100 fairytales by Hans Christian Andersen translated and released in a span of 20 years. That’s worth some recognition, and that is what famed Vietnamese translator of children books, ms. Tran Thi Minh Tam, got.
She was among the three winners of the annual Hans Christian Andersen Award, which gives recognition “of outstanding achievements in working with Hans Christian Andersen and of contributions to promoting and spreading further knowledge of the Danish national poet in many parts of the world.”
And ms. Tran Thi Minh Tam received it for translating and thereby spreading the fairytales of Hans Christian Anderson to numerous children throughout Vietnam. As the Hans Christian Anderson Award Committee writes:
“Tam is awarded for her success in extending the reading of Hans Christian Andersen in Vietnam. In the native country of H.C. Andersen, people do not completely understand why his fairytales find so many readers in faraway countries like Vietnam. Recently they learned that millions of schoolchildren in Vietnam knows the Danish famous poet quite well with the reason being Ms. Tran Thi Minh Tam. Her work with H.C. Andersen has stretched over almost 20 years and has resulted in an impressive fairytale edition published in 2003 with 88 fairytales at first and later 100 fairytales. In different editions, these collections have since been published in 16 impressions and another impression is coming in 2018.”
The other winners were the Swizz Dr. Phil. Klaus Müller-Wille for his groundbreaking studies on the material aesthetics of Hans Christian Andersen and Danish musician Sebastian for interpreting the works of Hans Chrisian Andersen for the Danish music scene.
The award has been given since 1996, and ms. Tran Thi Minh Tam is the first Vietnamese to receive it.
