My husband had a mistress who was a few years younger than himself. The first six months in Taipei, I fancied my life had turned a new page — the early morning walks, the breakfasts together. My husband drove me all over the central part of the island. He appeared a caring and thoughtful man. He found addresses of families with Vietnamese wives to take me to visit, just so I wouldn’t be too sad. He showed off his young wife everywhere, stressing that she had graduated from university, she was not the kind of girl to be married through an agency, he did not have to spend a single dime on her! Sometimes, Than’s joy was my misgiving. In Vietnam, the only thing I knew how to do was to study. In Taiwan, I had to learn how to be a wife. Than wholeheartedly taught me everything, from kitchen chores to grocery shopping to tidying up the house. In Vietnam, the women revolved round and round around men. They were always afraid they could not keep up with the demands of the male sex. I saw for the first time in my whole life a man like Than who mopped the floor, took the trash out, went grocery shopping, cooked and ironed clothes. Only in Taiwan did I see men going out to buy sanitary pads for women. But Than didn’t like to buy sanitary pads for me, not because he hesitated, but because he kept urging me, get pregnant, oh dear, get pregnant.

Trang Ha

Vietnamesische Autoren

© Du Nguyen DU NGUYEN	© Hai Yen HAI YEN	© Linh Ngo LINH NGO	© Maik Cay MAIK CAY

Photo by Yen Duong NGUYEN HOANG QUYEN	© Trang Ha TRANG HA	Photo by Nick M. NGUYEN TRUONG QUY

Trang Ha

Trang Hạ is a writer, marathoner, social activist, and communications consultant based in Hanoi. She has authored numerous best-selling novels and short story collections and has successfully translated many novels and stories from the Chinese. Her work revolves around the topics of the status of women in society, the LGBT community, family lives, and the pursuit of status and happiness of young Vietnamese. She obtained a Bachelor's degree at the University of Foreign Languages in Hanoi and a Masters of Communications in Taiwan.

Born in 1975 in Hanoi, Trang Ha represents a generation of Vietnamese that was born after the war and that grew up in the context of a fast-changing Vietnam. Under the market economy and the country’s opening to the world, social values are redefined dramatically. Trang Ha’s generation is made of those who live in a traditional family while competing in a pragmatic, modernizing society.

During twenty years of working in the communications field and many years working abroad as a journalist, Trang Ha gained a comparative perspective between life in Vietnam and abroad, and between the conditions of women in Vietnam and women elsewhere. Trang Ha has actively been calling Vietnamese women to move away from a dependent lifestyle and old-fashioned, constraining, patriarchal values. Trang Ha’s writings praise a progressive, financially independent, and emotionally independent woman who has her own opinion on life. In 2015, her statements, magazine articles, and publications ignited millions of discussions on social media in Vietnam, as she called for women’s rights and criticized the selfishness of Vietnamese men. UN Women chose her as one of the ambassador for the “He for She” campaign in 2015 in Vietnam.

In 2017, Trang Ha is Vietnamese Forbes list of “Vietnam's 50 Most Influential Women”.

In 2018, Trang Ha is the first Vietnamese who ran Boston Marathon.

Trang Ha’s facebook Fanpage: 470.000 follower

8/2017- 5/2018: Trang Ha host 39 TV programs at HTV 7th Chanel - Sunday 10:45: Host a women’s talkshow about “A home-maker”.

Bibliography

Selected publications:

Play script “Xin lỗi, em chỉ là…” [“Sorry, you’re only…”] – Hòa Bình Theater, Ho Chi Minh City 2010
Short stories collection “Tình khúc” [“Love songs”] – Youth Publisher 1995
Short stories collection “Những đống lửa bên vịnh Tây Tử” [“The fires by the gulf of Xiziwan” ] – Writers’ Association Publisher 2007
Novel “Chuyện kể dưới ngọn đèn đường” [“Story told under the street light” ] – Women Publisher 2010
Short stories “Đàn bà ba mươi” [Thirty-year-old women ] – Women Publisher 2010
Short stories “Đàn ông không đọc Trang Hạ”[“Men don’t read Trang Ha”] – Literature Publisher 2012
Short stories “Rãnh ngực và tiệc đêm” [“Cleavage and night party”] – Epoch Publisher 2012
Ebook: Short stories “Người đàn ông quỳ cuối giường” [“The man kneeling at the bed end”] 2011; Long story “Làng trong phố” [“Village in the city”] 2011, published on Pavibook and Viettel Mbook.
Short stories “Tình nhân không bao giờ đòi cưới” – Women Publisher 2014
Novel “Chồng xứ lạ” [“The Viet Bride”] – Women Publisher 2016
Short stories “Giang hồ chỉ vừa đủ xài” – Youth Publisher 2017

Translations of novels and stories from the Chinese:

“Nàng Hằng Nga” [“Hang Nga lady”– 2 volumes, Trẻ Publisher 2000
“Xin lỗi, em chỉ là con đĩ” [“Sorry, you’re only a prostitute”] – Writers’ Association Publisher 2007
“Mẹ điên” [“Crazy mother”] – Women Publisher 2008
“Lỡ tay chạm ngực con gái” [“Accidentally touch a girl’s breast”] – Women’s Publisher 2009
“Sợi dây tình yêu” [“The thread of love”]– Epoch Publisher 2012
E-book “Nghèo đói là trường đại học lớn nhất” [“Poverty is the biggest university”], 2014

Literary Awards

Hương Đầu Mùa 1993, Hoa Học Trò Magazine,
Văn học tuổi Hai Mươi 1995, Tuổi Trẻ Magazine and Trẻ Publisher,
Tác phẩm tuổi xanh 1998, Tiền Phong Magazine,
Writing for the Youth campaign 2004, Writers’ Association and Thanh Niên Publisher,
Favorite Author selected by Readers 2012, Fahasa
Favorite Author selected by Readers 2014, Tiki.vn

Website and social media (in Vietnamese)
Facebook.com/blogTrangHa
trangha75@gmail.com

Trang Ha

Vietnamesische Autoren

Trang Ha

Bibliography

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