Le Ly Hayslip

Already imprisoned and tortured by the South Vietnamese government for her revolutionary sympathies as a child, author Le Ly Hayslip was later sentenced to death, raped, and then released at age 14 because she was suspected of being a spy. These traumatic experiences formed the basis of her two critically lauded memoirs that she published in America: When Heaven and Earth Changed Places in 1989, and Child of War, Woman of Peace in 1993. Oliver Stone’s 1993 film Heaven and Earth is based on her books. Hayslip is the founder of two charitable organizations: East Meets West Foundation and Global Village Foundation. Updated 2009