The winner of this year’s Khmer Literature Festival urged aspiring authors to work on their original ideas as much as possible to avoid parroting other people’s work.

Vann Sareth, who writes under the pseudonym Chao Sme Prolom (Novel Author Grandson), won first prize in the field of composition, for his poem “Voice of Tro, to accompany the Temple”.

In the last few years, Sareth, who hails from Prey Veng province, has received a series of awards for his poetry from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport, the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts and the Buddhist Institute. He has now added the Khmer Literature Festival to the list of institutions which have recognised his talent.

“The next generation of writers should work hard to acquire as much knowledge of composition as they can. They should strive to make writing every day a habit and always remind themselves of the need to create original work – the need to forge their own literary paths, and cannot plagiarise others,” he said.

Sareth, 39, has a lot of experience inspiring original ideas in others. When he is not crafting award winning prose, he is teaching students to do so.

“I am a high school Khmer literature teacher. On the weekends, I teach undergraduate students at higher education institutions in Prey Veng,” he added.

He was happy to share some of his non-poetry compositions, saying that although they were not yet available in print, he had written several short stories and novellas, and a number of academic works.

“My short stories include ‘Shepherd Boy’, ‘Break up in Siem Reap’ and ‘Free from Bondage’. One of my best academic works is ‘Study Methods of Studying Khmer Literature’,” he said.

He plans to have them published in the near future, in order to do his part to promote reading and writing habits in modern society.

“I enjoy writing instructional manuals and contemporary fiction. I find that fiction can include interesting philosophical themes, which can inspire the reader,” he said.

“I was not expecting to win an award, to be honest. I only entered one piece, and haven’t entered any other contests. This one is special though. The Khmer Literature Festival judges are very thorough and take a great deal of time to decide on winners,” he added.

With a Bachelor of Arts in Khmer Literature, and another in English, he is especially proud of his students, referring to them as “bamboo shoots that will one day grow as tall as the sky”. He has also run training courses with the Khmer Writers Association, of which he is a proud member.

This year’s Khmer Literature Festival was organised in Pursat province, on October 22-23.