| Vân Ðài | |
| Native Name Lang: | vi |
| Pseudonym: | Nữ Sĩ Vân Đài, Vân Ðài, Van Dai, Van-Dai |
| Birth Name: | Ðào Thị Nguyệt Minh |
| Birth Date: | January 29, 1903 |
| Birth Place: | Hanoi, Vietnam |
| Death Place: | Hanoi, Vietnam |
| Occupation: | Poet |
| Language: | Vietnamese |
| Period: | 1913–1964 |
| Movement: | Thơ mới ("New Poetry") |
| Notableworks: | Mùa hái quả (The Fruit Picking Season) 1964 |
Ðào Thị Nguyệt Minh (January 29, 1903 – 1964), known by the pseudonym Vân Ðài, was a Vietnamese poet. Well known as one of Vietnam's primary female poets, Vân Ðài's work is also closely associated with the Resistance during the Vietnam War.[1] In 1943 Vân Ðài published Hương Xuân, the first women's poetry collection in quốc ngữ (the Vietnamese alphabet), together with Hằng Phương, Mộng Tuyết, and Anh Thơ.[2] Vân Ðài was selected by the editorial board of Feminist Publishing House of New York City University as one of the pioneer poets of the New Poetry style.[3]
Nữ Sĩ Vân Đài, Đào Thị Nguyệt Minh was born on January 29, 1904 (Giáp Thìn, Dragon year) in Hà Nội. The Đào family on Hàng Trống street were famous in the artistic community for their daughters' talents.[4]
At the age of ten, thanks to her mother's teaching and guidance on verse and poetry, she became famous in the poetry culture of Việtnam. She came to be known as Vân Đài, poetess (nữ sĩ Vân Đài) of the pre-war period (thời tiền chiến).
Vân Đài began studies at Đồng Khánh Teacher Training School at the same time as well-known poet Tương Phố. She left the teaching profession to marry Huỳnh Kim Vinh, a veterinary surgeon who studied in Hà Nội. Together they moved to Trà Vinh,[5] a southern province of Vietnam, and then settled in Saigon.[6] Her husband died a few years later. Back in Hà Nội, she devoted herself to writing poems and short stories for the many newspapers and magazines of Phụ Nữ Tân Văn, Phong Hóa, Ngày Nay, Tinh Hoa, Đàn Bà, and Tri Tân.
As a resistance partisan and participant during the long-lasting struggle against the colonial regime and hard evacuation campaign for Việt Bắc, Vân Đài volunteered as Head of the Dục Anh Association (Hội Dục Anh) where she helped to take care of hundreds of orphans.
She remarried Nguyễn Vǎn Tường, a telecommunications engineer.
In 1954, Việtnam was temporarily divided into two zones as a result of the Geneva Agreements. Vân Đài's husband and his family would not leave Hà Nội, so she started to teach literature at Hà Nội University. Her poetry was published in the newspapers of Phụ Nữ Việtnam, Vǎn Học.
At the end of the summer of 1964, Vân Đài died in a small house beside the West Lake (Hồ Tây), close to Quan Thánh Pagoda, Hà Nội. Her friends and fellow poets, Anh Thơ, Hằng Phương, Thanh Phương, and Cẩm Thạch, attended her funeral.
In December 2012, The People's Council of Đà Nẵng City decided to name Vân Đài Street after the poet in a new residential area."bếp từ"
Vân Đài's most popular works were inspired by the mountainous areas where she traveled. She also published women’s household teaching books. Her last poem was Mùa Hái Quả (The Fruit - Picking Season), published by the Writer Association of Việt Nam in 1963.
Some books that she published were:
Vǎn Học magazine No. 129 (June 1, 1971) in Sàigòn was a special edition paying tribute to Vân Đài and featured her portrait on the cover. Main articles included: