ELECTRONIC MAGAZINE OF WRITING
TheWriters Post
A MAGAZINE OF LITERATURE AND LITERATURE IN TRANSLATION
Published biannually – ISSN: 1527-5469

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 2, JUL 2006

Horses, oil on canvas, 30 x 40 inches by Nguyen Khai

ABOUT THE ARTIST:

NGUYEN KHAI, pseudonym of Buu Khai, born in Hue in 1940, graduated from the National School of Fine Art in 1963, won the Bronze medal at a Spring Art Exhibition in Saigon even before his graduation. One of the founders of the Young Vietnamese Artists Association -- an active and well-known artist group -- in the early 60's, Nguyen Khai committed himself to painting and found it his only way to probe the depth of reality, his inner state, and to pursue the marvellous. While still in his twenties, he became one of the most famous artists in Vietnam. The fall of the South Vietnam forced him to flee his country in 1981, and settled in the American State of California. The painter resumed his painting, and exhibited regularly since then. His most recent exhibitions were at Hoa Mai Gallery, Paris, French (2004), and Viet Art Gallery, Houston, Texas, USA (2005).

-----> Art: Horses, oil on canvas, 30 x 40 inches

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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 Wordbridge contains selected literary pieces in a variety of genres: fiction (short stories, excerpts from unpublished novel), poetry (rhymed poems, free verse), translations, reviews, literary critiques, and essays on literature and art.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.

 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES Request in: UC Los Angeles Library

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

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

_____________________________________________________

THE WRITERS POST

VOLUME 8 NUMBER 2 OF JUL 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

A DIRECTORY

OF VIETNAMESE POETS AND WRITERS IN THE OVERSEAS

[Vietnamese Poets And Writers Abroad LISTINGS]

THE ‘VIETNAMESE WRITERS ABROAD LISTINGS’ AIMS TO PROVIDE FACTUAL INFORMATION ON POETS AND WRITERS LIVING ABROAD.

Most of Vietnamese writers living abroad are first-generation immigrants, who left Vietnam for the free world as a result of the 1975 events, when South Vietnam collapsed and the Communist North took over the entire country. They are the ones who paved the way for a new literary community abroad, and subsequently, with writers who started writing after 1975 and second-generation writers who left Vietnam as teenagers, brought Vietnamese literature into existence in the overseas. [ Click here for their listings in the full list ]

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Literature in translation

SHORT STORY POETRY ESSAYS

NEW FORMALISM

THE BEAT OF NEW ERA

An Introduction to New Formalism Poetry

by Dang Tien, translated by Joseph Do Vinh

New Formalism the beat of new era

DANG TIEN, born in 1940 in Quang Nam, educated at Lycée Blaise Pascal in Ðà Nẵng, Jean Jacques Rousseau in Saigon, and Saigon University’s Faculty of Letters from where he received his B.A. in Literature. He pursued higher education in 1966 in France, where he is now living and working as an Instructor of Classical Vietnamese Literature at University of Denis Diderot (Paris Seven). Dang Tien started writing at the beginning of 60’s, and had works published in the Saigon-based literary magazines Tin Sách, Văn, and Bách Khoa. In the overseas, he contributed to the magazines Diễn Ðàn, Thông Luận, Ðoàn Kết (Paris), Hợp Lưu, Văn, and Văn Học (USA).

He is the author or co-author of ‘Vu tru Tho’ (Vietnam: Giao Diem, 1972). ‘Xuan Dieu’ (co-authored, Hanoi: Tac Pham Moi Publishing House, 1987), ‘The Lu’ (co-authored, Hanoi: Hoi Nha Van Publishing House, 1991), ‘Vu Ngoc Phan’ (co-authored, Hanoi: Hoi Nha Van Publishing House, 1995).

