Vietnamese ‘The end of the affair’ by Graham Green (Vietnam: Khai Tri, 1965), ‘A good scent from the strange mountain’ by Robert Olen Butler (US, Seattle: North West News Weekly, 1993), and into English ‘Truong khuc me ve bien Dong’ by Du Tu Le / ‘Tributes To Mother On The Way Home Via Pacific Ocean’ (co-translator with Tran Le Khanh – US, Garden Grove: HT Productions, 2002). Thien Nhat Phuong

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Translator RHONDA CORCORAN

Rhonda Corcoran graduated with a Master degree in Library Science from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill in 1998, and has since worked in public and academic libraries in Utah and Washington State. Prior to attending graduate school Rhonda Corcoran worked in various positions as a typist and also briefly as a translator/typist in Germany with the United States Army.  She currently is a reference librarian in a public library and resides in Tacoma, Washington with her family.

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Three poems by Mai Van Phan (click title)

Mai Van Phan, born in 1955 in Ninh Binh, Red River Delta, North Vietnam, member of Vietnam Writer’s Association, winner of some awards for poetry in the provincial and national competition. Mai Van Phan’s Giot Nang (Sun Drop), a collection of poems published by Hoi Van Hoc Nghe Thuat Thanh Pho Hai Phong (The Literature and Arts Association of Hai Phong City) in 1992, was followed by Goi Xanh (Calling Green – poetry collection. Ha Noi, Vietnam: Hoi Nha Van Vietnam /Vietnam Writer’s Association, 1995), Cau Nguyen Ban Mai (Morning Prayer – poetry collection. Hai Phong, Vietnam: Hai Phong Publisher, 1997), Nghi Le Nhan Ten (Name Giving Ceremony – poetry collection. Hai Phong, Vietnam: Hai Phong Publisher, 1999), Nguoi Cung Thoi (People in the same Era – epic. Hai Phong, Vietnam: Hai Phong Publisher, 1999), Vach Nuoc (Water wattle - poetry collection. Hai Phong, Vietnam: Hai Phong Publisher, 2003). His poems also appeared in more than 30 anthologies, including FULCRUM 3 published in the US; in many journals published in Vietnam, including the monthly VAN of the Vietnam Writer’s Association of Ho Chi Minh City, which is under the editorship of Anh Duc, editorial address: 81 Tran Quoc Thao – Q.3 – TP. Ho Chi Minh (Anh da roi, Van: Xuan Mau Dan 1998, Thanh pho Ho Chi Minh 12.1997 – 1.1998); and in the magazines and Vietnamese language websites published abroad, including “Thi Luan” Magazine (S. Korean) and TIEN VE, an online centre for literature and the arts, based in Australia, http://www.tienve.org .

Mai Van Phan’s Bio

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Translator DO XUAN OANH:

Do Xuan Oanh, born January 4, 1923 in Quang Yen, Quang Ninh Province, North Vietnam, into a poor worker family of the coal mine area; self-educated and became a jack-of-all-trades – journalist, painter, writer, social worker, song writer, translator, peace activist etc. In the field of transaltion, Do Xuan Oanh translated into Vietnamese many American novels, including Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn. Also, he translated into English the play Truong Ba’s Soul in the Butcher’s Skin to be performed in the US. He retired in 1990 to continue with music and translation works, and is now living in North Vietnam, at 54 Quan Su, Ha Noi, and may be contacted via e-mail: xuanoanh05@yahoo.com

ÿ RETURN TO CONTRIBUTORS ÿ Do Xuan Oanh’s Bio

English literature

POETRY - SHORT STORY

Echoes the crane’s call of sorrow a short story by Ngo The Vinh (click title)

Ngo The Vinh, born in 1941 in Thanh Hoa, doctor, member of the editorial staff and the editor-in-chief of Tinh-Thuong magazine, a monthly published by the School of Medicine (Saigon University), former 81^st Airborne Ranger M.D. during the Vietnam War. His novel Vong Dai Xanh (The Green Belt), published in 1970, won the 1971 National Prize for Literature. Vong Dai Xanh 2^nd edition was published in 1987 (California: Van Nghe, 1987). This is the fourth book of the author, after Gio Mua published in 1965, Bong Dem 1964, and May Bao 1963. Vong Dai Xanh is followed by his fifth ‘Mat Tran O Saigon’ published by Van Nghe Publisher in 1996 in the US, a collection of 12 short stories, half of which was written before 1975 in Vietnam, the other half written abroad after 1975, and of which the best-known is the short story ‘Mat tran o Saigon’. His most recent books are Cuu Long Can Giong Bien Dong Day Song (also published by Van Nghe Publisher. California: 2000), The Green Belt, a translation version of Vong Dai Xanh translated by Nha Trang and William L. Pensinger (Raleigh, NC: Ivy House Publishing Group, 2004), and ‘The Battle of Saigon’, translation version of ‘Mat tran o Saigon’ published by Xlibris. He lives in California.

