Contributing editor Stephen Morison Jr. recently traveled to Vietnam and spoke with poets and novelists about the challenges they face nearly thirty-five years after the end of the Vietnam War. What his conversations reveal is a complex national psyche that continues to grapple with the legacies of the past even as it accepts the realities of the present.
Morison, who lives in Beijing, has contributed several articles that offer insights into international writing communities, including "Censored Stories: Report From Literary Myanmar" (November/December 2008), "Chinese Characters: Report From Literary Beijing" (May/June 2008), and "The Poets of Kabul: Report From Literary Afghanistan" (November/December 2006).
The Tomb of Tu Duc, one of six imperial tombs of the Nguyen rulers. The enormous stone structure is located in Hue, the capital city of Thura Thien, a province in north central Vietnam.
Poet and fiction writer Dang Than (left) and Stephen Morison Jr. at the Dinh Lang Restaurant, a European-style café with tables overlooking Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi.
A pair of little kids climb on a Soviet-built MiG-17 jet fighter parked inside the gate of the Vietnam Military History Museum in Hanoi.
The One Pillar Pagoda, a historic Buddhist temple in Hanoi. The pagoda was built by Emperor Lý Thái Tông, who ruled from 1028 to 1054.
Vietamese dissident Duong Thu Huong sits at a table in the Café Le Metro in Place Maubert in the Fifth Arrondissement of Paris. In 1991 she was arrested for making critical remarks about the Communist Party's interests.