Veteran author Lê Văn Thảo, winner of the Hồ Chí Minh Award for Literature and Arts in 2012, died on October 21 in HCM City. He was 77.

Thảo, whose real name was Dương Ngọc Huy, was born in 1939 in Long An Province’s Thủ Thừa District.

Between 2000 and 2010, he was the deputy editor-in-chief of HCM City Literature and Arts Magazine and deputy chairman of the HCM City Writers’ Association.

His literary contributions focused on southern people and soldiers, and their traditional culture and lifestyle.

Popular works included his novels Con Đường Xuyên Rừng (Path Through the Forest), Cơn Giông (Thunderstorm), Sóng Nước Vàm Nao (Waves on Rivers of Vàm Nao) and Những Năm Tháng Nhọc Nhằn (Hard Years).

His short stories, such as Đêm Tháp Mười ( Night in Đồng Tháp Mười), Người Sài Gòn (Saigonese) and Đứa Con Trở Về (Returning Child), left a strong impression on audiences at home and abroad.

His works have been reprinted several times by leading publishing houses.

In 2006, Thảo won the Southeast Asian Writers Award for Cơn Giông, a novel considered his most successful work.

The book features the lives of farmers in the Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta Province of Cà Mau during and after the American War in Vietnam.

It was written in the 1980s and was first published in 2002. The work won the Việt Nam Writers Association’s A prize for the country’s best novel in 2013. 

Thảo won several national prizes, including the National Award for Literature and Arts in 2007. 

Thảo, who died of cancer, will be buried at the HCM City Cemetery in Thủ Đức District.

Source:
courtesy of VIET NAM NEWS

by Viet Nam News

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