Published January 21, 2014
Genaro Kα»³ LΓ½ Smith, the author of βThe Land Baronβs Sun: The Story of Ly Loc and His
Seven Wives,β will speak at the University of Louisiana of Monroe as a guest of the
School of Humanities and the English Department, at 7 p.m., on Thursday, Jan. 29,
in Hemphill Hall, Room 134 on the ΟγΈΫΑωΊΟ²ΚΏͺ½±Φ±²₯ campus.
The event is free and open to the public.
Smith, an instructor of literature, composition, and creative writing at Louisiana
Tech University, wrote the storyβ which is told through poetryβ after speaking to
his family about his grandfatherβs life as a major commander in the South Vietnamese
Army.
βThe Land Baronβs Sunβ chronicles the life of Smithβs grandfather Ly Loc. Loc was
a landowner, a father, a husband to seven wives, and a successful soldier.
After the Fall of Saigon, Ly Loc was captured and placed in a hard labor re-education
camp. Smithβs poems delve into LΓ½ Locβs childhood and adult life, his years spent
in the re-education camp, and his wivesβ and childrenβs fateβboth in Vietnam and in
America.
Genaro Kα»³ LΓ½ Smith was born in Nha Trang, Vietnam, and earned a bachelor of arts in
English from California State University, Northridge, and an M.A. and M.F.A. in creative
writing from McNeese State University.
His works have been published in numerous literary journals and magazines. He currently
resides in Ruston with his wife and their two daughters.
