VIETNAMESE  ABROAD  PEN  CENTRE 

Brief  History

The Vietnamese Abroad PEN Centre is an organization of writers, poets, artists, musicians and literary composers, etc., from across the globe. 

The Vietnamese Abroad PEN Centre was founded to promote solidarity among members, to promote Vietnamese literature and to voice deep concern for human rights violations, especially those oppressive campaigns against writers in Vietnam.

1978:  The Vietnamese Abroad PEN Centre (VNAPC) was established and introduced on June 25, 1978 in Paris, France, principally through the tremendous efforts of Trần Tam Tiệp, a highly-respected Editor who tirelessly supported writers and artists persecuted in Socialist Vietnam, and Minh Đức Hoài Trinh, a journalist, and Nguyên Sa Trần Bích Lan, a famous poet and formerly Vice-President of the PEN Vietnam.

When the Vietnamese Abroad PEN Centre was founded in 1978, Hanoi was detaining more than 130 writers, poets, artists.  It should be noted that former President of PEN Vietnam Centre, Poet Vũ Hoàng Chương passed away only days after being released from the Communist prison on September 6, 1976.

1979:  PEN International 44th Congress admitted VNAPC as an official member Centre.  VNAPC’s first President Minh Đức Hoài Trinh (term 1978-1980) attended the 44th Congress.

1980-1983: Under President Nguyễn Văn Hảo’s leadership, the Vietnamese Abroad PEN Centre became the source of support for dissident writers in Vietnam as well as the channel for them to publish works in the overseas Vietnamese community.

One of the well-known articles from dissident writers was Nếu Chàng Trương Chi Đẹp Trai (If Trương Chi is handsome) by Dương Hùng Cường criticizing human right violations by Hanoi;  through the help of Secretary General Trần Tam Tiệp, the article was published in April 1982 by Nhất Việt magazine in Paris, France.

The VNAPC’s support by for writers in Vietnam ended partly due to insufficient funding but also because Hanoi took a hard position accusing the Vietnamese Abroad PEN Centre as supporting anti-revolutionary activities.

1984-1988:   VNAPC’s President Trần Thanh Hiệp, attorney and writer, expanded the Centre to North America with the first general election of the Executive Board held in Montreal, Canada, in 1989.

VNAPC’s membership expanded for the first time during this period.  VNAPC presently has many members in Canada and the United States.

1989-1990:   VNAPC’s President Nguyễn Ngọc Ngạn, author and media personality, helped to formulate the Centre’s By-Laws and Regulations.

1991-1992:   President Trang Châu Lê Văn Châu, Poet, M.D., National Literary Winner, amended the Centre’s By-Laws and Regulations.

Dr. Lê Văn Châu volunteered in several missions to Southeast Asia to rescue refugees, who escaped Socialist Vietnam on small boats in the early 1980s.

2003-2005:  President Phạm Quang Trình, Author.

2009-2011: President Nguyễn Đăng Tuấn, Poet.

2011-2017: President Vũ Văn Tùng, Author, Pharmacist, applied for and received Charity status for VNAPC.   During President Vũ Văn Tùng’s two terms, collections of member’ works were published quarterly and VNAPC’s first literary camp was organized.

2018-2020:  President Dương Thành Lợi  (Lloyd Duong), Author and Attorney, was a refugee at age 14 who escaped Socialist Vietnam on a small boat that attacked by pirates several times and left to die at sea.  He and 26 other refugees were rescued timely by the Akuna and taken to Songkhla refugee camp in Thailand.  After a few months, he was resettled in Canada on May 10, 1980.  He wrote several books, two of which are often cited by researchers are The Boat People: Imprints on History and East Political Philosophies.

A student activist then a Crown prosecutor, who spent time in Hong Kong to assist refugees to seek U.N. protection, Lloyd Duong joined VNAPC in 1997.  Over the years, he’d served as president of VNAPC’s Writers in Prison Committee, as adviser to various Executive Boards, and was the originator and organizer of VNAPC’s first literary camp in Houston from August 19 to 20/8/2016.

Lloyd Duong envisions the Vietnamese Abroad PEN Centre as an organization dedicated to “Promote the Voices of Conscience and the Echoes of Compassion of Vietnamese across the Globe.”  Under this vision, a bi-lingual website was established (PENVietnam.org) to promote creative works by members and to record VNAPC’s history and activities.  The By-Laws and Regulations were amended to enshrine the symbol of freedom in the heart of Vietnamese across the globe (the yellow flag with three red stripes).

The Official Celebration of the 40th Anniversary of the Establishment of the Vietnamese Abroad PEN Centre was held in Washington, D.C. , on March 31, 2018.  It was attended by 500 members and patrons and was covered by various Vietnamese TV channels.

SBTN:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Rf_3G3xQKw

VietTV:    https://youtu.be/8xFKbX5KAsI

To draw international attention to the serious human right violations in Socialist Vietnam, VNAPC issued various protest letters such as:

Letter of Objection Protesting the Proposed Legislation to Open the Floodgates to Century-Long Leases of Vietnam’s Inland Territories to China

VNAPC also presented “SUBMISSION TO THE OFFICE OF THE UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS” on the Universal Periodic Review of Socialist Republic of Vietnam (32nd session) to be held during January - February 2019.

VNAPC members hope that this Submission will illuminate Socialist Vietnam’s repressive policy and, consequently, encourages the Vietnamese government to commit to change to respect democratic pluralism and basic human rights, including the freedom of association, freedom of thought and freedom of speech.

The Vietnamese Abroad PEN Centre received the official congratulation from the government of Ontario authored by Premier K. Wynne “thanks the Board and members of the Vietnamese Abroad PEN Centre for their contribution to nurturing the extraordinary voices and stories of our Vietnamese community.”