Leaning against the metal walker, Tran Tra My moves slowly towards her old computer. She lays her hands on the keyboard and begins to write. Each word appears slowly on the screen. And one by one her emotions are revealed…

Tra My signs her book Giac Mo Doi Chan Thien Than (Dream of the Angel’s Feet) at the launch earlier this week.

Writing is the only way My can escape the four walls of her house and plunge herself into a world full of colour.

When she was only a few months old, My caught a fever, which led to tumours on her feet. The operation to remove the tumours damaged her feet and also caused her to have difficulties moving her hands and speaking.

Due to her difficulty moving and speaking, she could not go to school and had to teach herself. However, the young girl taught herself to read, write, and do math. She even published her first collection of short stories, Giac Mo Doi Chan Thien Than (Dream of the Angel’s Feet). At the book launch early this week at the Ha Noi University of Culture she could not keep the tears from rolling down her cheeks.

Though the book was written by a girl who has experienced so much pain, it offered readers a view of her great aspiration to live, to love and hope.

Dreams

The book is a collection of 20 short stories and took My six years to finish. She often writes about the life happening around her that she can only imagine. The collection features different stories of young people who failed several times but never lost their belief in life.

Without the chance to travel, My mostly collected material for her stories by observing the people around her, reading newspapers and watching television. “I’ve always believed that life would never turn its back on those who live an honest life and never stop trying,” My says.

Born in central Quang Tri Province, Dong Ha Town, My always had a passion for literature.

“Since I already knew how to read, write, do some basic math, I began to read books, in particular fairy tales. I was passionate about fairy tales and always dreamed that in real life miracles would also happen. That way, when I grew up, I would become a useful person to society. I would travel and have friends everywhere,” My said.

At the age of 14, she began to write poems as a way to reach out and tell her story.

“I got the draft of her book, Giac Mo Doi Chan Thien Than, by chance. I appreciated its literary value and also its profound human value. Through the book, we can see the writer’s good heart and great love of life,” says Vo Kim Thanh from the Labour Publishing House, which published My’s collection.

Energy

Tra My holds her first collection of short stories.

She won third prize at a creative writing contest organised by the Quang Tri Teacher Training College in 2006. She also won the consolation prize at the UNESCO contest “Knowing How to Write to Make Life Better” in 2009. She is actively involved in a number of literary programmes for young people at the Radio Voice of HCM City, Tuoi Trang Tron (Full Moon Age) of Quang Tri Television, Tuoi Tre newspaper, and online newspaper Viet Nam Net.

“When I was nine, my sister was already in first grade. Every afternoon, when my sister and some neighbours came home from school, I ran out and asked: What did you learn today? Can you show me?” My says.

“Then they told me about their lessons. In the evening, when my sister was studying, I sat next to her. I imitated her and studied from the books she left on her table, but in silence, my family didn’t know. The fact that I knew how to write and do math exercises, for me and my family, it was already an achievement.”

Van Gia, chief of the Literature Creation, Argument and Critic Department of the Ha Noi University of Culture says: “I see in many of her pages a high degree of professionalism. In particular I am very interested in the short story Nhung Cua So Khong Bao Gio Khep (The Doors that Never Closed), written as an autobiography.”

Film director Nguyen Huu Phan has known My for one year and they often chat online.

“A year ago, I got a message from a girl who said she wanted to speak to me. I called her, but could only hear jumbled sounds that were very difficult to understand. I thought we had a bad phone connection so I hung up and called back. Again, all I heard were the same sounds. After a few minutes of silence, I received a message from her that said: ‘I can not speak’,” he says.

“But soon, when we became close friends and I read what she wrote, I admired her extraordinary energy.”

Her ambition doesn’t stop at writing short stories. She also wants to write scripts and game shows.

“My dream is to have the opportunity to study at the Literature Creation, Argument and Critic Department of the Ha Noi University of Culture,” she says.

My also cherishes the dream of a happy family.

“I dream of meeting a man who loves me and wants to share everything with me. I dream of living a normal life like other people. I am like other girls, who have always wished to be loved, looked after, and to have a strong shoulder to cry on,” she says.

VietNamNet/VNS