Vietnamese-American author finds his roots through his mother's memories

First launched in France in 2023, Live quickly made an impression on French readers with more than 8,000 copies released. In early 2024, surpassing many works - French-language author-illustrator, the book won the Prix du Jury oecuménique de la BD 2024.

Living Works

Living is a story about a mother telling her daughter about the thrilling memories throughout the time she lived and worked in the war zone. With two timelines, past and present, and interwoven characters, the book depicts the parallel images of two women: One is the young girl in her mother's memory, trying to adapt and integrate into life in the war zone. The other is a modern young woman trying to connect with her mother and the past, to understand more about her mother and her roots.

The past timeline is set in the context of the nation's resistance war against the US from 1969 - 1975. During the 7 years living in the war zone, the young girl Linh (in her mother's memory) got to know the revolutionary soldiers, who brought her to the resistance war to liberate the nation as well as to cinema.

The stories of the past in Living are not about fierce confrontations but about everyday moments in the war zone, about moments of living, working, and making films with passion in the midst of all kinds of deprivation, in the midst of falling bombs and bullets, and in the roar of planes in the sky.

Interwoven with the mother’s stirring memories of the past is her present life, portrayed from the daughter’s perspective. The young girl named Linh has now become a famous contemporary director in Vietnam, but somewhere inside her she is still influenced by the past.

With the vivid drawings of a talented young French artist, the stories of generational communication between mother and daughter in Living not only contribute to recreating the history of the nation from a rarely mentioned perspective, but also depict the complex relationship between mother and daughter, along with the desire to learn about the roots of a young Vietnamese person born and raised abroad.

Author Hai Anh (holding microphone) next to artist Pauline Guitton (left) and director Viet Linh

During the exchange, author Hai Anh and artist Pauline Guitton shared more about the comic publishing industry in France and the journey of this work to introduce to readers in both countries. She said that since she was very young, she had heard stories told by her mother, but in France, those memories were not popular, from which she developed this project.

She also expressed her love for comics, and with her neighbor Pauline Guitton - who also loves drawing - the two have planned to create together in the near future. When reading a comic about a mother-daughter relationship, plus this is a very good way to convey the culture of a country, all of this inspired this work.

Hai Anh said she chose the title Song because it has a very beautiful and nice sound, even though it may be difficult to pronounce and find for French people, she still chose to keep the Vietnamese accented writing. Talking about the content, Song also represents the life of her mother and many women at that time, and she always wanted the stories in this book to live forever, so that is the reason she chose this title.

With guest journalist Kim Hanh and director Viet Linh - the central character of the work, stories about the youth of the fiery time in the resistance zone are also brought back. Through this, readers have the opportunity to better understand the lives of previous generations, learn more about the lives of second-generation Vietnamese children abroad, thereby adding to national pride.

Author Hai Anh was born in 1993 and grew up in Paris (France) in a family that always looked back to its Vietnamese roots. She studied for a master's degree in cultural economics and then a degree in cinema. In 2020, Hai Anh moved to Ho Chi Minh City. She currently works in the audiovisual and publishing industry, traveling between Vietnam and France. In 2023, she was honored by Forbes magazine as one of the Outstanding Young Faces Under 30 in Asia .

Artist P AULINE G UITTON was born in 1993 in Paris. After studying at the Caen School of Fine Arts, she came to Vietnam to live with Hai Anh for a year. Upon returning to France, Pauline continued her studies at the Gobelins School of Animation and graduated in 2021. She currently works mainly as an animation storyboard artist.

Source link: https://thanhnien.vn/tac-gia-goc-viet-tim-ve-nguon-coi-thong-qua-ky-uc-cua-me-185240324110943213.htm