Hồ Anh Thái, one of the best known contemporary novelists in Vietnam, is regarded as a literary phenomenon of the post-war generation.
Ho Anh Thai was born in 1960 in Hanoi. He graduated from Hanoi University of Diplomacy in 1983. After graduation, he worked as a diplomat abroad, especially in India, Iran and Indonesia. Fluent in several foreign languages, he earned a Ph.D. in Oriental Studies. He is also an Indologist and a visiting professor in the University of Washington and foreign universities.
Ho Anh Thai was the elected president of Hanoi Writers’ Association from 2000 to 2010. Also, he was appointed the Vietnam Deputy Ambassador to Iran from 2011-2015, and Indonesia from 2015-2018.
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Simultaneously, Au Ho Anh Thai gained recognition as a teenage author with his early publications, which primarily focused on the experiences and quests of youth. His notable works from this initial period include the novels *Men and Vehicle Run in the Moonlight* (1986), *The Women on the Island* (1986), and *Behind the Red Mist* (1989), as well as short story collections like *The Goat Meat Special* (1988) and *Fragment of a Man* (1991).
In the early 1990s, Thai transitioned to a more autobiographical narrative style, encapsulating his six-year residency in India through a series of comedic tales, including *The Man Who Stood on One Leg* and *The Barter*.
By the 2000s, his oeuvre shifted towards experimental and often controversial themes. His novels from this period—*The Apocalypse Hotel* (2002), *Ten and One Nights* (2006), *RHT is Rat Hunt Team* (2011), *Erased by the Wind* (2012), *His Children are Scattered on the Road* (2014), *Burning Van Gogh* (2018), and *Five Letters of Credence* (2019)—exemplify this evolution. Additionally, he produced short story collections such as *The Narration of 265 Days* (2001), *Four Paths to the Fun House* (2004), and *Man is Here and the Sky is There* (2013).
Thai revisited the theme of Indian culture with his 2007 novel *The Buddha, Savitri and I*, which is noted as the first Vietnamese novel to contemporize Buddhist themes within a multi-layered narrative structure that adeptly manipulates chronological and spatial dimensions. In 2022, he published *The Buddha, the Robber Queen and the Spy*, further exploring ancient Indian narratives.
His literary contributions have garnered international attention, with translations in over ten languages, including English, French, Korean, and Swedish, reflecting a robust global reach and cultural resonance.
Ho Anh Thai:
Behind the Red Mist:
The Women on the Island:
Apocalypse Hotel:
Some short stories: