The exchange taking place at Hue French Institute

“What future is for us?” is an activity in the series of seminars “Does happiness lie in accumulation?” on the occasion of the launch of the new book: “Feeding Humanity”, to raise the awareness of protecting the green planet, with an objective view on paramount concerns in modern society as well as the answer to the question :“ What future is for us?”

It is known that during her business trip to Vietnam, Ms. Julie Lardon also coordinated to organize discussions with the topic “Overpopulation - How to feed more people?” in Hanoi, “Modern and sustainable urban areas” in Ho Chi Minh City, and the workshop “Challenges of the 21st century” for students of French classes at Da Nang French Institute.

Ms. Julie Lardon, 34 years old, is a female writer and journalist who founded the semi-monthly magazine Albert in 2016 with the aim of recording and analyzing current affairs in a more understandable and interesting way for readers from 9 to 14 years old. She is also the author of many books and stories for children from 0 to 3 years old published by La poule qui pond publishing house.

Ms. Julie Lardon is a dynamic and straightforward young writer. She makes her marks when choosing to write cute, gentle children's stories instead of “academicizing” or “scientificizing” social issues. She wants future preschoolers to have the right awareness from an early age. “It’s easier than changing the minds of adults,” shared Ms. Julie.

The “Future World” book series includes 5 books: “Future Cities”, “Feeding Humanity”, “Settlements on the Moon”, “Social Networks”, and “Biodiversity”. Ms. Julie shared that the book series would not stop at number 5, but would grow in the future as social issues became increasingly complex. “Future World” book series has been translated by veteran translators of Kim Dong Publishing House, such as Ms. Minh Nguyet (Future Cities), Ms. Thanh Van (Settlement on the Moon), Ms. Phuong Thy (Social Networks), Ms. Thanh Thuy (Feeding Humanity), and Ms. Thu Hue (Biodiversity). The book series is vividly and beautifully illustrated by French artists, with filtered and useful information, suitable for young people and children who are eager to learn.

The exchange and launch of the book series “Future World” by French author Julie Lardon happened in a very cozy and intimate atmosphere of an early October afternoon at Hue French Institute, with the participation of translators and students of the Faculty of Literature, University of Education, Hue University.

At the meeting, Ms. Julie Lardon and the translator/program coordinator Thanh Thuy, the translators Thanh Van and Minh Nguyet in traditional ao dai expressed their deep thoughts about the process of writing and translating the book, as well as about “heated” issues of modern society such as food security, urban planning, space science, etc. Ms. Julie Lardon confided that during the process of writing the book, she consulted many documents in the press and scientific reports. She took the time to verify and double-check everything carefully. In the future, she will write more books on newly-emerging topics, such as artificial intelligence, chatGPT, Mars exploration, and so on.

Regarding the book “Future Cities”, Ms. Thanh Thuy shared that she had been to France several times, and she realized that the urbanization process in Vietnam was happening too fast compared to this country. This is a good thing, yet, also worrying, for when urbanization is uncontrolled, many problems will arise, ranging from environmental pollution, traffic jams, to the mini apartment fire in Hanoi, which rings an alarm bell about the consequence of mass migration to big cities.

Meanwhile, upon commenting on the book “Settlement on the Moon”, the book translator Thanh Van said that it was a very good idea to reduce the population burden on Earth. Let’s always protect and love this beautiful planet!

Story and photo: Thuc Dan