The local book market over recent years has seen a surprising increase in the number of writers, especially young ones and readers in non-fiction writing.

Local travel books, such as that by author Pham Quynh, are written in the early 20th century and are now republished.

But most of the new travel books are written following the trips by today’s people, many of whom are young and are female. The books include “Lavender fragrance on my fingers” (Ngo Thi Giang Uyen), “Paradise Island” (Di Li), “Go back” (Nguyen Nhat Lam), “Taking the backpack up and set off” (Huyen Chip), “Alone in Europe” (Phan Viet), “I was a donkey” (Nguyen Phuong Mai), “John went to find Hung” (Tran Hung John), and “Italy, my love story” (Truong Anh Ngoc). There is an obviously rising demand for non-fiction reading among today’s readers, first with travel books or journals.

Travel books or journals exist in every period and all cultures, because the genre is an intermediate element between reality and nothingness, autobiography and ethnography and it combines several academic disciplines, literary categories and social codes. The works also raise many issues related to power and self improvement, to cultural expressions as well as  imagination. In short, travel books or journals are the result of traveling and watching things around, writing down and including their own thoughts, feelings, maybe even the analysis and research.

Nguyen Nhat Lam and Huyen Chip are typical examples. “Stay back” is the story about a young man who leaves it all behind and hits the road after his business fails. But only after an impromptu journey in several Southeast Asian countries, he realizes a call deep in his heart.

Meanwhile, “Taking the backpack up and set off” is the adventure of a girl in her twenties who is being stuck in her problems, but is determined to seek adventure through traveling to several countries. She takes up any challenge and hardship and meets lots of people, and upon recognizing her ability, she desires to travel even more to discover the world and herself.

Phan Viet and Nguyen Phuong Mai are quite different. With “Alone in Europe”, the author wishes to challenge herself in a different place and cultural setting. As for “I was an Ass”, Nguyen Phuong Mai reveals herself on the journey through eighty countries around the world to understand herself and others via multicultural communication. Both these authors are women, who are teaching in universities in other countries and have come to terms with their choices. Their book titles are clearly demonstrative of their independence and autonomy.

The modern time gives such travel authors the opportunity to roam the world, write, print and disseminate what they gain after their trips and convey their mood and feelings in addition to the indispensable exotism, the exotic flavors from other, alien lands.

We can trace back to “France - The long journey diary” by Pham Quynh in 1922 and return to Paris in 2012 with Phan Viet’s “Alone in Europe” to see how and where the Vietnamese writers have traveled to.

However, one don’t need to go abroad to write their travels.

“We can just go around the country and can still write down what we see and feel,” said editor of Nam Phong newspaper after his trips to northern Lang Son and Cao Bang provinces.