Come Eat My Rice of Gold: Translating Folk Tales Across Cultures

Nguyễn Bình is a writer from Hanoi. Bình published the Vietnamese sci-fi novel series Battle with the Fantom Planet at the age of eleven, and having moved on to more literary pursuits, they are the translator of The Tale of Kiều: A New Cry of Heart-Rending Pain (Major Books, 2025). Bình’s poetry and essays have been featured in The London Magazine, Literary Hub, Puerto del Sol, The Common, among others. Bình is seeking publication for their debut English novel about a missing bronze drum from the British Museum. Beyond literature, Bình is a PhD candidate in Astronomy at the University of Washington, specialized in massive, dead galaxies from 11.5 billion years ago. 

Kim Trần is the co-founder, CEO, and publisher of Major Books, the London-based independent press dedicated to bringing Vietnamese literature to English-speaking readers through translation, thoughtful design, and cultural exchange. Under her leadership, Major Books has quickly gained recognition for championing underrepresented voices and reimagining how Vietnamese stories are presented on the global stage. 

She also works with Coral Books, a Vietnam-based independent publisher specialising in translating major international works into Vietnamese, helping to build literary dialogue in both directions between Vietnam and the wider world. 

Kim’s work bridges publishing, culture, and advocacy across the UK and Vietnam. In 2025, she was shortlisted for Leader of the Year at the FutureBook Awards, recognising her innovation and impact within the publishing industry.

Nguyễn Tiến Dũng (artist name: Jeet Zdũng) is an award-winning Vietnamese illustrator, comic creator, and author born in Da Nang and raised in Hanoi. He works across picture books, graphic novels, comics, and visual storytelling for readers of all ages.

His practice draws inspiration from folklore, nature, wildlife, and traditional visual cultures, combining contemporary illustration with influences from Vietnamese lacquer painting, Đông Hồ woodblock prints, and Japanese materials such as washi paper and sumi ink.

Jeet is internationally recognised as a Yoto Carnegie Medal-winning illustrator for the acclaimed Chang graphic novel series, created with conservationist Trang Nguyễn.

For Treasury of Vietnamese Folk Tales, Jeet created a major new body of work that reimagines Vietnamese stories through richly layered, luminous paintings that bridge heritage and contemporary art.

Will Forrester is an editor, writer, and Head of Literature Programmes at English PEN. He edited All Walls Collapse: Stories of Separation (2022), led the editorial team for My Pen Is the Wing of a Bird: New Fiction by Afghan Women (2022), and has been a judge for the TA First Translation Prize and the US National Translation Award. He is also a Director of Untold Narratives, an Independent Expert for Creative Europe, a Trustee of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction, and a Trustee of the Poetry Translation Centre. His writing has appeared in the Guardian, Los Angeles Review of Books, London Magazine, and elsewhere.