Between 1938 and 1972 over 1,000 novels were printed, ranging from detective and adventure tales to mysteries, historical novels and love stories. After independence, Cambodian literature was added to the national educational curriculum. With the establishment of the Khmer Writers’ Association in 1956, writers were recognised as making a cultural contribution in their own right and the institutionalisation of Khmer literature appeared complete.

The suffering of this time has found creative expression in the novels and autobiographical works of Cambodian writers living overseas, most famously perhaps through Dith Pran’s memorable work The Killing Fields, which was subsequently turned into a feature film.

In this climate, novels as a means of escapism were in high demand. Some of Cambodia’s leading novelists, including Mao Samnang and Pal Vannirath, established their reputations without having their work published, but rather through distributing handwritten manuscripts and photocopies through market stalls. Pal Vannirath, a prize-winning revolutionary writer, wrote more than a dozen sentimental novels but was not able to openly publish them in book form.

Khmer literature by Cambodian writers living in France and the USA also began to appear during the 1980s and 1990s. Many of these are survivors’ accounts which have begun to provide insight into the experiences of those who lived through the Khmer Rouge regime, and provide some depth of social realism.

Individual writers such as Biv Chhay Lieng and Soth Polin also re-issued some of their old works while living abroad. New writing appeared by Pech Sanwawann, a 1960s novelist resident in France, and by younger writers such Chuth Khay, writing since the 1970s, and Duong Ratha, a US resident. Survivor accounts in English and French began to gain an international profile.

Much writing took the form of sentimental or thinly-veiled pornography, but some also provided social comment, such as Aok Bunthoeun’s Srey Bar Kramom (‘The Virgin Bar-Girl’), serialised from 1993 to 1994 in response to the social changes brought by the presence of UNTAC troops. Ouput was high; one of Rasmei Kampuchea (Light of Kampuchea) Daily’s regular novelists, Say Khun, had six novels serialised between 1993 and 1994.