The bilingual Vietnamese - English book is a collection of Khanh’s short poems. (Photo:nongnghiep.vn) Hanoi (VNA) – Book “Su bat dau cua nuoc” by Vietnamese poet Tran Le Khanh has been now available in the US book market under the name of “Thebeginning of water”.
The bilingual Vietnamese - English book is a collection of Khanh’s short poems.It was translated into English by US poet Bruce Weigl, who has strong linkswith Vietnamese authors, and is considered a bridge between Vietnamese and USliterature.
The poems were issued in the US by White Pine, an independent literarypublisher that has been publishing quality poetry and prose since 1974.
Khanh, born in 1971 in the northern province of Hoa Binh, currently lives andworks in Ho Chi Minh City. Since 2016, he has published five books, and some ofhis poems have been adopted for music by composer Quoc Bao.
Before engaging in literature and art, he started the career as afinancial analyst certificated by the Chartered Financial Analyst Institute(US) and the HCM City Economy University.
He focuses on two genres of poetry, free style and luc bat (six-eight-worddistich metre, a traditional verse form in Vietnamese poetry).
According toChairman of the Vietnam Writers’ AssociationNguyen Quang Thieu, he found fresh things and adifferent spirit in Khanh’s poetry.
Khanh follows minimalism with short sentences,Thieu said, adding his single wordsare like seeds growing in the souls of readers, small seeds that will turn intoa big green tree.
Khanh’s poems are precise, giving clear images and messages with truthfulemotion. And there is always a philosophy inside those words, said Thieu.
Khanh breathes afresh air into Vietnamese literature, and his “su bat dau cua nuoc” fascinatesreaders in the US a lot. Earlier, most of the Vietnamese poems published in theUS were about wars, and they were written by war veterans as a way to healsorrows caused by conflicts between the two nations./.
VNA
