In July 1979 a young
Vietnamese dissident broke
through the gates to the
British Embassy in Hanoi.
He had 400 poems in a
manuscript under his shirt.
His country was at war with
China and Cambodia. Four
years earlier the Communists
defeated South Vietnam, the
hope of democracy which
was abandoned by the
United States government.
Vietnamese dissident broke
through the gates to the
British Embassy in Hanoi.
He had 400 poems in a
manuscript under his shirt.
His country was at war with
China and Cambodia. Four
years earlier the Communists
defeated South Vietnam, the
hope of democracy which
was abandoned by the
United States government.
Arrested outside the Embassy,
the poet Thien would spend
twelve more years in
Communist prisons.
He had been there for
fifteen years previous,
his crime: anti- propaganda.
Ho Chi Minh sent Nguyen
Chi Thien and other
intellectuals to re-education
camps. There they were
starved and forced to labor to
serve the state. Denied pen
and paper, he composed
poems in his memory.
Somehow, the dissident poet
survived twenty-seven years in
the Communist Gulag--eight in
solitary darkness.
the poet Thien would spend
twelve more years in
Communist prisons.
He had been there for
fifteen years previous,
his crime: anti- propaganda.
Ho Chi Minh sent Nguyen
Chi Thien and other
intellectuals to re-education
camps. There they were
starved and forced to labor to
serve the state. Denied pen
and paper, he composed
poems in his memory.
Somehow, the dissident poet
survived twenty-seven years in
the Communist Gulag--eight in
solitary darkness.
| After his release in 1991 due to outcry led by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, the poet was still under house arrest and not regaining health. He emigrated to the United States to join his brother, whom he had not seen for forty-three years after the division of North Vietnam and South Vietnam in 1954. In 1998 Thien received an award from the International Parliament of Writers. He wrote seven stories of life in the Hoa Lo prison as he experienced it between 1979 and 1985. |
Now in 2007 the stories are in English, named Hoa Lo/Hanoi Hilton
Stories in honor of the Americans who were imprisoned there
during the Vietnam War.
They are published by Yale University Southeast
Asia Studies, who first published the poetry of
Nguyen Chi Thien in 1984 when he was still in
the Vietnamese prison known as Hoa Lo, the
Hanoi Hilton.
Hoa Dia Nguc/Flowers From Hell, translated by
Prof. Huynh Sanh Thong, won the Rotterdam
International Poetry Prize in 1985. ,
They did not know if he were alive or dead. Nguyen Chi Thien and Jean Libby
Trích Hỏa Lò ĐÀN BÒ
| Bilingual poetry and prose in student editions Life, Poetry, and Prison—Cuộc Sống, Thi Văn, và Tù Đày Hai Truyen Tu--Two Prison Life Stories by Allies for Freedom publishers 2007 and 2008 |
Students at UC Berkeley in 1981 sing the poetry of Nguyen Chi Thien
while he was still in prison. Music composed by Pham Duy.
The singers in the photograph are from right to left: Singer Thu Ha (Nguyet Mehlert),
Ninh Ngoc Bao Khanh, Nguyen Thi Hue and Ha Thuy Dung.
Photo from the collection of Bui Van Phu, program organizer.
He reprised the event on November 17, 2007, in San Jose,
to congratulate the author, now a free American citizen.
while he was still in prison. Music composed by Pham Duy.
The singers in the photograph are from right to left: Singer Thu Ha (Nguyet Mehlert),
Ninh Ngoc Bao Khanh, Nguyen Thi Hue and Ha Thuy Dung.
Photo from the collection of Bui Van Phu, program organizer.
He reprised the event on November 17, 2007, in San Jose,
to congratulate the author, now a free American citizen.
| Chris McCooey, Hanoi Prison Images, 2004 |
photo by Jean Libby,
October 2004
October 2004
| Nhà Thơ Nguyễn Chí Thiện Ra Mắt Sách Nov 20, 2007 Cali Today News - Vào lúc 2 giờ chiều ngày thứ Bảy 17/11/07 tại hội trường VIVO 2260 Quimby Rd., San Jose nhà thơ Nguyễn Chí Thiện đã cho ra mắt tập truyện Hỏa Lò bản tiếng Anh với tựa đề Ha Noi Hilton Stories. Số người tham dự ước lượng khoảng hơn 50. Trước đó là buổi nói chuyện của hai diễn giả Giáo sư Bùi Văn Phú, và ông Nguyễn KhoaThái Anh. Xen kẻ giữa 2 buổi nói chuyện là chợ sách, rất nhiều sách của nhiều tác giả Việt Nam bằng tiếng Anh đã được bày bán trong hội trường cùng với các tác phẩm của nhà thơ Nguyễn Chí Thiện. ********************************************************** The author (center) with Nguyen Huu Hieu (first publisher) and Phung Cung, dissident poet imprisoned with him during the 1970s. 1994 photo in Hanoi is following the release of Nguyen Chi Thien with the help of Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. He emigrated to the United States in 1995, and is now an American citizen. |
| Bui Van Phu, who is now a Science teacher in middle school in Oakland, California, organized the May, 1981 event. His interview with Nguyen Chi Thien at UC Berkeley on November 1, 2007, are linked here (Vietnamese language press) |
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