Creator
Nawuth Keat
Cambodian survivor of the Khmer Rouge period who told his life story in the memoir Alive in the Killing Fields.
Nawuth Keat is a survivor of the Khmer Rouge genocide and the author, with Martha E. Kendall, of the memoir Alive in the Killing Fields (2009).[1][2] His hometown was Salatrave, in Cambodia.[2]
Life
Keat was nine years old and in the third grade when Khmer Rouge soldiers attacked his village around 1973. He hid in a well and survived by pretending to be dead. He was shot three times, twice in the elbow and once in the hip, and doctors treated his wounds without painkillers.[3][4] He then lived in a city for two years.[4]
When the Khmer Rouge took power in 1975, he was taken back to his village. Under Democratic Kampuchea (1975 to 1979) he was forced to grow crops from sunrise to sunset, and he went hungry through the food shortages. He gathered snakes, rats, frogs, fish and wild mushrooms to eat, and took food the Khmer Rouge had stored.[4]
In 1978 Vietnamese forces entered his village and pushed the Khmer Rouge into the jungle. Keat fled with about 100 people to a city under Vietnamese control, and he stayed there until 1980.[4] He then crossed into Thailand and spent three months in a refugee camp.[4] He arrived in the United States in 1982.[1]
Keat settled in Salem, Oregon, at age 14.[4] He spoke no English when he arrived. He took English as a Second Language classes at an Oregon community college, entered high school as a sophomore at 17 and graduated in three years. He turned down a scholarship offered by an Oregon college.[4]
Alive in the Killing Fields
Keat later took a World Literature course from Kendall at San Jose City College. He told her about his childhood in rough English, and she offered to write down his story.[5] He wanted people to know the truth about what happened, and he broke a long silence to tell what had happened to his people and his country.[2]
Alive in the Killing Fields was published by National Geographic in October 2009.[2][3] The National Geographic hardcover runs to 128 pages.[3] The memoir is written for middle-grade readers and for readers aged 12 and older, and it is available in hardcover and electronic editions.[2] School Library Journal called it a compelling account of a child's life in 1970s Cambodia.[5]
Recognition
For Alive in the Killing Fields:
- Junior Library Guild selection[5]
- Notable Book, National Council for the Social Studies[5]
- Selected for the California Collection[5]
Works
- Alive in the Killing Fields (Book)
See also
References 5
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 IS 445 Refugee Pathfinder for Grades 5 to 12 (PDF, 2019)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 I'm Your Neighbor Books, Alive in the Killing Fields (March 1, 2025)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Kirkus Reviews, Alive in the Killing Fields
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 San Benito News, Harrowing tale ends in good life (November 16, 2007)
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Martha Kendall official site, Alive in the Killing Fields
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