When Gen Z writes about ethnic culture

The ten days of the 2025 Youth Literature Creation Camp with the theme “Gen Z writes about national culture in the Gen Z way” have come to an end. The lingering echo is the passion for writing and love for national culture fostered by a young generation.

Students take souvenir photos with Thai Nguyen Literature and Arts publication. Photo: Viet Hung

This year's creative camp attracted 106 applications from many localities in Thai Nguyen province. After evaluation, the Organizing Committee selected 40 official students, aged 14-18, who are children of Tay, Dao, and Kinh ethnic groups to gather. They participated in the camp for 10 days (from August 6 to 15), studying directly at the headquarters of the Provincial Newspaper, Radio, and Television, and studying online via Google Meet. Along with that, they went on field trips to the Vietnam Military History Museum and the Vietnam Ethnic Culture Village. Here, they had the opportunity to observe, record, and experience culture and history vividly, from which works were born.

Sharing his feelings when participating in this writing camp, Duong Ngo Minh Duc (born in 2008), from Phan Dinh Phung ward, excitedly said: The writing field trip is an opportunity for me to understand more deeply the history and culture of the regions. This is a practical and useful trip and brings many lessons to the young generation, in the context of the country integrating and entering the era of development. Trips like this are very necessary and meaningful to us.

The highlight of the 2025 creative camp is the participation of many prestigious writers, poets, and researchers: Artist Xuan Bach, researcher Quyen Gavoye (France), writer Tong Ngoc Han, poet Nguyen Thuy Quynh... During the exchange sessions, students were imparted creative experiences and directly commented on their own works. This helped them gain more knowledge and create more solid steps in their journey to pursue their passion.

After more than a week, 29/40 students sent in 33 new works, including 9 poems and 24 prose works. Many short stories and essays were tightly structured and had a personal touch. In particular, some students tried their hand at long stories, starting to look like novels. The topics ranged from history, environment, family, friends, to love, dreams and even concerns about preserving cultural identity in modern society.

There are young writers who boldly express their generation's perspective, leaving an impression with short stories reflecting the intersection between urban life and folk culture, opening up thoughts on how Gen Z connects with traditional culture.

As a lecturer who directly interacted with the camp participants, Writer Tong Ngoc Han was quite impressed with the young faces. She said: The 2025 Thai Nguyen Youth Writing Camp has expanded its topics and genres. Among them, it is necessary to mention the first appearance of long stories, essays, and journalistic reports in addition to short stories, memoirs, and essays like in previous camps. For the first time, the topic of mountainous culture has been exploited by many campers.

There are writers who, upon their appearance, have demonstrated outstanding writing ability such as: Duong Tien Dat, Trieu Thu Phuong... Or the maturity and perfection of Duong Phuong Thao's writing style. Notably, during the writing camp, excellent works appeared such as the short story "The Thread of the Mountain" by author Nguyen Khanh Linh. The 2025 Young Literature Camp is a beautiful start for Thai Nguyen Literature and Arts after the merger, added writer Tong Ngoc Han.

Spreading unique cultural values

Outstanding students at the Creative Camp received meaningful gifts from Thai Nguyen Newspaper, Radio and Television. Photo: Viet Hung

Reunion and farewell, on the afternoon of August 15, at the Provincial Newspaper, Radio and Television Hall, the camp summary session took place in a touching and friendly atmosphere. The students listened attentively to the comments on their works, many of their faces were red with nervousness but they still boldly stood up to present their works, expressing their desire to be involved in literature.

The sincere and frank comments from the instructors and suggestions help the campers better understand their strengths and weaknesses so that they can continue to practice. This is not only a recognition but also an encouragement for them to continue nurturing their passion.

Talking about this year's Writing Camp, Poet Nguyen Thuy Quynh, President of the Thai Nguyen Provincial Literature and Arts Association, expressed: This year, the Provincial Literature and Arts Association coordinated with Thai Nguyen Newspaper, Radio and Television to organize a Young Literary Writing Camp with the theme "Gen Z writes about national culture in the Gen Z way", to arouse passion for literature, creativity, and encourage young writers to write about Vietnamese culture - people, identity, language, customs, and community memories, with a new, creative writing style, inspired by the digital age.

At the same time, it suggests and orients topics on culture, tradition, and national identity, thereby contributing to preserving and spreading unique cultural values in the community; aiming to build a generation of young authors who are proud of their origins and know how to rewrite the story of national culture in the voice and perspective of their generation.

In difficult circumstances with limited funding, the Association's permanent office is not located in the central area, so the content had to be adjusted accordingly, so the activities of this year's Creative Camp were reduced in content compared to last season.

However, with enthusiasm and responsibility for the young generation, the Association's standing body has overcome difficulties and sought optimal solutions to carry out this very special activity. The success of the 2025 Young Literature Creation Camp lies not only in the number of campers and the number of entries, but also in the emergence of new writers and promising ethnic minority writers, in addition to the progress of writers who have been trained through previous camps.

The 2025 Young Literature Camp is a clear demonstration of the appeal of literature to Gen Z. The writings contain sincerity, innocence and a passionate love for national culture. It is also the bridge between tradition and modernity - where Gen Z finds identity to assert themselves.

Source: https://baothainguyen.vn/van-hoa/202508/khi-gen-z-viet-ve-van-hoa-dan-toc-0ba6f9a/