Viet Nam News
THUA THIEN-HUE — The Phung Quan Foundation, founded in memory of the late famous writer and poet Phung Quan, has been forced to close due to a shortage of funds.
Poet Ngo Minh, founder and manager of the foundation, announced the closing of foundation because of its financial complete exhaustion.
Founded in 2011, the foundation aims to encourage excellent pupils from the writer Quan’s hometown in Thuy Duong Ward, Huong Thuy Town, Thua Thien-Hue Province. It also aims to praise outstanding works of literature by Hue authors. The foundation has been run with more than VND100 million (about US$4,400), which is the remains of donations from kind-hearted people to build the tomb for writer Quan and his wife. The foundation has also received small contributions from two other sponsors.
Born in 1932 in Thuy Duong Commune, Huong Thuy District in Thua Thien-Hue Province, Phung Quan in 1945 joined the Ve Quoc Quan force, which is the predecessor of the Viet Nam People’s Army.
His debut literary work, Vuot Con Dao (Escape from Con Dao Island Prison) rose to fame, receiving the Viet Nam Writers’ Association Prize in 1955.
In 1988, he published his novel Tuoi Tho Du Doi (The Fierce Childhood) and received the Children’s Literature Prize of the Viet Nam Writers’ Association in 1990.
Alongside novels, Quan also composed several famous poems including Hoa Sen (Lotus), Hon (Kiss) and Dem Nghi Tam Doc Do Phu Cho Vo Nghe (Reading Poems by Do Phu for my Wife in the Night in Nghi Tam). His wife is Vu Thi Boi Tram, a teacher at the Chu Van An High School in Ha Noi.
Quan passed away on January 22, 1995 in Ha Noi. Five years later, his wife also died. Obeying his wishes when he was alive, his family and friends brought his remains and those of his wife to be buried at his birthplace in Huong Thuy Town.
In 2007, Phung Quan was granted the National Award for Literature and the Arts by the State of Viet Nam. — VNS