‘Ru,’ the debut work of Vietnamese-born Canadian writer Kim Thuy, 49, is now available in Persian.
The novel whose title means lullaby or cradle in Vietnamese, was first published in French in 2009 by Montreal-based publisher Libre Expression, Mehr News Agency reported.
In 2012, Canadian translator of contemporary literature Sheila Fischman, 79, translated the book into English.
Recently, Iranian translator Elmira Pouyamehr converted the English version of Ru into Persian, and it has been released by Tehran-based Kooleposhty Publication.
The novel is inspired by the author’s own experience, but Thuy prefers to be the voice of the generation who lost their homes in the 1970s following the Vietnam War (1955-1975), and faced an uncertain future. Thuy tells the story of a 10-year-old girl, An Tinh Nguyen, who drifts from camp to camp until she drops anchor in Quebec.
The story flits between her childhood in Vietnam where she was born into a large, wealthy family, her time aboard boats after she left home for a refugee camp in Malaysia, and her resettlement in Granby, Quebec, as an early immigrant.
Ru won Canada’s Governor General’s Award for French-language fiction in 2010. The award recognizes distinction in numerous academic, artistic and social fields.
