Vagn Plenge, born on January 10, 1944, is a Danish publisher, translator, and children’s book advocate. He graduated from the Royal School of Librarianship and worked as a librarian for Danish non-governmental organizations, as well as a reviewer of literature on the developing world for Denmark’s public libraries. In 1976, he founded Forlaget Hjulet, with the primary mission of introducing and disseminating children’s literature from Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Oceania. Plenge has also served as both editor and translator for the vast majority of the titles he published.
Plenge first came to Thailand in 1962 as a young seaman with the East Asiatic Company, when his ship docked at Khlong Toei Port in Bangkok. During this time, he visited important temples in the city and observed the working lives of dockside laborers. These experiences deepened his interest in Thai language and culture, inspiring him to pursue the study of Thai upon his return to Denmark, with the aim of expanding his knowledge of literature and cultural research.
In 1969 and again in November 1974, Plenge returned to Thailand and lived for more than four months in rural villages of Northern Thailand. There, he studied local lifeways and literature with the assistance of Charan Upranurak, who supported him in fieldwork and in translating Tai Khün and Shan into Thai. Through this collaboration, Plenge collected folktales in four languages—Khon Mueang (Northern Thai), Tai Khün, Tai Lue, and Shan. These were later published as With Wisdom and Love: Northern Thai Folktales in 1976 by the Siam Society and the Social Science Association of Thailand. Alongside the book, Plenge donated reel-to-reel audio recordings of the original folktale narrations to the Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre (Public Organization). This collection constitutes a significant scholarly legacy, preserving fieldwork documentation that highlights the richness of ethnic literature, the dynamics of local languages, and the cultural identities of the storytellers.
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