Nguyen The Quang, Tran Hung and Le Minh Khue were each honored for their work at the Southeast Asian Writers Awards in Bangkok.
A ceremony held on November 25 celebrated 27 writers in the region who had won the award in for 2016, 2017 and 2018. The event hasn't been held since 2015 because of the death of the former King of Thailand, Bhumibol Adulyadej.
Khue won the 2018 award for her collection of short stories, Làn Gió Chảy Qua (Wind Breezes Through). Hung received the 2017 award for his poetry collection Vườn Khuya (Night Garden), while Quang’s historic novel titled Thông Reo Ngàn Hống (Pine Tree in Ngàn Hống), about the politician, military official and poet Nguyen Cong Tru, won in 2016.
Each writer has previously received significant recognition, including numerous awards from the Vietnamese Writers Association.
The SEA Awards were founded in 1979 by the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Bangkok, where the event is still held and presided over by a member of the Thai royal family. Aiming to bring attention to creative works from the region, a group of writers and faculty members in each participating country help select the winners. Vietnam joined in 1996 and has received accolades every year since then.
[Photo via Bao Cua Ban]
