“Co Gai Den Tu Hom Qua” (Girl from yesterday), a novel by Vietnamese writer Nguyen Nhat Anh, has been added to the curriculum of all Vietnamese language faculties at Russian universities.

Writer Nguyen Nhat Anh

The novel is introduced on the website of the Asia-Africa Institute of the National Moscow University as a good literary work of Vietnam. 

Doctor of History, Associate Professor Maxim Syunnerberg chose this novel to teach students of the National Moscow University’s Vietnamese Language Faculty since 2008.

This work has been added to the curriculum of all Vietnamese language faculties of universities in Russia. 

The novel’s lay-out has been changed, from 10 to 16 chapters, to be appropriate to the 16-week Vietnamese language course for students, including annotations.

Nguyen Nhat Anh said he would add the Russian version of “Girl from yesterday” into the “Kinh Van Hoa” (Kaleidoscope) bookshop, besides “Mat Biec” (Deep blue eyes) in Japanese and “Cho toi xin mot ve di tuoi tho” (Give me a ticket back to childhood) in Thai.

Nguyen Nhat Anh’s later book “Co hai con meo ngoi ben cua so” (There are two cats by the window) has become a best-seller book in Vietnam.

The book telling the love story about two cats named Ao Hoa (Floral Blouse) and Gau (Bear) is also illustrated with paintings by Do Hoang Tuong.

There was book signings at the writer’s “Kaleidoscope” bookstore in HCM City and the southern city of Vung Tau in the last few days. Nguyen Nhat Anh is also planning to travel across the country for book signings, including Da Nang on June 8 and then Hanoi and Can Tho.

Just one week after this book was published, Tre publisher has had to reprint this work twice, totaling 26,000 copies. This is a record in the publishing industry.

“It is a great surprise to me when this children’s story is warmly welcomed by the audience, the writer said. 

Nguyen Nhat Anh has opened a reading club named Kaleidoscope with the hope of creating a playground for book lovers who cannot buy books to access their favorite works with low cost.

Working as a normal library, the club requires readers wanting to join to register and pay a small fee to get membership to borrow books.

Nguyen Nhat Anh, 52, is a Vietnamese author of incisive stories for both teenagers and adults. He also works as a teacher, a poet and a correspondent. His works are enormous, including approximately 24 short stories, 2 novel series and some collections of poems. He is regarded as one of the most successful writers for children in Vietnam. His most well-known novel Kinh Van Hoa (Kaleidoscope) which contains 45 volumes has recently been made into 4 drama series of the same name.

The cover and CD of “Girl comes from yesterday” in Russian