Veteran author Cao Duy Son’s short story collection, Ngoi Nha Xua Ben Suoi (Old House by the Spring) has won nomination for the Southeast Asian Writers Award for Vietnam this year.

The annual award was instituted in 1979 by the Thai Royal Family to honour poets and writers in the Southeast Asian region.

Son’s book includes seven short stories that depict the beauty and profundity of the simple lifestyles of ethnic minority people who live in a small and beautiful town in the mountainous province of Cao Bang’s Trung Khanh district. The stories have made strong and fresh impression on both critics and readers in rural and urban areas.

The Vietnam Writers’ Association selected Ngoi Nha Xua Ben Suoi for this year’s Southeast Asian Writers’ Awards, believing the book will introduce the inner spirit of Vietnamese ethnic minorities to the world.

“I will devote all of my life to discover the beauty of remote people,” said Son, who belongs to the Cao Bang’s ethnic minority of Tay.

Fifty-three-year-old Son is known for his simple writing style that effortlessly captures the pure and sensitive minds of the mountain people who live outwardly hard lives.

His famous books include novels like Hoa Man Do (Red Plum Flower) and Nguoi Lang Thang (Wanders), set amongst the daily life of his native village. The books have been reprinted by leading publishers in the country.

His latest work, Ngoi Nha Xua Ben Suoi, was published by the Van Hoc Mien Nui (Mountain Literature) Publishing House last year. One short story in the collection, which the book is named after, received the Vietnam Writers’ Association award in 2008.

Last year, young writer Nguyen Ngoc Tu’s short story collection, Canh Dong Bat Tan (Endless Field) received the ASEAN Literature award. Tu’s work focuses on poor farmers living in Ca Mau province.