Biography

Cung Tích Biền, real name Trần Ngọc Thao, was born on February 8, 1937 in Quảng Nam province, Central Vietnam. His literary career–which has been shaped by the tumultuous history of Vietnam for nearly seven decades–began early, with his stories and poems appearing in various publications from 1956 onwards. In 1963, he was drafted into the Thủ Đức Military Academy and served in various units of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) from 1964 to 1969. After the fall of Saigon in 1975, Cung Tích Biền, like many other prominent writers in the South, faced government censorship and restrictions on their publications. He silenced his pen for twelve years during this eventful transition, and did not take it up again until 1987.

His extensive body of work encompasses a diverse range of genres, including short stories, novels, essays, memoires, and literary criticism. His works were serialized in South Vietnamese newspaper installments before 1975 and have also been featured in many diasporic Vietnamese newspapers, weeklies, and literary magazines after 1975. Some of his works have been translated into English and French. In Vietnam, his works before 1975, and a large number of works composed after 1975, are still banned from being collected, printed, and circulated. In 2007, while still in Vietnam, he self-published and distributed his own works in small quantities to bypass communist censorship. His self-publishing house Một Mình (By Oneself) has been in operation since then, and has published a six-volume collection of his complete short stories and novels.

Cung Tích Biền’s most celebrated works include Ai Tỉnh Ai Điên (Who’s Insane, Who’s Not?) (1968), Nỗi Buồn Thắp Sáng (Illuminated Melancholy) (1969), Cõi Ngoài (The Other Realm) (1969), Hòa Bình Nàng Tình Rỗng (Peace, the Empty Lover) (1970), Chim Cánh Cụt (The Penguin) (1990), Một Thời Lưu Lạc (A Time of Displacement) (1990), Tình Yêu Mùa Ảo Ảnh (Love in The Season of Illusion) (1991), Thằng Bắt Quỷ (The Demon Catcher) (1993), En Traversant Le Fleuve (Crossing the River) (1994), Đành Lòng Sống Trong Phòng Đợi Của Lịch Sử (Resigned to The Hallway of History) (2015), Xứ Động Vật (The Country of Animals) (2018), Mùa Xuân Cô Mơ Bay (In Springtime When Her Dream Soars) (2019), Nhạc Điệu Của Bầy Ong (The Buzzing Symphony Of The Bees) (2020), Một Thời Nên Vắng Mặt (A Time To Be Absent).

Cung Tích Biền’s short stories have also appeared in many anthologies, including Trên Ngọn Lửa (On the Flame), published together with Doãn Quốc Sỹ, Dương Nghiễm Mậu, Thanh Tâm Tuyền, Nhã Ca, Nguyễn Đình Toàn, and Mai Thảo (Hoàng Đông Phương Publishing House, 1971), Bạch Hóa (Transparency) (in The Best Short Stories of Our Homeland, Saigon 1974], Đêm Hoang Tưởng (Night of Illusions) (Literature, Hanoi 2004), Qua Sông (Crossing the River) (special issue commemorating the 30th anniversary of Sông Hương Magazine, 2012], Thằng Bắt Quỷ (The Demon Catcher) (Anthology of 44 Years of Vietnamese Overseas Literature, United States, 2019), Mùi của Gió Mùa (The Scent of the Monsoon) – short story collection (Ngôn Ngữ Magazine, 2023)

He currently resides in Orange County, California.