ÿ RETURN TO CONTRIBUTORS ÿ Dang Tien’s Bio

Translator DO VINH:

Do Vinh is pseudonym of Joseph Do Vinh Tai, who was born in Vietnam in 1968, immigrated with his family to the US in 1975, and studied at the University of Washington, from where he graduated BS in Political Science. He started in the literary community in 1980, and subsequently 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 of Yale University, Nguoi Viet and Viet Bao daily newspapers, Vien Dong, Van hoa, Viet Weekly, and Tap chi Tho. His debut collection of poetry ‘Green Plums’ was published in 2005. In the same year, he worked in close collaboration with poet Khế Iêm on the anthology-in-progress BLANK VERSE/ Thơ Không Vần as a translator. He was responsible for the Blank Verse’s English section, and translated into English 68 poems in the anthology, which includes 162 poems by 64 contemporary Vietnamese poets. The anthology was published by Tan Hinh Thuc Publishing Club in May 2006. Đỗ Vinh’s first published translation appeared in Wordbridge and The Writers Post in 2005 with his translation of Khe Iem’s ‘Contemporary Vietnamese Poetry on the path of transformation - A portrait of Vietnamese Literature’ (Wordbridge 6 Spring 2005, The Writers Post Volume 7 Number 1 Jan. 2005). He is currently living in Central Valley, California.

ÿ RETURN TO CONTRIBUTORS ÿ Do Vinh’s Bio

THE SACRED RIVER

WILL NEVER BE DRAINED DRY

An excerpt from ‘Cuu Long can dong, bien Dong day song’

by Ngo The Vinh, translated by the author

The Sacred River Will Never Be Drained Dry

NGO THE VINH, doctor, member of the editorial staff and the editor-in-chief of Tinh-Thuong magazine, a monthly published by students of the School of Medicine (Saigon University), former 81^st Airborne Ranger M.D. during the Vietnam War serving three years’ imprisonment in re-education camps after 1975. After released, he worked as a Physiatrist at Saigon Rehabilitation Centre and the School of Physiotherapy in Saigon. 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). After Gio Mua published in 1965, Bong Dem 1964, and May Bao 1963, Vong Dai Xanh is the fourth book of the author published before 1975, after several requests for permission to publish met refusal from the censorship Bureau in Saigon. The interval between the authority refusing the existence of a literary work and the literary community recognising the worth of a literary work’s existence was just a matter of few months. The National Prize winner, however, shortly after receiving the prize was summoned to the court of Law in connection with his short work ‘Mat tran o Saigon’ published in the journal Trinh Bay Issue 34, December 1971. The work was considered to disturb social order and ‘undermine the discipline and fighting spirit of the army’. Twenty-five years later, ‘Mat tran o Saigon’ was collected to be published in the US by Van Nghe Publisher in 1996, in a collection that bore the same title. ‘Mat tran o Saigon’ is 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.

Coming to the US in 1983, he is now living in California, and is a board certified internist, an Attending physician, and an Assistant clinical professor at University of California-Irvine, College of Medicine. ‘The Sacred River Will Never Be Drained Dry’ published in this issue is an excerpt from his Vietnamese-language novel ‘Cuu Long can dong, bien Dong day song’: Chapter IX ‘Song thieng ma tat can’.

The Sacred River Will Never Be Drained Dry Ngo The Vinh’s Bio

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THE PLACE WHERE MOTHER RETURNED

