Published:  00:00 Friday - December 03, 2010

A Canadian novelist of Vietnamese origin, Ly Kim Thuy has won the Governor General’s Literary Awards – the most prestigious literary award of Canada – for her debut novel “Ru”.

“Ru” (Lullaby), written in French, comprises very short stories based on real events in the author’s life.

The Sai Gon Tiep Thi (Sai Gon marketing) newspaper quoted France’s Le Figaro daily as saying that, “Kim Thuy’s writing flows as poetry – it is powerful and evocative”.

Besides the Canadian award, “Ru” also won the RTL-Lire 2010 at the Paris Book Fair in May and reached the final of the Prix des 5 continents – 2010 (Five continents’ literary prize) for Francophonie countries.

After the RTL-Lire win, some 25,000 copies of “Ru’ were sold in Canada. “Ru” was even more successful in France with a circulation of 45,000.

The novel will be available in Spanish, Italian, Swedish and German languages.