Cambodia’s body of national literature, written in the Khmer language, was totally disrupted and nearly destroyed during the Khmer Rouge period and even today some of the after effects of their misrule are still apparent.

To help remedy the gaps in the history of Cambodian literature caused by upheaval, the Khmer Writers Association (KWA) is busy compiling the works of intellectuals, poets and authors of past renown to republish them in order to ensure their work isn’t forgotten and to enhance the offerings available for readers in Khmer.

To that end, the KWA is getting ready to publish the works of author Sou Chamroeun by the end of this year.

The first title by Chamroeun scheduled for publication is a book of his short stories titled “Wood says farewell to forest, fish says farewell to lake”. The 120-page book has already won the Southeast Asia Write Award in 2020, but has not been widely available prior to this new edition.

“The publishing committee of the KWA has published a number of national and international literary award winning books, including other writers from the past and works by our senior authors who are still living,” said Leok Chamnor, head of Khmer Books Editions and vice-president of the KWA.

“Sou Chamroeun first joined the ‘battle of the black ink’ in his youth and has kept up the fight even today when he is over 70-years-old,” Chamnor added.

Chamnor said that Chamroeun spent a great deal of his life dedicated to raising the nation’s level of literacy and championing its literature, so publishing his older works will contribute to Cambodian culture while also maintaining Chamroeun’s legacy for future generations.

Chamroeun was born on January 5, 1949 in Battambang province. His father was a teacher and his mother was a marketplace vendor. He began his writing career during the tumult of 1970 and married a woman from Kandal province who worked as a tailor.

Chamroeun never got around to pursuing higher education, perhaps in part because the opportunity to do so was cut short by the troubling events of the era. Despite the abbreviated education he can speak and write in both French and Thai fluently in addition to his native Khmer.

In 1970 Chamroeun found a publisher for his novel “Victor of War” and thereby became a member of the KWA, later finding himself appointed as the president of the KWA in the late 1970’s as society tried to right itself again.

After the Domnoeng Chong Krouy newspaper’s editor was arrested for political reasons in 1971, Chamroeun was called upon to replace him, but his tenure was short-lived as the government moved to ban the paper entirely in 1972. By that time Chamroeun had also bought his own publishing house called Khmer Culture, which then published his and other contemporary authors’ works.

On top of that, Chamroeun was also a popular song writer in the early 1970’s and penned the lyrics to a number of hits as well as writing magazine and newspaper articles on culture and the arts in addition to his novels.

After years of war, on April 17, 1975 the Cambodian government of Lon Nol, which had itself been established by military coup against Norodom Sihanouk’s government, was overthrown by the Khmer Rouge.

Chamroeun and his family were evacuated from the capital along with everyone else. He later ended up in Battambang province. He and his wife lived in misery and fear for three years, eight months and 20 days, but unlike so many others they could be thankful for having survived the ordeal.

After the fall of Democratic Kampuchea on January 7, 1979, Chamroeun continued to live in Battambang province but the trauma of his experiences and the need for basic survival had buried his creativity it would seem up until 1995, when he finally started writing again. That year the title “Preah Kun Thlai Thla” was bestowed upon him at the Prampi Makara Literature Awards.

In 1997, he and his family left Battambang and moved to Phnom Penh where Chamroeun joined Bayon Radio and Television as Editor-in-Chief and continued on in that position until his retirement while continuing to publish new works.