Poetry by Du Tu Le

Translated by Thien Nhat Phuong & Tran Le Khanh

The place where Mother returned

DU TU LE, pseudonym of Lê Cự Phách, born in 1942 in Ha Nam. The Geneva Accord in 1954 forced him to immigrate, with his brother, to South Vietnam, where he settled in Hoi An, Quang Nam, then later in Da Nang. Coming to Saigon in 1956, he pursued education at the high schools Tran Luc, Chu Van An, and the Saigon University Faculty of Letters. He joined the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARV), graduated as an officer from Thu Duc Military Academy, Course 13, and worked at the Psychological Warfare Department as a war correspondent and the managing editor of the ARV’s Tien Phong Magazine. In 1969, he was sent to a training seminar in basic journalism in Indianapolis City, Indiana. As a result of the 1975 events, he came to the US, and resettled in California in April 1975. Du Tu Le started composing and publishing poetry at an early age, in 1953, under many different pseudonyms. The pseudonym Du Tu Le was initially used for a poem published in Mai magazine in Saigon in 1958, and has since been the only pseudonym under his books. His poems has appeared in a number of Vietnamese-language literary magazines at home and abroad before and after 1975, and in the Los Angeles Times in 1983, the New York Times in 1996, the anthology World Poetry / An anthology of Verse From Antiquity To Our Time (New York: Norton) in 1998; also, his poems appeared in some universities’ textbooks since 1990, or used in some universities for education purpose. Jean-Claude-Pomonti, a leading writer for the Le Monde, had chosen one of his poems to translate into French, and had it published in La Rage D’Etre Vietnamien. Du Tử Lê was once mentioned by the late writer Mai Thao as one of the distinguished poets in the Vietnamese contemporary literature; the others are: Vu Hoang Chuong, Dinh Hung, Bui Giang, Nguyen Sa, Thanh Tam Tuyen, and To Thuy Yen. Du Tu Le is the author of more than 40 books. His eponymous debut collection of poems ‘Tho Du Tu Le’ was published in 1964, his most recent ‘[neu can,] hay cho bai thoú mot ten goi !?!’ published in 2006 by HT Productions. “The place where Mother returned” published in this issue is the fifth encomium taken from Du Tu Le’s ‘tributes to Mother on her way home via pacific ocean” translated by Thien Nhat Phuong and Tran Le Khanh, and published by HT Productions in 2002.

The place where Mother returned Du Tu Le ’s Bio

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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).

ÿ RETURN TO CONTRIBUTORS ÿ Thien Nhat Phuong

Translator TRAN LE KHANH

Tran Le Khanh, writer, translator, social worker in the State of Washington, former teacher at Trung Vuong High School (Saigon, South Vietnam). Tran Le Khanh received her B.A. in Education from Saigon University, and her M.A. in Mental Heath Counseling from Pacific Lutheran University in Washington. She taught ESL and Vietnamese, and is a State Social Worker in Washington. As a translator, she translated into English ‘Truong khuc Me ve bien Dong’ by Du Tu Le / ‘Tributes To Mother On The Way Home Via Pacific Ocean’ (in collaboration with Thien Nhat Phuong).

ÿ RETURN TO CONTRIBUTORS ÿ Tran Le Khanh’s Bio

THE NIGHT SPRING BEGINS

SELECTING A SCENE

MY BROTHER. Three poems by Mai Van Phan,

translated by Do Xuan Oanh

Three poems by Mai Van Phan

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 (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.

ÿ RETURN TO CONTRIBUTORS ÿ Mai Van Phan’s Bio

Translator DO XUAN OANH:

Do Xuan Oanh, born in Quang Yen, Quang Ninh Province, North Vietnam on January 4, 1923, into a poor worker family of the coalmine area; self-educated and became a jack-of-all-trades – journalist, painter, writer, social worker, songwriter, translator, peace activist etc. Joining the revolution before 1945, he wrote the famous Nineteen August song on the August 1945 General Uprising Day, and subsequently many songs and music works during the wars. In the translation field, he translated into Vietnamese many American novels, including Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn first published in Vietnam. Into English he translated the play Truong Ba’s Soul in the Butcher’s Skin to be performed in America. For a while he joined the Vietnam Peace Committee and Vietnam-US Society as Vice-chairman and General Secretary. As a people’s diplomat representing social organisations, he worked with the Vietnam delegation in Vietnam-US Paris Peace Talks from 1968 to 1973. He retired in 1990 to continue with music and translation works.

ÿ RETURN TO CONTRIBUTORS ÿ Do Xuan Oanh’s Bio

BEING A POET

OUR TIME

THE BIRD

Three poems by Chu Vuong Mien

translated by Peter Nguyen

Three poems by Chu Vuong Mien

Chu Vuong Mien, pseudonym of Nguyen Van Thuong, born in 1941 in Kien An, North Vietnam. He came to South Vietnam in 1954, joined later the South Vietnam Armed Forces, serving for four years before being invalided home. In 1984, he came to the US, under the HO status, settled in Rancho Cucamongo. He started in the literary community in 1960, contributing to Thoi Nay, Bach Khoa, Van Hoc, Van Nghe Tien Phong, and Thai Do magazines. In the overseas he contributed to Van, Van Hoc, The Ky 21, Doc Lap, Que Me, Khoi Hanh, Gio Van, Song Van, Lang Van. He is the author of several books of poetry, and was once the editor of Song magazine in Toronto, Canada.

