French publisher skirts royalty payments to Vietnamese writer

“An May Di Vang” (Living off the Past), a novel by writer Chu Lai, was translated and published in France in mid-2007, but till now the writer has only received five gift books, but no royalties. Chu Lai discusses the case.

Writer Chu Lai

Several years ago, you had trouble getting royalties for your novel “Pho” (Street). How did this happen with An May Di Vang?

Pho was translated into French in 2003 by Alain Clanet and printed by the L’Aube Publishing House. Till 2006, thanks to the media’s voice, I received around Euro2,000 in royalties. L’Aube also apologized for its payment tardiness.

After that, this publishing house asked my permission to translate An May Di Vang into French and promised to pay me on a timely basis. I agreed. In June or July 2007, I suddenly received five copies of the French edition of An May Di Vang. I was very surprised because I had not signed any contract with the French publishing house, but they had published it anyway.

What did you do?

Working with Alain Clanet in translating this book is an overseas Vietnamese translator, Lan Huong. I sent an email to Lan Huong to ask her help in questioning the French publishing house about the case. Hung said the publishing house answered that perhaps I had not received the contract because of transportation problems, and they decided to print the book as planned.

But it is strange that I was able to receive the books but not the contract. Several months have passed, but they still haven’t mentioned the royalty payments. Last time, they prepared a 14-page contract but I have yet to receive anything for this book.

What will you do?

I’ll wait. After a time, if I still have not heard anything, I’ll contact the French Embassy in Hanoi. The image of France partly depends on the behavior of its businesses, namely this publishing house.

The royalties aren’t going to make me rich, but I need to be respected and they need to be serious and open with me.

(Source: VNE)