The exchange programme features the participation of writer Laurent Demoulin – author of the book “Robinson”, and two experts: teacher Trinh Thi Le Thu, Vice Principal of Binh Minh Primary School, and Psychologist Dr. Nguyen Thi Mai Huong, from Faculty of Social Work at Hanoi National University of Education.
The event is an activity within the framework of European Literature Days 2022, taking place in Hanoi from May 5 to 15, which has been jointly organised by cultural diplomatic agencies and foreign diplomatic missions in Vietnam in collaboration with publishers and distribution units in Vietnam.
The book “Robinson” is about a university professor’s relationship with his son, Robinson, a 10-year-old boy with autism. The book includes short stories that happen in the daily life of the father and son, such as going to the supermarket, dating in the neighbourhood, and going to the park, or funny stories of a father while at home looking after his difficult son.
Although the world of the father and son revolves around seemingly simple things like eating, bathing, and shopping, it is still an adventure filled with difficulties, challenges, pain and despair. As such, readers can see the subtlety and humour in the writing style of the author – who has the ability to turn the most painful and desperate experiences into a soothing song of fatherly love.
As a story of a boy with a disability, it’s not sad or melancholy, but has pure colours and humour and is full of energy and love.
Readers will chat with the two experts live at the Goethe-Institut and interact with author Laurent Demoulin online. This will be the second time writer Laurent Demoulin has spoken online with Vietnamese readers.
Laurent Demoulin was born in 1966 in Liège, Belgium. Originally a high school teacher, he went further into the path of literary research and took on many roles at the same time: poet, essayist, literary critic and currently Professor and Dean of the Department of Romance Literature and Language at the University of Liège. Demoulin’s research theses revolve around the work of Jean-Philippe Toussaint and Francis Ponge. In addition, he is curator of the Georges Simenon Study Centre and Fund.
