Kim Thúy

Vietnamese-born Canadian novelist
Kim Thúy

Thúy in November 2019
Thúy in November 2019
Born (1968-09-18) September 18, 1968 (age 55)
Saigon, South Vietnam
OccupationNovelist
NationalityVietnamese Canadian
Alma materUniversité de Montréal
GenreMigrant literature
Notable workRu (2009)
Children2

Kim Thúy Ly Thanh, CQ (born 1968 in Saigon, South Vietnam)[1] is a Vietnamese-born Canadian writer, whose debut novel Ru won the Governor General's Award for French-language fiction at the 2010 Governor General's Awards.[2]

Life and career

At the age of ten, Thúy left Vietnam with her parents and two brothers, joining more than one million Vietnamese boat people fleeing the country's communist regime after the fall of Saigon in 1975.[3] Her family arrived at a refugee camp in Malaysia,[4] run by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, where they spent four months[5] before a Canadian delegation selected her parents for refugee status on account of their French-language proficiency.[6] In late 1979, Thúy and her family arrived in Granby, in the Eastern Townships of Quebec, and later settled in Montreal.[7]

Thúy earned a bachelor's degree from the Université de Montréal in linguistics and translation (1990), and later earned a law degree from the same school (1993). [8] In her early career, Thúy worked as a translator and interpreter and was later recruited by the Montreal-based law firm Stikeman Elliott to help with a Vietnam-based project.[9] In this capacity, she returned to Vietnam as one of a group of Canadian experts advising the country's Communist leadership on their tentative steps toward capitalism.[9] She met her husband while working at the same firm, and the couple had their first child while on assignment in Vietnam.[6] Their second child was born after the couple relocated to Bangkok, Thailand on account of her husband's work.[6]

After moving back to Montreal, Thúy opened a restaurant called Ru de Nam,[8] where she introduced modern Vietnamese cuisine to Montrealers.[6] She worked as a restaurateur for five years, after which she dedicated one full year to creative writing, and landed a publishing contract for her first book thanks to a former patron of Ru de Nam.[6]

In 2015, Thúy was one of the recipients of the Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Awards presented by Canadian Immigrant Magazine.[10]

In 2017, Thúy was the recipient of an Honorary Doctorate[11] from Concordia University.

She was nominated for the New Academy Prize in Literature in 2018.[12][13]

Work

Thúy's debut novel Ru won the Governor General's Award for French-language fiction at the 2010 Governor General's Awards.[2] An English edition, translated by Sheila Fischman,[14] was published in 2012. The novel was a shortlisted nominee for the 2012 Scotiabank Giller Prize[15] and the 2013 Amazon.ca First Novel Award. The novel won the 2015 edition of Canada Reads,[16] where it was championed by Cameron Bailey.

In 2016, Thúy published her third novel, Vi. An English translation, again by Fischman, was published in 2018.[17] The book was named as a longlisted nominee for the 2018 Scotiabank Giller Prize.[18]

Ru, a film adaptation of Thúy's novel, was directed by Charles-Olivier Michaud and was released in 2023.[19]

Bibliography

  • Ru (2009)
  • À toi (2011), co-written with Pascal Janovjak
  • Mãn (2013)
  • Vi (2016)
  • Le secret des Vietnamiennes (2017)
  • L’Autisme expliqué aux non-autistes (2017), collaborated with Brigitte Harrisson and Lise St-Charles
  • Le poisson et l'oiseau (2019)
  • Em (2020)

Awards and honours

  • 2010 : RTL-Lire Grand Prize for Ru
  • 2010 : La Presse General Public Award, Montréal Book Fair, Essay category
  • 2010 : Governor-general's Award, novels category for Ru
  • 2011 : Premio Mondello Award for Multiculturalism
  • 2011 : Archambault Grand Literary Award for the novel Ru
  • 2018 : Women's Merit Award from the Women's Y Foundation of Montréal
  • 2019 : Honorary Doctorate from Bishop's University for significant civic and community contributions
  • 2022: President of the Selection Committee for the Ulrick-Chérubin Award

