Nguyễn Nhật Ánh (born May 7, 1955) is a Vietnamese author who writes for teenagers and adults. He also works as a teacher, poet and correspondent. His works include approximately 30 novels, 4 essays, 2 series and some collections of poems. He is regarded as one of Vietnam's most successful writers. His best-known series, Kính Vạn Hoa (Kaleidoscope), which contains 54 volumes, has been made into 3 drama series of the same name.
Nguyễn Nhật Ánh was born in 1955 in Quảng Nam province, Vietnam. At an early age, he attended Tiểu La, Trần Cao Vân and Phan Chu Trinh schools. In 1973, he moved to Sài Gòn to pursue a teaching career. After graduating from Ho Chi Minh City Pedagogical University, he was a teacher and a member of the Hồ Chí Minh Communist Youth Union. He has been working as a correspondent for Sài Gòn Giải Phóng journal since 1986 and is responsible for the children's pages and novelette area. He is also a sport commentator on Sài Gòn Giải Phóng (Liberated Saigon) under the pseudonym Chu Đình Ngạn.
His first poem was published in a newspaper, aged 13, and his debut poetry collection, Thành phố tháng tư (City in April), in 1984. A year later his first prose work, Trước vòng chung kết (Before the final) was published.
In 1990, he received the A-class Literature for Youth Prize for Chú bé rắc rối (The troubled boy). From 1995 to 2002, he finished his most well-known work Kính vạn hoa (Kaleidoscope), a series including 45 volumes about 3 teenagers, their friendship and school life. The series became a critical and commercial success. In 1995, he was voted the most popular writer in 20 years (1975–1995) and the most notably talented individual in a poll held by Tuổi Trẻ Press. In May 2007, after five years hiatus, Nguyen Nhat Anh resumed Kính vạn hoa in the newspaper Thanh Niên in May 2007, containing nine fresh volumes. The last volume was published in 2010.
In 2007, he published Cho tôi xin một vé đi tuổi thơ (Give Me a Ticket Back to Childhood) which became the best-selling in the 5th HCMC book fair with over 15,000 copies sold out within 10 days. The book won him the S.E.A Award for Children's Writer in 2008.
In 2010, he published Tôi thấy hoa vàng trên cỏ xanh (Yellow Flowers on the Green Grass) which was a huge success in Vietnam, selling 130,000 copies in total. The novel was also adapted to movie of the same name by Victor Vu, released in 2015.
His latest work is Ra bờ suối ngắm hoa kèn hồng (Go to the stream to see the pink lilies), published in January 2022.
