The covers of books on women and family values by late female author Bà Tùng Long. The books have been republished by the Trẻ Publishing House to celebrate the writer’s 104th  birthday anniversary. Photo courtesy of the publisher

HCM CITY Seven books on Vietnamese women and family values by late author and journalist Bà Tùng Long of Đà Nẵng, a leading female writer of South Việt Nam in the 1960s-70s, have been reprinted by the Trẻ (Youth) Publishing House.

The publication celebrates the writer’s 104th birthday anniversary.

The books include Bóng Người Xưa (The Shadow of Lover Past),

Người Xưa Đã Về  (Love Comes Back), Một Lần Lầm Lỡ  (Mistaken), Duyên Tình Lạc Bến (Lost in Love), Đời Con Gái (Life of Girls), Đường Tơ Đứt Nối (Broken Love) and Con Đường Một Chiều (One Way), which were selected from many books of the writer.

All of the publications feature Vietnamese culture, southern women and their lifestyle. 

Traditional family issues are also highlighted.

Sài Gòn (HCM City now), home of the writer and her family for many years, is also featured.

“All of Bà Tùng Long’s short stories and novels highlight and encourage women to live with self-confidence and self-belief. She understands what women love and want,” said Đỗ Kim Thoa, a reader from HCM City, who began reading the writer before 1975.  

“Her views about love, women, and family issues are still fresh today. Young readers, particularly women, can learn many things from the female characters in her books,” she said.

Bà Tùng Long, whose real name is Lê Thị Bạch Vân, was born in Đà Nẵng in 1915.

She worked as a teacher in Vietnamese and French literatures at schools in Hội An, such as Les Lauries, Tân Thịnh and Đạt Đức. 

She began her writing career in 1952 after her short stories were printed in newspapers.

One year later, she wrote a column on women for the daily newspaper Sài Gòn Mới (New Sài Gòn).

After 1954, she moved to live in Sài Gòn [now Hồ Chí Minh City]. She wrote for several leading newspapers and magazines, including Tiếng Vang (Echo), Miền Nam (The South), Phụ Nữ Diễn Đàn (Female Forum), Phụ Nữ Ngày Mai ( Future Women) and Nhân Loại (Mankind).

During the 1960s, writing under her pen name Bà Tùng Long, she was popular in the region’s literature, with her works featuring women and women's rights.

She wrote more than 400 short stories and 68 novels. Her works provide readers with the culture and lifestyle of urban life in the southern region.

She passed away in HCM City in 2006.

Her three new books, published by the Trẻ Publishing House, are also in bookstores.

The works’ manuscripts were discovered by the writer’s son, author Nguyễn Đông Thức.  VNS