ÿ RETURN TO CONTRIBUTORS ÿ Chu Vuong Mien’s Bio

RAIN

WHERE COULD IT BE

Two poems by N. Saomai,

translated by the author

Rain Where could it be

N. Saomai, writer and editor, was born in 1940 in Quang Nam, started his writing in the early sixties, contributed miscellaneous essays and general journalism to Saigon-based daily newspapers as a freelance writer. He began to write novel in 1962, and completed four novels (written in the period from 1962 to 1975), which remained unpublished during the Viet-Nam war. 'Can Nha', a novel having got past the military government's censors of the press, been ready to be published in 1974, was published 23 years later in the US. He left Viet Nam on April 29^th 1975, one day before the fall of Saigon on April 30 via a Chinook piloted by his brother, escaped Saigon for the sea and landed on the U.S.S. Duluth (LPD6) of the 7^th Fleet which was then outside Vung Tau’s territorial waters, with his three motherless children. One of them later became Tap-chi Song-Van’s managing editor Thanh-Tam. He came to the US in May 1975. Can Nha, published periodically in Tap-chi Song-Van (ISSN 1089-8123), and in book form in December 1997, is his third novel. Several excerpts from the novel was later republished in the literary Van, and in the anthology Tho Van Hai Ngoai Nam 2000. His second 'Bon no le trong den tho', written on the starting date of 1964, was also published periodically in Tap-chi SongVan, issue 15. This was the last issue before the discontinuity of the magazine in December 1999. One excerpt from his fourth novel ‘O cho cuoi con duong’ (1973) was published in Gio Van magazine. N. Saomai is the founder, publisher, and editor-in-chief of the magazines Tap-chi Song-Van [ISSN: 1089-8123], The Writers Post at http://www.thewriterspost.net [ISSN: 1527-5469]), and Wordbridge [ISSN: 1540-1723). As a founder and editor of the magazines aiming to introduce Vietnamese literature into Western literary community, he translated into English a number of short stories and poems by new and established Vietnamese poets and writers. The translation versions were published simultaneously in The Writers Post and Wordbridge.

ÿ RETURN TO CONTRIBUTORS ÿ Rain Where could it be N. Saomai

English literature

POETRY – MISCELLANEOUS ESSAY

Poet TAN DA,

and the ‘little girl’

who dared to challenge him

miscellaneous essay by Vu Dinh Dinh

Poet TAN DA, and the ‘little girl’

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, and human nature.

ÿ RETURN TO CONTRIBUTORS ÿ Vu Dinh Dinh’s Bio

THE WHITE CLOUDY ROAD

A poem by Tran Yen Thao

The white cloudy road

TRAN YEN THAO, pseudonym of Tran Ngoc Minh, poet, writer and translator, who was born in 1940 Binh Thuan (Phan-thiet, Central Vietnam). Before and after 1975 when South Vietnam collapsed, he has contributed to several literary magazines published in Vietnam. His debut short story collection ‘Mac Can’ was published in 1970 by Tu Thuc Publisher in Saigon, which was followed by ‘Hat tu tho Tran Yen Thao’ (collection of poems set into music by musicians Tran Van Bui, Viet Chung and Nguyen Tung published by Hanh Dong in 1971), ‘Qua tang nguoi xua’ (collection of poems published by Tre Publisher in 1998), and ‘Rung nguyen so’ (collection of poems published by Tre Publisher in 1999). Besides, his works have been selected for several anthologies, including ‘Luc Bat Tinh’ (which includes 501 authors, published by Dong Nai in 1997), ‘Sac Huong Hoa But’ (several authors, published by Van Nghe in 2001), ‘Tuyen tap 7 Tac-gia trong va ngoai nuoc’(US: Thu An Quan, 2004), and ‘Ben troi’ (US: Thu An Quan, 2004). In the field of translation, he translated into Vietnamese ‘Nhung kiet-nhan cua nen van-minh co-dai Trung-Quoc’ (co-translated from Chinese with Lam Hong Lan; VN: Nha Van-Hoa Thong-Tin, 2001). Tran Yen Thao’s another book of translation ‘17 The-ky lich-su cua con duong to lua’ is now going to press. The book which is due to reach the market this year will soon be released in the next few months. He is living in Binh Thuan, Vietnam.

