Writer and director of Việt Nam Museum of Literature. Photo đaidoanket. vn

Nguyễn Thị Thu Huệ, a distinguished figure in the literary landscape of Việt Nam, is the director of the Việt Nam Museum of Literature and a member of the Executive Committee of the Vietnam Writers’ Association. Her contributions to the field have been recognised by the Hà Nội Writers’ Association and the Văn Nghệ Quân Đội (Military Literature and Arts) magazine, among others.

Recently, Huệ sat down for an exclusive interview with Hải Nhi, a reporter from Đại Đoàn Kết (Great National Unity), to discuss the launch of the museum’s new tour and her illustrious writing career.

Could you introduce the tour of the museum?

It is a tour to encourage people to access literature heritage, keeping it alive in modern times. We turn objects at the museum into tourism products to attract visitors.

Last December, we launched a tour that offers visitors the chance to study literature. The visitors will listen to a poem set into music or watch performances made from a famous literary work.

The tour has made good use of Việt Nam’s literary heritage. Next time, we will have a tour to learn about writers’ homeland, literature characters or places where the works were born.

The number of visitors to the museum increased rapidly. In 2021, the number of visitors to the museum was equal to nearly ten years ago.

Many visitors have expressed amazement at the great literary heritage of the museum.

We also coordinate with counterparts such as other museums and universities to organise events to offer people chances to learn about Vietnamese literature.

What attract people to come to the museum?

I think the first attraction of the museum is the display content. The museum is the place to keep, preserve and introduce the national literary heritage, which is also the national pride.

The display area, indoor and outdoor, combines real objects and technology equipment.

Since 2021, we have boosted communication to popularise the museum to the community on the museum fan page and website.

We want to use technology to display objects and manage the museum’s performance. We have researched and set up a project, but it requires a high cost. One of the projects to submit to the government is a digital museum and making films on writers.

Presently, we focus on staff training, meeting working demand and preparation for display content to catch up with the growing trend.

Việt Nam Museum of Literature tour offers Hà Nội pupils the chace to learn about Vietnamese literature. Photo coutersy of the museum

You have been the museum director since 2021. What is different between a director and a writer?

It is a pleasant surprise for me. I worked at Việt Nam National Television (VTV) before moving to the museum. The working environments are pretty opposite. While VTV is always busy, the museum is quiet.

In VTV, I was part of a crew making television series. At the museum, I’m like a person who has a chance to return to the past, meeting eternal values again.

I think I’m lucky because I can always do what I like on new paths full of discoveries.

When I was a museum visitor, I saw good and bad things. Now I’m the museum director, I always think about how the museum has more visitors to come.

I learnt Vietnamese literature in college, but now I have more chances to profoundly understand literary works and the values that the late writers made.

Do you have time for writing? Do you plan to release a new book?

I’m still writing. I have been released, thanks to writing. I have joys like family, my favourite work and good friends. However, the paper gives me another life with my characters and me.

Every year, I aim to print a book, but it has not been done yet because I am still considering what kind to print. I complete novels and story collections.

Documents of the Nobel Archives older than 50 years were first opened recently according to the rule of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Vietnamese poet Vũ Hoàng Chương was on the list of nominees for the Nobel Prize in Literature. What do you think?

Everyone has the right to dream that their work will be well received, even at first they write for themselves. So it is excellent for a writer to be honoured.

I visited the place where the annual Nobel Prize ceremony takes place. I learned and understood the rule and how the prize jurors work. It is excellent to have Vietnamese poet Vũ Hoàng Chương on the list of nominees for the Novel Prize in Literature. It means that the Nobel Prize committee and the world as well know a Vietnamese poet. It would be beautiful if there were Vietnamese nominees for the Nobel Prize in Literature. VNS

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