ÿ RETURN TO CONTRIBUTORS ÿ Ngo The Vinh’s Bio

Magnolia by Hong Khac Kim Mai (Click title for the story)

Hong Khac Kim Mai, born a descendant of Hong Tu Toan --Thai Binh Thien Quoc on 10-15-1945, educated at College Francais de Tourane (Da-Nang), Lycee Marie Curie (Saigon), and Faculty of Letters – University of Saigon (where she joined the student association of which she was later one of the acknowledge leaders), and SU (US), and afterwards became a professor of Vietnamese literature, and a teacher of piano-playing, at various French Colleges in South Vietnam. Hong Khac Kim Mai escaped Vietnam with her children, and resettled in 1977 in the US, where she became a System Analyst (Oregon, Health Department) and a Data Processing Consultant (DASD). After 1999, she abandoned her job to live her secluded life, and devoted most of her time to her literary pursuits. At the age of 15 Hong Khac Kim Mai started composing poetry, in French and Vietnamese, under her real name Hong Khac Kim Mai. Her poems first appeared in the literary magazine Pho Thong which was then under the editorship of the late poet Nguyen Vy. Her poetry collection Mat Mau Nau published in 1965 interested many intellectual readers in Saigon, and brought her into public notice, before came under attacks for being a work of decadent culture, and was banned by the after-1975 government. Mat Mau Nau, the work for which she was best known, was followed by Nhu Phu Van (poetry), Vo Thap (science fiction). Hong Khac Kim Mai writes in Vietnamese language, and recently in English. The short story Face To Face published in this issue is originally written in English, and later in Vietnamese (the Vietnamese version entitled ‘Giap Mat’ appeared in Nguon magazine, issue 3, June 2004). Another short story, Unlimited Prosperity, is also written in English and Vietnamese (the Vietnamese version entitled Sung Man Vo Han Dinh). Hong Khac Kim Mai is a woman of broad cultural interests. She composes music and spends time on painting. Tim Noi Suoi Thuong is her collection of songs. In the US, her poems and short stories appeared in the established literary magazines: The Ky 21, Van Hoc, Van, Song Van, Wordbridge, Tap Chi Tho, and recently the new monthly Nguon published in California.

ÿ RETURN TO CONTRIBUTORS ÿ Magnolia Hong Khac Kim Mai’s Bio

let it be, my love by Khe Kinh Kha (click title)

Khe Kinh Kha, writer and musician, author of Que huong trong noi nho, Luu vong ca (music, 1980), Di chuc cho con (music, 2005). Khe Kinh Kha’s debut poetry collection To Tinh (Limited edition distributed to friends. NJ: Thu An Quan, 2006) includes 66 poems and 14 songs, of which a number of poems was already published in literary magazines in Vietnam before 1975.

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The purple roses by Thuhuong (click title)

Thuhuong, pseudonym of Nicole Thuhuong Barry, who was a middle-shool teacher in Saigon.. She left Vietnam with her family on April 29, 1975 for the US, settled in Seatle, Washington where she has since lived. Having been a social worker for the state of Washington, she is now  spending full time writing and traveling. Her publications include: "Nang va Em" (Vietnamese-language short stories collection, self-published:1998). Her short stories have also appeared in the magazines "Mai Am Gia Dinh", "Phu Nu Gia Dinh”, and in the local newspaper "Nguoi Viet Tay Bac", the Vietnamese Weekly News in Seattle.

ÿ RETURN TO CONTRIBUTORS ÿ Thuhuong’s Bio

Like a yellow leaf by Yen Tram (click title)

Yen Tram, pseudonym of Phan Thi Tot, who was a teacher at Ngo Quyen High School, Bien Hoa, South Vietnam. She received her B.A. in Education from Saigon University, and her Certificate in Teaching English as a Foreign Language from SEAMEC Regional English Language Center in Singapore. Fifteen years after South Vietnam fell to the Communists in 1975, she came to the United States in 1990, settled with her family in Washington State. She made her mark while a high school student as young writer when contributing, from 1954 to 1955, her early poems and stories to the Saigon-based newspaper Buoi Sang, which was then under the editorship of