ÿ RETURN TO CONTRIBUTORS ÿ Tran Yen Thao’s Bio

ABOUT FLOWER

A poem by Doan Thuan

About flower

DOAN THUAN, pseudonym of Tran Van Thuan, poet and professor, who was born in 1940 in Binh Thuan Vietnam. Graduated from Saigon University, Faculty of Letters and Faculty of Pedagogy in 1969, he ever since worked as a teacher at several high schools until recently was taking retirement. His debut collection of poems ‘Mua Bac Bien’ published in 1995 was followed by six others: ‘Loi Chieu’ (1996), ‘LaGi ngan xanh’ (1997), ‘Lua dem mua’ (1998), ‘Lua dau non’ (1999), ‘Khoang lang cua hoa’ (2001), ‘Tuong’ (2002), ‘Doi Say’ (2003). Before and after the fall of Saigon in 1975, he has contributed to several literary magazines published in Vietnam and the overseas. In the US, his works were selected by Thu An Quan for its selections ‘Tuyen tap tac gia trong va ngoai nuoc’and ‘Tuyen tap 14 tac gia mien Nam’ published in 2003 and 2004. He is living in Binh Thuan, Vietnam.

ÿ RETURN TO CONTRIBUTORS ÿ Doan Thuan’s Bio

MY LOCAL BURNING

INVESTMENT ADVISES

Two poems by Dinh Linh

My local burning Investment advises

DINH LINH was born in 1963 in Saigon, came to the US in April 1975. Starting in the literary community, he gained literary recognition with his chapbook of poems published in 1998, Drunkard Boxing, which was followed by Fake House (short-story collection -Seven Stories Press, 2000), A Small Triumph Over Lassitude (poetry -Leroy 2001), and A Glass of Water (poetry -Skanky Possum Press 2001). He is contributing editor to Xconnect, editor and co-translator of the anthologies: Night again: Contemporary Fiction from Vietnam (Seven Stories Press 1996), Three Vietnamese Poets (Tinfish 2001). His articles, stories, poems, and translations have appeared in Manoa, Sulfur, Denver Quarterly, Transconnect, American Poetry Review, Kenyan Review, Xconnect The Threepenny Review, Moorabbit Review, New Observations, Northeast Corridor, Vietnam Forum, Viet Magnet, Seven Arts, Hop Luu, and Van Hoc.

ÿ RETURN TO CONTRIBUTORS ÿ Dinh Linh’s Bio

WITHOUT YOUR LOVE

Poetry by Khe Kinh Kha

Without your love

KHE KINH KHA was born in Ha Tinh in 1946. Pursuing higher education, he came to the US in 1967, attended the University of Massachusetts where he obtained his Master degree in Chemical Engineering. He started writing in 1963, his poems appeared now and then in some literary magazines published in Vietnam dating from 1966. In the oversea, he did not resumed his writing until 2005, when his poems appeared in Van, Van Hoc, Hop Luu, The Ky 21, Thu Quan Ban Thao. His ‘To Tinh’, a collection of poems and songs was recently published in limited edition by Thu Quan Ban Thao.

ÿ RETURN TO CONTRIBUTORS ÿ Khe Kinh Kha’s Bio

Return to top

A DIRECTORY

OF VIETNAMESE POETS AND WRITERS IN THE OVERSEAS:

Vietnamese Poets And Writers Abroad LISTINGS