OV writer wins Belgian literature award
(VOV) -French-Vietnamese author Nguyen Hoai Huong’s novel ‘L’ombre Douce’ (Soft Shadows)—set during a turbulent period of Vietnamese history—has won the Brussels Book Fair’s Prix Première.
This is the seventh time a young female writer has won the honour. Huong was chosen from 19 other eligible candidates to receive the total cash prize of EUR5,000.
The novel, published by France’s Viviane Harny on January 17, depicts the love between a young Vietnamese girl and a French soldier during the 1954 Dien Bien Phu campaign.
Prize Jury President Corinne Boulagier, said the novel is an intriguing work with both literary and emotional value.
Born in 1976 in France to Vietnamese parents who had immigrated in 1970, Huong has close links to her mother tongue, its culture, and history. Her name is a symbol of her family’s love for the fatherland.