Promises from a Writing Camp

(Baonghean) - After a month of hard work by the authors, the Literary Creation Camp on the theme "For National Security and Peaceful Life" jointly organized by the Vietnam Writers Association and the Ministry of Public Security in Cua Lo Town has ended. Many high-quality works have been published...

Attending this writing camp were 46 writers from many generations and fields of work. Besides some authors who have been known to readers for a long time such as: Ton Ai Nhan, Phan Que, Nguyen Hieu, Pham Quang Dau, Do Thi Hien Hoa, Nguyen Dang An, Thanh Huong... there were also many more faces such as: Vu Thi Hong, Thu Trang, Nguyen Quang, Sy Chan, Phan Luu, Pham Thuan Thanh, Huu Phuong, Nguyen Trong Tan, The Duc, Nguyen Thi Ngoc Ha, Dinh Thuong, Nguyen Van Cu, Doan Huu Nam, Van Chinh...

Delegates visit the exhibition booth.

The literary writing camp on this topic originated from the idea of ​​Lieutenant General, writer Huu Uoc from the "Golden Pen" award in 1997 by the Public Security Culture and Arts Magazine - the predecessor of the current Public Security Literature and Arts Newspaper. Since then, it has created conditions for dedicated writers to convey to readers pages about the silent feats of the Public Security force, the fates and lives associated with security and order activities through novels, memoirs, short stories, and character memoirs.

According to writer Nguyen Thi Ngoc Ha, the People's Public Security sector is a rich, attractive, and humane subject, but it is not easy to express. Therefore, only by focusing on the private and public lives of police officers and soldiers can we go beyond the pages of brief writing, illustrations, or case reports to reach the authenticity of literature.

Most of the writers who came to this writing camp already had a detailed outline registered with the Organizing Committee, or had completed a few chapters... However, it is difficult to produce a literary work in less than a month, in the genre of novels, stories and memoirs about security and order! Therefore, the results are truly admirable.

Among them, we must mention writer Ton Ai Nhan, author of works that are well known to many people, such as: “Hanoi Reconnaissance”, “Finding You in the Sunset”… During his days at the writing camp, the writer is rushing to complete the novel “Storm Roaring on the Land of Flying Dragons”, expected to be about 700 printed pages. The work is based on real documents and depicts the struggle of the people's police soldiers in the early days after the August Revolution.

Writer Pham Quang Dau was successful with the novel “Single Line” about the life of intelligence officer, scientist, Major General Nguyen Dinh Ngoc. This time, returning to the writing camp, he continued to complete the novel about good and evil in life with the title “Enlightenment”.

Writer Sy Chan, who has many years of experience in journalism and book writing, after the book “Secret Key”, this time he joined the writing camp with an intelligence novel called “Chess Piece Secret”. The work recreates the portraits of reactionary political groups in Vietnam and the effective responses of the People’s Public Security force. The oldest among the female writers is writer Vu Thi Hong. Returning to the writing camp, she continued to complete the novel “Autumn Stays” reflecting the life with many hardships and struggles of Vietnamese women during and after the war. Female writer Thu Trang belongs to the Public Security force, after “A Drifting Life”, a number of short story collections and poems published before, this time returning to the camp, she participated with the memoir pages “Traces of a Time”, recreating the portrait of a frontline Public Security soldier in Lien Khu I Bac Giang during the resistance war against the French…

Other “unfinished” manuscripts, such as: “The spy with the code name F5” by writer Thanh Huong, “Behind the temple gate” by Phan Luu, “That girl and that guy” by Nguyen Hieu… are also quite diverse in poetics and deal with many subjects and areas of life.

According to the assessment of Lieutenant General Bui Ba Dinh, Deputy Director of the General Department of Politics of the Public Security Forces, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Steering Committee of the competition: The writers have expanded the topics, genres, and concepts of peaceful life, to family and social happiness. In particular, many works have focused on reflecting the fight against all kinds of crimes in peacetime in a more drastic and realistic way; the ideas and plots also have innovations in artistic style, sophistication, and aesthetics, so the works are of better quality...

It can be seen that the image of the police officer, whether described directly or indirectly, as the main character or only appearing in special situations, is intended to realistically and vividly portray examples of "Forgetting oneself for the country, serving the people".

In particular, through works written on the topic of security, writers have contributed to affirming that the task of protecting national security and peaceful life is the cause of all people, with the effective participation of many forces. Thereby, helping readers have a sympathetic view, sharing their hardships and silent sacrifices, thanks to which people will increasingly trust and cooperate well with the police force, contributing to protecting national security. That is also one of the goals that the literary writing contest on the topic "For national security and peaceful life" aims for!

Quang An