"Ganh Vac Ngot Ngao," or "Bearing the Sweet Burden," is a Vietnamese-language collection of poems and essays by Taiwanese author Wu Sheng (吳晟). The publication of this book was celebrated with a special event on Sept. 24 at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Hanoi.
This collection was launched with help from the National Museum of Taiwan Literature's "Project to Translate, Publish, and Promote Selected Works by Wu Sheng," which chose 15 essays and poems by the writer to be released for the Vietnamese market.
In light of the growing literary interaction between the two countries, the NMTL considers Vietnamese translations of Taiwanese literature a necessary element. As such, the museum has compiled a special selection of pieces by well-known Taiwanese poet and writer Wu for translation and publication, with a focus on pieces that address land and environmental issues.
The resulting collection has been published in both a Vietnamese edition and a parallel Chinese-Vietnamese edition. It is hoped that the book will capture the interest of readers in Vietnam, fostering greater literary exchange and mutual understanding.
To promote literary exchange between Taiwan and other countries, the NMTL in 2017 launched the "Taiwanese Literature Translation — Southeast Asian Languages Project," which in December that year resulted in the publication of "Perjalanan Malam: Kumpulan Cerpen Pilihan Taiwan Malaysia," or "Night Trip: A Collection of Selected Short Stories from Taiwan and Malaysia," in Chinese and Bahasa Melayu editions.
To promote understanding of Southeast Asian literatures among Taiwanese readers, a similar project titled "The Bilingual Vietnamese Children's Audiobooks Project" released the bilingual (Vietnamese-Mandarin) audiobooks "Sự tích chú cuội cung trăng" ("Cuoi on the Moon") and "Sự tích cái chổi" ("The Story of the Broom") in December 2017.
Organized by the National Museum of Taiwan Literature, with the support of National Cheng Kung University, Hanoi-based University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, and Vietnamese publishers, the Sept. 24 book launch was attended by both Wu the author and his wife Chuang Fang-hua and recorded by a documentary team from the Public Television Service.