Khun Srun was a vital Cambodian writer. He was conceived in Roveang Village, Samrong District, Takeo Province, in a poor Cambodian Chinese family. When he was eight years old, his father died and he and his family were raised by his mother, a small shopkeeper and a devout Buddhist. He began teaching during the country's early years of independence, when avenues of advanced education and professionalization opened to all Cambodians, paying little attention to their social and economic class. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay A brilliant student, he studied Khmer writing and psychology at Phnom Penh University, becoming widely read in science, mathematics and European literature (Pop storm, n.d.). In the midst of the turmoil of the 1960s, he worked as a mathematics teacher and journalist while writing fiction and poetry. He also served as a member of the textbook editorial board at the Ministry of Education. In less than four years he published three collections of poems, short stories, and philosophical tales; two collections of personal stories, The Last Residence and The Accused; and a final volume of poems, For a Woman. He was influenced by both existentialism and Cambodian Buddhism (Pop storm, n.d.). In 1971 he was arrested by the right-wing Lon Nol government for refusing to cooperate, but he still refused to align himself with the far left. Khun's last novel, The Accused, published in 1973, features an author detained by Cambodia's military government. The accused claims that he is not a politician or even a man of conviction, but simply an observer and a writer. An admirer of the writer must flee the country and be part of the larger world; but he needs, equally, to have the courage to risk his life for his principles (Pop storm, n.d.). Shortly after the publication of The Accused, Khun left Phnom Penh and joined the Khmer Rouge. He was only 28 years old and his life as a writer was over. After the Khmer Rouge took power in 1975, Khun Sun was assigned work as a railway engineer. In December 1978, he and his wife were murdered during the last purges, which occurred two weeks before the end of Pol Pot's regime. Only Khun Srun's nine-year-old daughter, Khun Khem, survived and was taken by the Khmer Rouge and forced to run away. they live among them in the forest on the border with Cambodia. In addition to his two famous books, The Last Residence and The Accused, during his lifetime, many books such as The Beauty of Life, About Love—For Young People and My Views were published.