Researching at NXB Hội Nhà Văn (Writers' Association Publishing House), Hà Nội

From: Lady Borton via Vsg <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Sent: Friday, December 6, 2024 10:21 PM
To: VSG <Vsg@u.washington.edu>
Cc: phamphonglan@gmail.com
Subject: [Vsg] Researching at NXB Hội Nhà Văn (Writers' Association Publishing House), Hà Nội

Dear friends and colleagues,

This week, I spent an intriguing morning at the renovated office of NXB Hội Nhà Văn (the Writers' Association Publishing House, 59 Nguyễn Du), which doubles as an archive and library of works published since the founding of the Writers' Association and its publishing house in 1957. The collection is ordered by date and also includes translated foreign works. Please Note: NXB Hội Nhà Văn is a different publishing house from NXB Văn Học (Literature Publishing House), established in 1948. 

Those doing literary research can find published books in the National Library. It's easy to secure a card for the National Library. Take your passport to the office to the left of the gate in the morning. The fee is low, and the wait is usually short. However, ordering old books at the National Library is more complicated because often the titles don't appear in the computerized catalogue. Of course, you then wait while a staff person fetches the book for you. I have found this process easy, and I have found the staff very helpful.

In contrast, the NXB Hội Nhà Văn books are lined up in order of publication on shelves where you can easily see the titles. Like the National Library, there's a reading room. Like the National Library, you may photograph pages. Like the National Library, you may not check books out. 

The books at 59 Nguyễn Du are only those published by NXB Hội Nhà Văn.

Should you want to visit and use the collection, you will need to make arrangements beforehand by contacting Ms. Phạm Phong Lan (phamphonglan@gmail.com). You should write your request in Vietnamese.

Among other tasks, Ms. Phong Lan oversees electronic publishing. You can find pages and sometimes full ebooks on the NXB Hội Nhà Văn website:  https://nxbhoinhavan.vn/index.html  You may have to click on a link several times to open the ebook.

Since NXB Hội Nhà Văn is a publishing house, staff are busy editing and publishing books. They do not have time to handle research queries. If you have research queries, ask a friend in Hà Nội to arrange to visit the publishing house.

Warmly,

Lady