Trịnh Y Thư is a writer, translator, and founder of Văn-Học Press. In this interview, he reflects on balancing creative work with a full-time career, introducing Milan Kundera to Vietnamese readers, and exploring the human condition in his recent novel Đường Về Thủy Phủ. His lifelong dedication to literature reveals a quiet but enduring passion for storytelling and cultural preservation.

As an immigrant living in the US, you pursued a career in telecommunications. But you also dedicated so much time in literature and music, from being a classical guitarist, to serving as the publisher and editor of Văn-Học Press Publishing House, and publishing translations and your own works. How did you find the time to both work and be creative? 

As you know, it’s almost impossible for a Vietnamese writer to make a living in the US by his/her pen. Just like anybody else, I had to have another job to raise my family. But it is the passion that kept me attached to the arts that I love. It is quite challenging, believe me, but somehow, I managed to overcome the challenges, through strenuous efforts, to balance a life between an artist and an ordinary person living a normal life. I may not be a great artist, I don’t “burn” myself for my arts, but that’s the way I am, and I found it rewarding to experience multiple aspects of life, not just a narrow band of it.

You are the first Vietnamese author to introduce Milan Kundera to Vietnamese readers by translating excerpts from his novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Đời Nhẹ Khôn Kham). What is it about Milan Kundera’s books that motivated your translation work? Does this Czech and French novelist exert an influence in your own writing or way of thinking? 

Milan Kundera was not well-known in the West before the fall of the Soviet Union. When the Berlin Wall was taken down by the German people, the West started looking into the literature of the East-bloc countries, and they found Kundera. That was the time for hope, the hope that Communism is in decline and perhaps will vanish from the surface of the earth. I was first attracted to Kundera in that spirit, but later I found out that his works, novels and literary essays, are much more than just anti-communist propaganda. It’s full of philosophy, psychology, and history among other things. His style of writing is unlike anything I read before, and of course, I have to admit that my writing is much influenced by his. Hitherto, I have translated 2 of his books into Vietnamese, beside The Unbearable Lightness of Being, which was also published and well-received in Vietnam, I also translated The Book of Laughter and Forgetting.

What does being a part of Văn-Học Press mean to you? How has being an active part of this literary circle impacted your life? 

Văn Học Press is a publishing house founded by me in 2018 with the mission to assist Vietnamese writers to publish his/her works. Some of the notable books that were published in the past are The Complete Poetry by Du Tử Lê and Kiều Chinh: An Artist in Exile, a Memoir, among others. I’m very proud of this achievement, and I find it surprisingly enjoyable to work as an editor and publisher. By the way, I have absolutely no income doing this job, it’s almost like a non-profit organization.

Your most recent novel, Đường Về Thủy Phủ (Road to Thủy Phủ), deals with the brutality of war, the passing of time, and the poignant fragility of human conditions. What were some challenges you encountered as you were writing this book, especially with its complex themes? What made this writing project different from your previous books? What do you hope your readers will come away with after reading your novel? 

This novel, published in 2024, is well-received by both critics and readers alike. The backdrop of the novel is the 30-year war in Vietnam, but I can say with absolute certainty that it’s not a war novel nor a historical one. In fact, ideology has no place in the novel. In writing the novel, I paid more attention to the human conditions, the suffering that the characters had to endure, not only by war but also by his/her imperfect human nature, by many circumstances and decisions that could change their paths of life with great consequences. In the end, it’s the love, not just the love between ourselves but the love with nature, with life itself that can give us some hope. Thủy Phủ, a symbol I took from Vietnamese mythology and folkloristic religion, is that hope.

####

This interview was conducted by Cathy Duong as part of the Author Spotlight series. All featured authors participated in Viet Book Fest 2025, a literary event presented by the Vietnamese American Arts and Letters Association (VAALA). Held on Sunday, April 6, 2025, at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana, the all-day festival celebrated Vietnamese diasporic voices in literature, culture, and storytelling.