Bringing special forces, intelligence, and Vietnamese pilot heroes to Russian readers
At the beginning of the conversation with us in mid-August, author Nguyen Quang Chanh excitedly boasted, "On August 14, the final book (No. 5) of my book "The bold Saigon Villa Special Forces" in Russian was completed, expected to be released in October also in Hanoi. The Russian title of the book is: , translated by Vladimir Serbin".
Thus, this is Mr. Chanh's third book to be published in Russian in 2025: In early August, in Hanoi, he launched "The Story of pilots Bay and teammates"; in early April, also in Hanoi, the book "The Story of the Intelligence Cluster of Heroes H.63".
I heard him ask, "How can you bring special forces, special forces, intelligence, and Vietnamese pilots - special characters, such as Colonel Nguyen Van Tau (uncle Tu Cang) - former Cluster Leader H.63, intelligence officer Pham Xuan An, Colonel Nguyen Van Bay - to the hands of Russian readers? In fact, the translating of Vietnamese literature into Russian in recent years has been broken for many reasons, how does he find and "choose to send" a Russian translator to translate his 3 books, according to which criteria?". As soon as he signed the book for me, Mr. Chanh smiled, "I have asked for so much heart, sincere, valuable and effective help from Russian and Vietnamese teachers, brothers and friends. I met the right people! I am lucky to have the enthusiastic help of veteran Russian literary translators and editors with my love for Vietnam".
At the age of 60 (2019), out of concern, love, and respect for the country's history, Mr. Chanh has just started a field of writing "difficult" - mistaken for a million-km journey - about writing documentary books - history about people working in the Vietnamese Defense Intelligence sector.
To date, at Ho Chi Minh City General Publishing House, he has 3 books in Vietnamese: "Heroes Live mai in the hearts of the people" (2020), "The story of the Heroic H.63 Intelligence Cluster" (launched in June 2023), "Living to tell the heroes" (launched in December 2023). Mr. Chanh's 3 Russian books are also published at this publishing house.
Within the framework of the 2025 International Book Exhibition in Saint Petersburg (Russia), Mr. Chanh introduced 2 books "The Story of the Heroic H.63 Intelligence Cluster" and "Living to tell the Heroes".
Also at this book exhibition, in May 2025, he had a Russian version of the book "The Story of the Heroic H.63 Intelligence Cluster" (in 2,000 copies) to introduce to Russian readers. This is the first time a book about Vietnamese intelligence by a Vietnamese author has been published in Russian.
"I gave 1,000 Russian copies to the Saint Petersburg government - a city bordered by Ho Chi Minh City (to the H.63 Intelligence Cluster).
The Vietnamese version of "The Legend of the Heroic H.63 Intelligence Cluster", after 2 years of release, has now been reprinted for the 4th time, with nearly 9,000 printed copies; the upcoming Russian version, I will add and reprint in larger quantities to serve Russian readers, especially for the large number of Russian tourists visiting Vietnam every year.
My Russian friends, such as Mr. Viatreslav Gennadievich Kalganov - Vice Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Saint Petersburg, after reading the book, shared that perhaps this is the first time Russian readers have known the phrase "people's surprise"; Mr. Igor Viktorovich Britov - Russian Public Security Cultural researcher, lecturer at the Russian Foreign Economic Academy, shared that reading the book, readers could not help but be surprised by the resilience, intelligence, and ingenuity of the Vietnamese spies. Readers feel like they are a part of the problem..." - Mr. Chanh told me.
The cool hand of translating and editing literature of 3 Russian women
At the end of August, I shared with Nguyen Quang Chanh my feelings and feelings about the content and form, especially the very Russian literature, after reading "a little" of the 110-page Russian translation about the pilot Nguyen Van Bay (the Russian version was mainly built from 40 pages written about the hero Nguyen Van Bay, taken from the book "Living to tell the heroes").
The translator of the book about H.63 is Evdokina Petrunova - a former student of the Department of Orientology - Saint Petersburg National University; the translator of the book about the hero Nguyen Van Bay is Svelana Glazunova. They are all professional Vietnamese students.
The literary editor for all three books of Nguyen Quang Chanh is Ida Ivanova Andreeva - Associate Professor of Language, veteran literary editor of the Russian Writers' Association, who is 89 years old this year and has taught language in Vietnam.
Mr. Chanh shared: "Thanks to Ms. Ida, the book I write, through Russian translations, becomes... More Russian with literature and language. She has many Vietnamese friends, colleagues, and students. She loves Vietnam very much! She helped me restructure the story flow to suit the taste of reading books about Russian intelligence; she looked into the history of Russia and Vietnam, carefully asked me, then edited and found suitable words to translate to the smallest details in the activities of Vietnamese intelligence people. She also gave me a suggestion on presenting the cover of the book to suit the taste of Russian readers...
As in the conversation with her yesterday, I met Vietnamese and Russian friends who helped me publish books and bring them to Vietnamese and Russian readers.
I write books, translate books, print them into Russian, with the desire to preserve the young generation of Vietnam and bring Russian readers the examples of sacrificing and serving the Fatherland of Mr. Ho's soldiers in the struggle for the independence and freedom of the Fatherland.
On the day of the launch of the Russian version of H.63, I was of interest to many Russian readers. They enjoy learning and reading books about war documents like this - books about the patriotism of the Vietnamese people against invasion, what made the Vietnamese people victorious over their many times stronger enemy.
If people tell me that the Russian-speaking community still longs to read such books, in the communities of the former Soviet Republics, valuable Russian literary books still have a place, authors should pay attention to readers in those regions.
My 3-book series about heroes in the war against the US to save the country that has been translated into Russian will be a bridge connecting friends to Vietnam to see what has passed through during the war; proving one thing: The patriotism of the people everywhere is the same, they are willing to sacrifice to bring peace to their children and grandchildren.
I have linked up with the Russian Federal Library system to disseminate my books not only in paper books but also in e-books and reading books."
