Nguyen Chi Thien, dissident poet
International Poetry Award 1985 for Hoa Dia Nguc (Flowers of
Hell) while imprisoned in the Communist jails of Vietnam (Hoa Lo:
"Hanoi Hilton.")  After his release from prison due to international
outcry in 1991, Mr. Thien immigrated to the United States in 1995.
He wrote prose Hoa Lo Stories in France with an International
Parliament of Writers Award in 1998 - 2000.  The English
translations were published by Yale University Southeast Asia
Studies Council in Fall 2007.    Mr. Nguyen Chi Thien is an
American citizen.  He passed away in Orange County, California
on October 2, 2012.  
"The Journey of a Thousand Autumns of Nguyen Chi Thien, poet"    
(English, biography)  

Nguyen Chi Thien's autobiography in English
Viet Nam Literature Project

Brief Biography (English) pdf

Brief Biography (Vietnamese) pdf
Thien was first imprisoned in
the reeducation camps created
by Ho Chi Minh in 1961 when
he told a high school history
class their textbook was
Russian propaganda.
Prison Committee (1960-2010) at the
Geneva Book Fair in April 2010.  
We collected many hundreds of
signatures from visitors for petitions
claiming liberation of four writers in
prison : Vietnamese woman writers
Pham Thanh Nghiên and Trân Khai
Thanh Thuy (honorary member of

English PEN Centre and Swiss Italian
PEN Centre) and Chinese writers
He Depu (honorary member of Suisse
Romand PEN Centre) and Liu Xiaobo
(former President of Independent
Chinese PEN Centre).  Herewith some
photos and you may recognize
Nguyên Chi Thiên, one of the 50
writers honored by International PEN
in celebrating the 50 years of the
Writers in Prison Committee.

(right) at work in Paris in 1999 with an
International Parliament of Writers
Fellowship
Nguyên Hoàng Bao Viêt
Vietnamese poet in exile      
Member of the Vietnamese Writers in Exile Centre
(CEVEX)  Member of Suisse Romand Centre of
International PEN (Writers in Prison Committee
Writers in Geneva Switzerland (UNSW/SENU)