Dak Lak Newspaper - Where my dream of children's literature takes flight!

I still remember, one day more than 30 years ago, I - then an 11-year-old girl - timidly set foot in the gate of Dak Lak Newspaper's editorial office on Phan Boi Chau Street.

The pale yellow building with low walls is less than 600 meters from my house but has a strange attraction. As an 11-year-old child, I was able to visit the newspaper office, shake hands with the journalists wearing glasses, looking very cool, and receive a large-size newspaper that still smelled of ink. I was so happy that I couldn't sleep that day, and I still remember it clearly.

Dak Lak Newspaper has dedicated its literature and art pages to children since the 1990s. My classmates and I in the literature class at Phan Chu Trinh Secondary School were taught by the Dak Lak Newspaper and the Provincial Literature and Art Association how to write sentences and poems that were different from the writing exercises in that small living room.

Writer Nie Thanh Mai and the Dak Lak Province Literature and Arts Association congratulated Dak Lak Newspaper on the 100th anniversary of Vietnam Revolutionary Press Day. Photo: Thuy Hong

The best part is that the editorial office is always bustling with people coming and going, but when she sees the shy shadows of children at the door, the secretary asks, "You're sending in your contribution, right?", then she accepts it, nods her head in praise, and says, "You're so young and yet you're already writing a contribution to the newspaper, how good." I don't know if it's because the secretary is funny or because Uncle Dinh Huu Truong (former Deputy Editor-in-Chief) pats my head and encourages me, "Keep up the good work, kid," but I really like going to the Dak Lak Newspaper office. I like it so much that throughout my childhood, every day I pass by the office, I always look in that direction, until one day the Dak Lak Newspaper office moved from the corner of Phan Boi Chau Street to Le Duan Street, and I still look back in awe when I pass by.

Dak Lak Newspaper has given wings to my dreams and those of my friends who love literature and art for a long time. From a small corner, after many years, Dak Lak Newspaper has devoted its weekend and monthly issues to culture and art. As for me, from a little student, I have become an adult. My love for literature and art has become my job and profession. But the emotions when reading literary and artistic works on each page of Dak Lak Weekend Newspaper seem to remain intact. Perhaps now, every time I read the newspaper, I see articles by friends and acquaintances, I take pictures, send them, and congratulate them, and rejoice together. Then every time I read your short stories, I get angry at myself for letting my busyness take over and not writing like that.

I grew up and my love of literature was warmly loved and nurtured by the reporters and Dak Lak Newspaper. When I could write better, I wrote more for the Chu Yang Sin magazine of the Dak Lak Literature and Arts Association. And many newspapers published my works, including short stories, long stories... but I never left Dak Lak Newspaper, where small stories or short articles were published, I was as happy as the happy little girl of the old days more than 30 years ago.

Dak Lak Newspaper is starting a new journey with many changes. But our love and gratitude for that warm home will remain intact and lasting for many years to come, sometimes from small details, like when reading the weekend issue of Dak Lak Newspaper and tearfully remembering the small corner where we used to publish fresh children's stories.

Writer

Chairman of Dak Lak Province Literature and Arts Association

Source: https://baodaklak.vn/van-hoa-du-lich-van-hoc-nghe-thuat/202506/bao-dak-lak-noi-chap-canh-uoc-mo-van-hoc-thieu-nhi-cua-toi-92808e6/