Dust child, p.34
Dust Child,
p.34
I am thrilled to be able to cite one of my most beloved Vietnamese works of literature: Nguyễn Du’s Truyện Kiều (The Tale of Kiều) in Dust Child. There are many translations of The Tale of Kiều and I chose to quote from the scholar and translator Huỳnh Sanh Thông’s beautiful and insightful translation (The Tale of Kiều, Yale University Press, 1983). Grateful thanks to Yale University Press for their permission.
The seed of my writing dream was sown in my childhood home in Ninh Bình, Northern Việt Nam, where my mother raised me with her lullabies and her storytelling. It grew in Bạc Liêu, Southern Việt Nam, where my father brought home many books and built a bookshelf for me with his hands. My parents never had a chance to go to university and worked days and nights to make sure my two brothers and I could continue to study. To my parents: Con cám ơn bố mẹ. Con yêu bố mẹ và biết ơn bố mẹ rất nhiều.
During the seven years (2015–2022) that I worked on this book, my family has been my pillar. To my husband Hans, my children Mai and Johann, my brothers, and my relatives: thank you for being the lush garden that surrounds me, protects me, enriches me, and nurtures me into the person I am today.
To readers, booksellers, book reviewers, teachers, librarians, book club leaders, bookstagrammers, and literary champions: thank you for being the wings that carry my stories further than I could dare hope. I would not be here without you!
also by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
The Mountains Sing
The Secret of Hoa Sen
About the Author
Born and raised in Việt Nam, Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai is the author of The Mountains Sing, runner-up for the 2021 Dayton Literary Peace Prize, winner of the 2020 BookBrowse Best Debut Award, the 2021 International Book Awards, the 2021 PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award, and the 2020 Lannan Literary Award Fellowship for Fiction. She has published twelve books of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction and has received some of the top literary prizes in Việt Nam. Her writing has been translated into twenty languages and has appeared in major publications, including the New York Times. She has a PhD in creative writing from Lancaster University. She is an advocate for the rights of disadvantaged groups in Việt Nam and has founded several scholarship programs, and she was named by Forbes Vietnam as one of twenty inspiring women of 2021. For more information, visit http://www.nguyenphanquemai.com.
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© 2023 by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai.
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022044978
eISBN: 978-1-64375-375-1
Que Mai Phan Nguyen, Dust Child
