The author, poet and translator Nguyen Ba Chung and Dr. Kevin Bowen

Just a year later, Director of the William Joiner Center for the Study of War and Social Consequences Kevin Bowen made an effort to establish a Vietnamese-American cultural bridge to connect American and Vietnamese writers.

The first two Vietnamese veteran writers invited to attend talks with American veterans in the summer of 1988 were Le Luu and Nguy Ngu. Since then, every year, Vietnamese writers have been regularly invited to the William Joiner Center to exchange, and vice versa, American writers - veterans also visit Vietnam.
Over the past 30 years, more than 100 Vietnamese writers have been invited to the William Joiner Center. Before the US government lifted the embargo on Vietnam, the literary bridge between the Southeast Asian country and the US was established, helping the two countries get closer.

When being asked why the bridge of Vietnam-US relations after the war begin with literature but nothing else, Dr. Kevin Bowen said that because only literature is the purest thing, the easiest to enter the human heart. His answer inspired the author to make the documentary “People Who Walk the Sea”. The film crew has made efforts to meet and interview many American writers and veterans in the US and Vietnam for two years.

As planned, the author would go to the US to attend her daughter's graduation in the summer of 2020. Later, she would fly to Boston, meeting American veteran writers and sharing this documentary; however, because of the coronavirus pandemic, the trip was then postponed. In 2021, the Covid-19 epidemic broke out, causing deaths. Undeterred by the pandemic, interviews are still being conducted from Ho Chi Minh City to the US with heart and connection.

The first destination for the film crew's trip was the house of poet and translator Nguyen Ba Chung and Phan Thi Ngoc Chan at 53 Newton, Belmont, MA. The villa has American style on the outside, but inside everything is pure Vietnamese style. For over the past 30 years, this house has welcomed more than 100 Vietnamese writers and poets to the US, when coming to the William Joiner Center.

Nguyen Ba Chung's companion with the William Joiner Center experienced many ups and downs. The trips back home when the US hadn’t lifted the embargo on Vietnam was a strong inspiration for him to write the collection of poems Nguon (Source). He quietly translated works of Vietnamese writers. Le Luu's Thoi Xa Vang (Away Time) is one of the first works he translated.

When it comes to him, it's impossible not to mention his wife, Phan Thi Ngoc Chan, who has accompanied him. She had access to many valuable documents from Vietnam when learning Ph.D. in Boston.

After graduating, Ms. Ngoc Chan taught Vietnamese-English bilingualism to Vietnamese children and worked part-time as a librarian. On trips back to Vietnam or through friends, she collected many works written about Vietnam, supplementing for the library. Harvard University appointed her to be the curator of the collection on Vietnam in the Harvard Library - Yenching, part of the massive library system of this prestigious university. Visitors will be amazed to see precious books of Vietnam, digitized editions such as Dai Nam thuc luc, Phu nu tan van, Gia Dinh Newspaper placed orderly in the storage compartment.

During his short days in Boston, Mr. Chung took us to meet some American veterans. American writer Marc Levy opened up about the fierce days on the Vietnam battlefield. He has returned to Vietnam since the 1990s when the battlefield where he used to be was still full of bomb craters. War memories urged him to take up writing, although some of his works had nothing to do with the war.

Poet Nguyen Ba Chung took us to visit the William Joiner Center - which is considered a unique place even though there are many institutes and research centers at other universities in the US. Being director of the William Joiner Center, Kevin Bowen established a cultural exchange bridge between American and Vietnamese writers and initiated the program of literary translation from both sides while witnessing the scars of war left in Vietnam in 1986. Since 1994, the center has published at least 14 translated works of Vietnamese poetry - more than any other language in the world.

After an accident, because his memory was affected, Kevin Bowen gave the leadership of the William Joiner Center to Dr. Thomas T. Kane who is knowledgeable about Vietnamese culture as he has lived and worked in Vietnam for more than six years.

At that time, Kevin Bowen's wife Leslie advised her husband to draw pictures to restore his memory. Kevin Bowen chose to paint portraits of Vietnamese writers he met. Those peace emissaries always made a strong impression on him. His collection of portraits of Vietnamese writers in oil paint was brought to Vietnam for exhibition. Poet Nguyen Quang Thieu has mobilized a business to buy that set of paintings, which is beautiful and touching.

Poet Nguyen Quang Thieu revealed that Kevin Bowen refused to take part in the documentary about him when he came to Vietnam. He is a quiet person. At one point poet Thieu jokingly called him a quiet American.
Thieu's words inspired us to go across the sea to record images of that quiet American. In 2022, no matter how devastating Covid-19 is, the documentary will be done as a tribute to the hearts of both sides.

Source: SGGP

“So Do” novel by Vu Trong Phung to be published in Germany

Vietnamese novel “So do”, known as “Dumb Luck” in English, written by well-known Vietnamese author Vu Trong Phung is set to be published in Germany this December.