Speaking at the seminar, the poet Huu Thinh, Chairman of the Vietnam Writer Association, said that the Luu Quang Vu - Xuan Quynh family is a family of literature. Luu Quang Vu was a highly talented person, who contributes a great wealth of poetry during the anti-American resistance war. He was also the author of more than 50 plays. Meanwhile, Xuan Quynh has two admirable elements that are instinct and energy, Thinh added, thanks to these elements, her poetry is very natural, modern and emotional.
Luu Quang Vu was born in the northern province of Phu Tho, although his father, playwright Luu Quang Thuan, came from the central province of Quang Nam.
Vu served as a soldier in the anti-American War from 1965-70, when his poems began to gain recognition. But it was in the 1980s that he became a celebrated poet, writing about life in the post-war period and the process of national renewal in the late 1980s.
His dramas, short stories and poems were characterised by their gritty realism and great humanity. He wrote some 50 dramas, most of which criticise the darker side of society, especially corruption and authoritarian behaviour. Many of them earned high literary acclaim.
He was married to fellow poet Xuan Quynh. The couple died in a car crash in 1988 when travelling from Hai Phong City to their home in Hanoi. Their 12-year-old son Luu Quynh Tho was also killed in the accident.
The country’s highest awards, the Ho Chi Minh Prize in Art and Literature, were posthumously given to Luu Quang Vu in 2000 and Xuan Quynh in 2017.
