VietNamNet Bridge – The Japan Foundation in Hanoi and Nha Nam Publishing House will co-organize the meet-up and discussion with Japanese writer Ono Masatsugu on his works with the topic of “Write painlessly about pain” at the Japan Foundation Center for Cultural Exchange in Vietnam, 27 Quang Trung, Hanoi on October 31 (10am).

The literature talk will also have the participation of PhD in Literature Tran Ngoc Hieu and moderator - editor Dang Thanh Giang.

Not only in “A Prayer Nine Years Ago” but also in his other works, including “The Ship Piggybacked by Jolly Bay” and “The Song of Mermaid” published in Vietnam, Ono Masatsugu has always been interested in and mentions ordinary people with their very personal yet humane pains. 

Each story is like a sad painting, yet gentle and poetic, as if pain is a part of life. This makes the readers wonder: so how should we perceive, talk and write about pains?

Ono Masatsugu was born in 1970 in Oita, Kyushu Island in the southwest of Japan. He studied Education at University of Tokyo, then went on to pursue a PhD. at University of Paris VIII. 

In 2001, he was awarded the Asahi New Writers’ Award for his first novel Mizu ni Umoreru Haka (Graves Buried in Water) and in 2002, the Mishima Yukio Prize for second novel Nigiyaka na Wan ni Seowareta Fune (The Ship Piggybacked by the Jolly Bay). 

His other significant works include At the Outskirts of the Woods (2006), Micro Bus (2008). 

He is currently associate professor in the Literature department of Rikkyo University.

Free entry

PV