“The prerequisites for a writer are bravery and talent. Lý Lan has proved by her works she’s qualified. I see (in her works) the freshness, the informality, the democracy, and the slyness of the young girls in Sai Gon of the past and the present.” – Sơn Nam
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Lý Lan was born in 1957 in Bình Dương and grew up in Chợ Lớn, the Chinatown of Hồ Chí Minh City. She graduated from the Hồ Chí Minh City (Việt Nam) University of Education and received a Master of Arts in English at Wake Forest University (USA) while on a Fulbright fellowship. She was a teacher at Cần Giuộc High School, Hùng Vương High School, and Lê Hồng Phong High School.
Lý Lan is the author of The Secret between The Black Lizard and Me, Three Humans and Three Animals, The Lanterns Festival, Self, A Bit of Romance in the Rain, Seeing Mountains in Dreams, Strangers’ Land, Overdrunk, Perimenopause, The Woman Telling Stories, Le Mai, A Peaceful Place for Birds Singing, Portrait of the Chinese in Cho Lon, A Women Novel, Aimless Personal Essays, Facing Life, Manifestation of Love, From Don Me San to…
Lý Lan is the translator of the Harry Potter novels into Vietnamese.