From Folktale to Exhibition: Bringing Vietnamese Stories to Life

Specialising in film, immersive storytelling, theatre, and multidisciplinary work, Tuyet Van Huynh is a British Vietnamese-Chinese creative, dedicated to amplifying underrepresented voices. She champions East and Southeast Asian representation across the UK cultural sector through socially engaged, cross-cultural projects. Her recent work includes Star Nha Ease: Vietnamese Cinema, winner of the Vietnamese International Awards 2025 (Arts, Media and Entertainment), and the BFI-backed immersive project Consensus Gentium, winner of Best XR Experience at SXSW 2023. In 2026, she leads Treasury of Vietnamese Folk Tales: Tam Cám – Reimagining Vietnamese Folklore for the Stage, and the ESEA R.A.P Party with Inua Ellams, produces the BFI-supported mixed-reality installation #reaction, and is developing a bilingual cải lương children’s audiobook for 2027. Other works include Echo Land, Artist Manual Against Apartheid, and a permanent public Vietnamese Sculpture. Tuyet continues to merge creativity, technology, and social advocacy in her artistic practice. 

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.

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. 

Major Books is an independent publishing company dedicated to bringing Vietnamese literature to the English-speaking world.

With the acute awareness of translation as an art form bearing immense potentials and challenges, our primary goal is to offer translations that are not only faithful but also true to the essence of the source book. Our translators, editors and illustrators, being mostly native speakers themselves, are committed to preserve the integrity and convey the originality of the author’s work.

We take immense pride in providing our authors, translators, and all stakeholders with fair and equitable compensation for their invaluable contributions, with the hope of fostering a thriving  Vietnamese literature and creative ecosystems.