Vietnamese writer receives ASEAN literature award

Speaking at the ceremony, writer Tran Mai Hanh said he is proud to receive the award, adding that the selection of his book for the award has woken up memories of Vietnamese people’s great sacrifices for national independence and unification.

Published by the National Political Publishing House in 2014, Hanh’s novel won the highest prize in the prose category by the Vietnam Writer’s Association that same year.

It covers the historic fall of the American-backed Saigon regime and the fate of most of its leaders.

The 19-chapter work is based on interviews with and confessions of figures in key positions in the Sai Gon regime. It depicts in detail the collapse of defence lines around Sai Gon by drawing on original telegraphs, meeting minutes of regime leaders, newspaper articles and Sai Gon radio broadcast between January and April of 1975.

In the 2015 reprint of the novel, the publishing house added 21 documents collected by Hanh after April 30, 1975, which were considered top secret minutes of the puppet government.

Earlier, the novel won the highest prize in the prose category of the Vietnamese Literary Awards.

S.E.A Writers Awards were established in 1979 and sponsored by the Thai Royal Family. The annual awards aim to honour outstanding writers, poets and authors from 10 ASEAN countries and promote regional literary diversification to the world.