A unique journey in "The puppets sing in the distant forest"

“The puppet singing in the distant forest” is the first collection of short stories by Khai Don (real name Pham Lan Phuong) – a contemporary literary author who is loved for his memoirs and essays.

Knocking on the door of the short story genre for the first time, Khai Don did not choose a safe path. “The puppet singing in the distant forest” is a bold and quiet collection of stories, where the author ventures into a vague and overwhelming realm – people, nature and souls drifting together. The book consists of 14 short stories, published by Nha Nam Culture and Communication Joint Stock Company in association with the Writers Association Publishing House.

The first collection of short stories by author Khai Don. Photo: Nha Nam

The stories in the book do not follow a linear narrative but are like fragments falling from the mind. Some stories are pictures of a dry and cold urban area; some are the wild echoes of nature being destroyed; and some are painful slices of the soul before the silent cracks...

Regarding this collection of short stories, Professor Chung Hoang Chuong commented: “Through unusual stories, Khai Don draws readers into situations that use imagination to visualize nature, where humans and the environment blend together. The everyday stories, social frameworks with details that have never been developed before will be a very unique journey.”

“The puppet singing in the distant forest” is a bold, powerful and unique work, marking a new and challenging step of Khai Don on the map of contemporary Vietnamese literature.

Not only stopping at the text, the book also creates a visual journey thanks to the illustrations of writer and artist Nguyen Truong Quy. The simple but haunting drawings expand the reader's imagination, creating a storytelling space where images and words coexist.

Khai Don is a journalist and writer, writing in both Vietnamese and English. She is the author of many outstanding books in the genres of memoirs, essays, and travelogues. She won the Virginia de Araujo Prize for poetry presented by The Academy of American Poets in 2021 and 2022.

Some of the published works include: “Don’t take off your smile”, “Are you pessimistic?”, “Rough 20s”, “Mekong - Drifting Alluvium”, “Going far away on a camper”…

Source: https://hanoimoi.vn/chuyen-vien-du-doc-dao-trong-con-roi-hat-ngoai-rung-xa-706895.html