Nguyen Minh Nhut, director of the Tre (Youth) publishing House, has just signed a lifelong contract with veteran writer Tran Kim Trac, who is famed with his short stories about the southern region. — Photo zing.vn

HCM CITY (VNS) — Nguyen Minh Nhut, director of the Tre (Youth) publishing House, has just signed a lifelong contract with veteran writer Tran Kim Trac, who is famed with his short stories about the southern region.

Born in 1929 in the Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang, Trac has worked as a writer for almost 50 years and written 20 short stories on life in the southern region.

He is the third writer from the south after writers Son Nam (1926-2008) and Trang The Hy (1924) who have signed the same contracts with the publishing house.

According to the contract, the publishing house will be able to publish 19 short stories by the writer starting this month. The publishing house has given the writer VND100 million (US$4,400) as a pre-paid copyright sum.

The writer will receive a copyright fee when the works are reprinted and his family will get the fee when the writer passes away.

The writer has also allowed the publishing house to publish his works in e-books.

Trac has been known through his short story titled Cai Lu (The Jar), which earned him a prize of the Viet Nam Literature and Arts Association in the period 1945 to 1954. — VNS