Nguyễn Bính

Nguyễn Trọng Bính was born on 13 February 1918 in Thiện Vịnh, in the Vụ Bản district of Nam Định, the son of a schoolmaster. His mother, bitten by a snake, died three months after his birth. He did not go to school but learned from an elder brother who taught him French, and at thirteen he won an alternating-song contest at the village festival. In 1937 the Hanoi group, which had just instituted its prize, crowned him. In 1943 he left for the South, fought in the war there, returned to the North in 1954 and edited a poetry journal. He died on the eve of Tết, on 20 January 1966.

In the catalogue 1

• PoetryLỡ bước sang ngangNguyễn Bính · 1940not translated into EnglishLiterature