Thursday, March 28, 2024

Artists Nguyen Thi Hop & Nguyen Dong to host book signing

Thuy Phan/Nguoi Viet


WESTMINSTER, Calif.– When it comes to keeping the stories and traditions of Vietnamese folk tales alive, there are few people more versed to tell those stories through art than Nguyen Thi Hop and Nguyen Dong. The husband and wife duo are renowned for their artwork and spent over 15 months illustrating a book called Vietnamese Children’s Favorite Stories, as retold by Tran Thi Minh Phuoc.









The book Vietnamese Children’s Favorite Stories will be available for purchase and signed by the artists Nguyen Dong and Nguyen Thi Hop.


“It was a joy for us to be a part of this very important project,” said Hop. “There was a lot of responsibility in how we illustrated the tales, because we are educating the children and wanted to make sure we represented our culture and the stories in the right way.”


The duo will be at Kinokuniya Books located at 665 Paularino Ave. in Costa Mesa next Satuday, June 11 at 2 p.m. to sign autographs. As an added gift, they will be signing limited edition prints, showcasing artwork from their book to anyone who purchases a copy of Vietnamese Children’s Favorite Stories. The bookstore is located inside Mitsuwa Market.








Artists Nguyen Dong and Nguyen Thi Hop will be signing copies of the book Vietnamese Children’s Favorite Stories on June 11 at 2 p.m.


This book covers 15 stories that are a mix of variations on familiar tales and legends. Familiar folk-tale elements can be seen in many, such as “The Legend of the Mosquito,” “Why Ducks Sleep on One Leg,” “Why the Sea is Salty” and a “Cinderella” variant, “The Story of Tam and Cam.” Others are rooted in Vietnam. “Da Trang and the Magic Pearl” offers an explanation for the scuttling of crabs on the beach; “The Legend of Banh Chung and Banh Day” reveals the origins of the traditional foods of Tet; “Why One Shouldn’t Sweep the House on Tet Nguyen Dan” explains another Tet tradition.


“This publishing house has been in existence since the 1950s and they have always brought stories of Southeast Asia, but this is the first time they are telling stories of Vietnam for the younger generation,” said Dong. “We are both humbled and proud to have worked on this project and be a part of this beautiful collection of stories for Vietnamese children.”


The event is free and open to the public.


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