References

  1. ^ "From lawyer to novelist: an alumna's amazing journey" Archived 2014-10-12 at the Wayback Machine. Université de Montréal, February 9, 2010.
  2. ^ a b "Eight Quebec writers win Governor General's prizes"[permanent dead link]. The Gazette, November 17, 2010.
  3. ^ “Kim Thúy”, by Myriam Fontaine, Maude-Emmanuelle Lambert, at the Canadian Encyclopedia; published February 27, 2012; last edited January 18, 2018; retrieved May 28, 2018
  4. ^ “Kim Thúy on how ‘refugee literature’ differs from immigrant literature“, by Brian Bethune, at Maclean's; published April 11, 2018, retrieved May 28, 2018
  5. ^ “A Refugee's Multilayered Experience In 'Ru'”, interview by Scott Simon, at National Public Radio, on Weekend Edition Saturday; aired on November 24, 2012; retrieved May 28, 2018
  6. ^ a b c d e “Q&A with Kim Thúy”, interview by Terry Hong, at BLOOM; published September 18, 2013, retrieved May 28, 2018
  7. ^ “RBC Top 25 Canadian Immigrants: Canada's Top 25 Immigrants: Kim Thúy”, by Lisa Evans, at Canadian Immigrant; retrieved May 28, 2018
  8. ^ a b “Asian Heritage in Canada: Kim Thúy” at Ryerson Library, Library and Archives; retrieved May 28, 2018
  9. ^ a b “Kim Thúy's river of life”, by John Barber, at The Globe and Mail; published February 5, 2012; updated April 30, 2018; retrieved May 28, 2018
  10. ^ "Canadas Top 25 Immigrants 2015". Canadian Immigrant. Retrieved 2021-06-18.
  11. ^ "Honorary degree citation - Kim Thúy". www.concordia.ca. Retrieved 2021-01-12.
  12. ^ "Canadian writer Kim Thuy among finalists for New Academy Prize in Literature". Calgary Herald. 29 August 2018. Retrieved 11 September 2018.
  13. ^ Löfgren, Emma (29 August 2018). "Four writers shortlisted for 'the new Nobel Literature Prize'". The Local. Retrieved 11 September 2018.
  14. ^ "Kim Thuy's novel Ru draws on refugee past". CBC News, March 9, 2012.
  15. ^ "Scotiabank Giller Prize short list announced". Toronto Star, October 1, 2012.
  16. ^ "'Ru' by Montreal's Kim Thuy wins CBC's 'Canada Reads' competition". Brandon Sun, March 19, 2015.
  17. ^ "6 new Canadian books to watch for in April". CBC Books, April 4, 2018.
  18. ^ "Esi Edugyan, Patrick deWitt, Tanya Tagaq among 12 authors longlisted for 2018 Scotiabank Giller Prize". CBC Books, September 17, 2018.
  19. ^ Maxime Demers, "Une bande-annonce prometteuse pour «Ru», le film adapté du roman à succès de Kim Thúy". Le Journal de Montréal, July 12, 2023.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kim Thúy.
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Recipients of the Mondello Prize
Single Prize for Literature: Bartolo Cattafi (1975) • Achille Campanile (1976) • Günter Grass (1977)
Special Jury Prize: Denise McSmith (1975) • Stefano D'Arrigo (1977) • Yury Trifonov (1978) • Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz (1979) • Pietro Consagra (1980) • Ignazio Buttitta, Angelo Maria e Ela Ripellino (1983) • Leonardo Sciascia (1985) • Wang Meng (1987) • Mikhail Gorbachev (1988) • Peter Carey, José Donoso, Northrop Frye, Jorge Semprún, Wole Soyinka, Lu Tongliu (1990) • Fernanda Pivano (1992) • Associazione Scrittori Cinesi (1993) • Dong Baoucum, Fan Boaci, Wang Huanbao, Shi Peide, Chen Yuanbin (1995) • Xu Huainzhong, Xiao Xue, Yu Yougqnan, Qin Weinjung (1996) • Khushwant Singh (1997) • Javier Marías (1998) • Francesco Burdin (2001) • Luciano Erba (2002) • Isabella Quarantotti De Filippo (2003) • Marina Rullo (2006) • Andrea Ceccherini (2007) • Enrique Vila-Matas (2009) • Francesco Forgione (2010)
First narrative work: Carmelo Samonà (1978) • Fausta Garavini (1979)
First poetic work: Giovanni Giuga (1978) • Gilberto Sacerdoti (1979)
Prize for foreign literature: Milan Kundera (1978) • N. Scott Momaday (1979) • Juan Carlos Onetti (1980) • Tadeusz Konwicki (1981)
Prize for foreign poetry: Jannis Ritsos (1978) • Joseph Brodsky (1979) • Juan Gelman (1980) • Gyula Illyés (1981)
