Once a successful designer behind nearly 1,000 book covers and enjoying a glorious youth, Ta Quoc Ky Nam's life suddenly plunged into crisis after turning 30. His health deteriorated due to illness, his career faced a series of setbacks, and prolonged anxiety and secrets he had kept from his family for years created unbearable mental pressure.
As the patchwork shell of his wounded self crumbles, he is forced to peel away layer after layer of "masks" to learn how to confront his childhood traumas, the fear of rejection, and the identity crisis he had previously only known how to escape.
"Clinging to Mother's Skirt" is a collection of sincere, sometimes raw, writings chronicling the author's journey of self-salvation during her time "leaving the city for the countryside" to spend time in the kitchen with her mother.
In this work, the phrase "clinging to mother's skirts" does not imply dependence or reliance according to the common stereotype of weakness, but is viewed from the instinctive perspective of a child seeking refuge in maternal love after life's hardships.
It's a return to recognizing the greatness of love through the simplest things, from the food cover to a mother's handwritten advice on the back of a calendar. The honesty and naturalness of the writing stem from a mindset of saying what one knows, viewing writing as the only compelling act to confront the reality that one is not well, thereby shedding the glamorous facade of words to touch the reader's heart.
During the exchange, author Ta Quoc Ky Nam shared incredibly moving stories about the behind-the-scenes creation of his work and the hidden aspects of his soul. He admitted that he had long been "afraid of challenges" and shied away from his dream of writing a book, until events forced him to turn inward.
The manuscript title "Clinging to Mother's Skirt" came about naturally during the days he spent around his mother, writing to understand the major events in his life through countless moments ranging from shock and collapse to radiant beauty and tears.
The work is structured into three parts: Part I, "Clinging to Mother's Skirts," deals with family affection; Part II, "Clinging to the Way," shares the process of recovery and self-understanding; and Part III, "Staying with Myself," is when the author makes her own decisions, confronts brokenness, but is no longer alone because she has love and experience as her guide.
What makes this work special is the cover, which Ta Quoc Ky Nam created himself after years of designing for other authors. Overcoming the pressure of having to "prove his skills" or purely graphic design techniques, he drew inspiration from his mother's handwritten notes on the back of calendars, with the handwriting gradually getting larger as his eyesight deteriorated.
Talking about this process, Ky Nam couldn't hide his emotion when recounting the story of the treasure box containing all those hastily written notes – something that was once borrowed to display, taking up an entire wall at the "Clumsy but Abundant" exhibition.
Concluding the launch event, the designer honestly expressed that he initially naively thought of writing the book to help someone, but then realized that the first person to be saved was himself, turning the book into an anchor to wake up to each day.
Without acting as a guide, Ta Quoc Ky Nam hopes the book will serve as a spiritual anchor, offering a glimmer of hope to young people, especially those struggling on their journey of self-discovery and self-acceptance.
Source: https://baovanhoa.vn/xuat-ban/ra-mat-tu-truyen-chua-lanh-bam-vay-me-228451.html
![[Image] Close-up view of the interchange connecting the two expressways and Long Thanh Airport.](https://vphoto.vietnam.vn/thumb/1200x675/vietnam/resource/IMAGE/2026/05/25/1779703378210_ndo_br_z7863716673926-224453a31600126cce10622af6290afd-4549-jpg.webp)
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