HCM City (VNA) – Veteranwriter Nguyen Nhat Anh’s books in Braille versions will be printed and releasedsoon by Nguyen Dinh Chieu School for the Blind in Hanoi to serve itsstudents.
Anh visited the school and presented four of hisbooks to the school.
His four best-selling children’s books, ChoToi Xin Mot Ve Di Tuoi Tho (Give Me a Ticket Back to Childhood), MatBiec (Blue Eyes), Bay Buoc Toi Mua He (Seven Steps to Summer)and Ngay Xua Co Mot Chuyen Tinh (The Past Love Story), will bepublished in Braille by the school’s teachers.
The writer said he would offer more his books tohelp the school produce more Braille books for its students.
Anh, who lives in HCM City, began writing in1984 and is known for his simple style and insights about children.
He is one of the city’s few authors who writefor children, and has penned many contemporary classics, including KinhVan Hoa (Kaleidoscope) and Thang Quy Nho (The Mischievous Boy),which are favourites of thousands of children and teenagers around the country.
In 2007, Anh’s Cho Toi Xin Mot Ve Di TuoiTho sold more than 20,000 copies in the first weeks of its release. Thebook is about a city boy named Mui and his three friends. In 2010, it receivedthe Southeast Asian Writers Award from Thailand’s royal family.
The book has been translated into Thai andpublished by Thai-based publisher Nanmee Books.
Vietnam has from 600,000 to 700,000 blind andvisually impaired people, 70,000 of whom are children.
The Vietnam Blind Association prints Braillebooks with old printing machines that have very low productivity, and manyassociations in provinces still print Braille books by hand.
Several schools for blind children in big citiessuch as Hanoi and HCM City produce Braille books and notebooks for theirstudents.
These schools, funded by the State and local andforeign charities, have succeeded in teaching a small minority of the country’sblind how to read and write. However, the supply is well below what is needed.-VNA