First work: Valerio Magrelli (1980) • Ferruccio Benzoni, Stefano Simoncelli, Walter Valeri, Laura Mancinelli (1981) • Jolanda Insana (1982) • Daniele Del Giudice (1983) • Aldo Busi (1984) • Elisabetta Rasy, Dario Villa (1985) • Marco Lodoli, Angelo Mainardi (1986) • Marco Ceriani, Giovanni Giudice (1987) • Edoardo Albinati, Silvana La Spina (1988) • Andrea Canobbio, Romana Petri (1990) • Anna Cascella (1991) • Marco Caporali, Nelida Milani (1992) • Silvana Grasso, Giulio Mozzi (1993) • Ernesto Franco (1994) • Roberto Deidier (1995) • Giuseppe Quatriglio, Tiziano Scarpa (1996) • Fabrizio Rondolino (1997) • Alba Donati (1998) • Paolo Febbraro (1999) • Evelina Santangelo (2000) • Giuseppe Lupo (2001) • Giovanni Bergamini, Simona Corso (2003) • Adriano Lo Monaco (2004) • Piercarlo Rizzi (2005) • Francesco Fontana (2006) • Paolo Fallai (2007) • Luca Giachi (2008) • Carlo Carabba (2009) • Gabriele Pedullà (2010)
Foreign author: Alain Robbe-Grillet (1982) • Thomas Bernhard (1983) • Adolfo Bioy Casares (1984) • Bernard Malamud (1985) • Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1986) • Doris Lessing (1987) • V. S. Naipaul (1988) • Octavio Paz (1989) • Christa Wolf (1990) • Kurt Vonnegut (1991) • Bohumil Hrabal (1992) • Seamus Heaney (1993) • J. M. Coetzee (1994) • Vladimir Voinovich (1995) • David Grossman (1996) • Philippe Jaccottet (1998) • Don DeLillo (1999) • Aleksandar Tišma (2000) • Nuruddin Farah (2001) • Per Olov Enquist (2002) • Adunis (2003) • Les Murray (2004) • Magda Szabó (2005) • Uwe Timm (2006) • Bapsi Sidhwa (2007) • Viktor Yerofeyev (2009) • Edmund White (2010) • Javier Cercas (2011) • Elizabeth Strout (2012) • Péter Esterházy (2013) • Joe R. Lansdale (2014) • Emmanuel Carrère (2015) • Marilynne Robinson (2016) • Cees Nooteboom (2017)
Italian Author: Alberto Moravia (1982) • Vittorio Sereni alla memoria (1983) • Italo Calvino (1984) • Mario Luzi (1985) • Paolo Volponi (1986) • Luigi Malerba (1987) • Oreste del Buono (1988) • Giovanni Macchia (1989) • Gianni Celati, Emilio Villa (1990) • Andrea Zanzotto (1991) • Ottiero Ottieri (1992) • Attilio Bertolucci (1993) • Luigi Meneghello (1994) • Fernando Bandini, Michele Perriera (1995) • Nico Orengo (1996) • Giuseppe Bonaviri, Giovanni Raboni (1997) • Carlo Ginzburg (1998) • Alessandro Parronchi (1999) • Elio Bartolini (2000) • Roberto Alajmo (2001) • Andrea Camilleri (2002) • Andrea Carraro, Antonio Franchini, Giorgio Pressburger (2003) • Maurizio Bettini, Giorgio Montefoschi, Nelo Risi (2004) • pr. Raffaele Nigro, sec. Maurizio Cucchi, ter. Giuseppe Conte (2005) • pr. Paolo Di Stefano, sec. Giulio Angioni (2006) • pr. Mario Fortunato, sec. Toni Maraini, ter. Andrea Di Consoli (2007) • pr. Andrea Bajani, sec. Antonio Scurati, ter. Flavio Soriga (2008) • pr. Mario Desiati, sec. Osvaldo Guerrieri, ter. Gregorio Scalise (2009) • pr. Lorenzo Pavolini, sec. Roberto Cazzola, ter. (2010) • pr. Eugenio Baroncelli, sec. Milo De Angelis, ter. Igiaba Scego (2011) • pr. Edoardo Albinati, sec. Paolo Di Paolo, ter. Davide Orecchio (2012) • pr. Andrea Canobbio, sec. Valerio Magrelli, ter. Walter Siti (2013) • pr. Irene Chias, sec. Giorgio Falco, ter. Francesco Pecoraro (2014) • pr. Nicola Lagioia, sec. Letizia Muratori, ter. Marco Missiroli (2015) • pr. Marcello Fois, sec. Emanuele Tonon, ter. Romana Petri (2016) • pr. Stefano Massini, sec. Alessandro Zaccuri, ter. Alessandra Sarchi (2017)
"Palermo bridge for Europe" Award: Dacia Maraini (1999), Premio Palermo ponte per il Mediterraneo Alberto Arbasino (2000)
"Ignazio Buttitta" Award: Nino De Vita (2003) • Attilio Lolini (2005) • Roberto Rossi Precerotti (2006) • Silvia Bre (2007)
Supermondello Tiziano Scarpa (2009) • Michela Murgia (2010) • Eugenio Baroncelli (2011) • Davide Orecchio (2012) • Valerio Magrelli (2013) • Giorgio Falco (2014) • Marco Missiroli (2015) • Romana Petri (2016) • Stefano Massini (2017)
Special award of the President: Ibrahim al-Koni (2009) • Emmanuele Maria Emanuele (2010) • Antonio Calabrò (2011)
Poetry prize: Antonio Riccardi (2010)
Translation Award: Evgenij Solonovic (2010)
Identity and dialectal literatures award: Gialuigi Beccaria e Marco Paolini (2010)
Essays Prize: Marzio Barbagli (2010)
Mondello for Multiculturality Award: Kim Thúy (2011)
Mondello Youths Award: Claudia Durastanti (2011) • Edoardo Albinati (2012) • Alessandro Zaccuri (2017)
"Targa Archimede", Premio all'Intelligenza d'Impresa: Enzo Sellerio (2011)
Prize for Literary Criticism: Salvatore Silvano Nigro (2012) • Maurizio Bettini (2013) • Enrico Testa (2014) • Ermanno Cavazzoni (2015) • Serena Vitale (2016) • Antonio Prete (2017)
Award for best motivation: Simona Gioè (2012)
Special award for travel literature: Marina Valensise (2013)
Special Award 40 Years of Mondello: Gipi (2014)
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