Writer Nguyen Manh Tuan released two works at the age of 80.

At the age of 80, writer Nguyen Manh Tuan simultaneously released two works: the memoir Sweet and Sour Life of a Writer and the novel The Wiser Than the King. The two works belong to two different genres but both contain a lot of concern about the writing profession and about life.

Writer Nguyen Manh Tuan, born in 1945 in Hanoi . He has been attached to Ho Chi Minh City since the end of 1975 until now. It is in this southern metropolis that he has created for himself a brilliant literary career, with all the ups and downs. With more than half a century of writing, writer Nguyen Manh Tuan has dozens of novels and short stories, children's stories, dozens of movie scripts, and hundreds of TV series scripts.

He worked in parallel and was very successful in both his roles as a writer and a screenwriter, and received many valuable awards. In particular, he had two novels that won the Vietnam Writers Association Award: The remaining distances (1980) and Standing before the sea (1982).

Speakers at the program. From left to right: Associate Professor, Dr. Bui Thanh Truyen, writer Nguyen Manh Tuan, journalist Nguyen Thi Ngoc Hai and poet Le Thieu Nhon

The memoir Sweet and Sour Life of Writers ( Da Nang Publishing House) by writer Nguyen Manh Tuan is not written in chronological order but through 11 conversations with close colleagues, to recount his creative process, from the story "Can writers make a living from their profession?" to the story "Huge royalties from books translated abroad" or "There should be a way for writers to be less vulnerable"...

According to writer Bich Ngan, President of the Ho Chi Minh City Writers Association, the memoir Sweet and Sour Life of a Writer has a mixture of joy and sadness. However, above all, readers realize that writer Nguyen Manh Tuan is always calm and always open to learning to achieve the goal of writing that he has chosen. "Even the stumbles and disadvantages of writer Nguyen Manh Tuan also inspire positive thoughts to promote the development of the country's literature in a sustainable and decent way," writer Bich Ngan expressed.

The Wiser Than the King (Hong Duc Publishing House) is a historical novel, over 700 pages long, written about To Hien Thanh (1102 - 1179), a great mandarin who participated in the government under four kings: Ly Nhan Tong, Ly Than Tong, Ly Anh Tong, Ly Cao Tong. The work depicts the image of To Hien Thanh as a man of both literature and martial arts, who was also "loyal to the king and patriotic" and made many great achievements. But because he was "wiser than the king" and upright, he was considered disrespectful by the king, exiled to the border and suffered many storms...

Evaluating the novel The Wiser Than the King , writer Lai Van Long said, "it will contribute to making more people, more generations know about the talent, fair and upright personality and great contributions of To Hien Thanh to the development of our country during the Ly Dynasty, to Vietnamese history and to the education of the tradition of patriotism, love for the people, and integrity for students and trainees of schools training cadres and officials."

Writer Nguyen Manh Tuan donated all the proceeds from the book sales in the program to his fellow countrymen in the Central region who are heavily affected by storms and floods, as a way to share and encourage people to soon overcome this difficult period.

QUYNH YEN

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/nha-van-nguyen-manh-tuan-ra-mat-2-tac-pham-o-tuoi-80-post825351.html