The Secret of Hoa Sen is translated by major award-winning poet Bruce Weigl. Weigl is the former President of the Associated Writing Programs, and has been Chairperson of the Judging panel in Poetry for the National Book Award. His most recent poetry collection The Abundance of Nothing was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry for 2013.
Translator Bruce Weigl is a Vietnam war veteran, and was inspired to translate this book by his experience. He has traveled Vietnam extensively over the past 20 years and has an ongoing relationship with the Vietnam Writers Association in Hanoi, and with the Vietnamese literary community in Hanoi.
Bruce Weigl compares this collection to Martha Collins' translation of Nguyen Quang Thieu's The Women Carry River Water.