Struggling Writers Emerging, Book by Book
Khmer-language literature's resurgence has been slow, and, writers say, hampered by a lack of protective laws for intellectual property
The novel sat, unpurchased, on a stand outside O’Russey Market. On itscover, a young man carried a beautiful woman in his arms, through rain andlighting. The novel, “If a Heart Has Blood,” was one of the books coming outof Cambodia’sgrowing literary scene and, like other Cambodian novels, had amessage. “If a Heart Has Blood” tells the story of a singer whotricks her powerful, promiscuous father into sleeping with her. It is the second novel of 28-year-old author You Sophea, who saidrecently it was meant as an indictment of the practice of “okhnas,” businessmenof high standing, having sex with young girls. “I’ve written the novel in hopes of getting rid of attemptsby some singers to get other women’s husbands,” he said. “Meanwhile, okhnasshould stop considering young female singers as sex objects, because if thesingers were their own daughters or relatives, how would these okhnas feel?” The messages You Sophea and other authors hope to conveythrough their works are not yet going as far as they’d like, and not yet payingas much as they’d like. Khmer-language literature was nearly destroyed during theKhmer Rouge period, when many authors and intellectuals were executed. Itsresurgence has been slow, and, writers say, hampered by a lack of protectivelaws for intellectual property and a dearth of payment. Nevertheless, Cambodian literature is making a comeback. You Bo, vice president of the Khmer Writers Association,said recently more and more youths are becoming interested in literature,though no exact number of writers is known. The Khmer writers Association has around 200 members, hesaid, but only around 20 of them regularly publish and sell their work. Kho Tararith, president of the Nou Hach LiteraryAssociation, agreed. More young writers are emerging, but the number is stillnot sufficient to restore or develop Cambodian literature to an internationallevel. “The lack of Khmer writers is a result of the lack ofsupport among ourselves,” he said. “I mean, we writers have fears. We areafraid that there is no reader for our work, or our work will not be published,or that our writing will affect politicians.” “Another reason is that we have no independent publisher,”he added. In Cambodia,writers make deals directly with printing houses or bookstore owners. There isno publisher involved. The printing house or bookstore buys the workexclusively and can print as many copies as it wants, as many times as itwants, without permission for the writer and without paying royalties. This can be disappointing, said Mao Samnang, one of Cambodia’s mostfamous novelists. She earns between $300 to $500 per novel and churns out onenovel about every month. “In fact, no writer wants to sell his or her intellectualproperty rights,” she said. “We want the same practices as other countrieshave. If our work is published for a second or third time, our rights should berequested. We want such a thing, but we cant so far, as our country has notproperly protected a writer’s rights.” Article 19 of the 2003 “Copyright Law” protects a the rightsof a writer as permanent. The rights cannot be sold or confiscated, but the lawdoes not provide for the exclusive rights to buy a writer’s work. “Only when writers can make a profit do they sell theirwork,” said Khim Sarith, secretary of state for the Ministry of Culture andFine Arts. “This is good, as they don’t have to bother whether their work willbe copyrighted or not. If their work is copied for sales by others, that’s theloss of the printing house or book store.” There is at least one printing house that pays for second orthird runs: Neak Meas. Neak Meas Printing House publishes literary works, butinstead of a one-off price for the book, the house pays per number of bookspublished. “I give a writer 12 cents per book I sell,” said Neak Measmanager Kaing Sopheak. “I print 3,000 copies a time, so that means the writercan get $360 in sales. If I print the book a second time, he will get anotherpayment. He will get extra payments until he dies if the book is stillprinted.” “I do this to encourage more and more writers,” he said. A better system of payment may help, but what would reallyboost writers is more readers, said Thea Sokmeng, head of the literaturedepartment at the Royal University of Phnom Penh. “Even some literature student only read the textbooksrequired by the school,” he said. “They don’t read more for pleasure or toincrease their knowledge because they do not have a reading habit.” Parents must develop this habit in their children bystarting to read more from now on, he said.