Nearly 80 poets from throughout the world will gather in Viet Nam next month to take part in the first Asia Pacific Poetry Festival.

The opening ceremony of the five-day festival will be held in Ha Long City on February 2nd, in the northern province of Quang Ninh, which was recently recognised as one of the world’s natural wonders.

“We decided to hold the First Asia Pacific Poetry Festival in Quang Ninh because the province is a traditional land of poetry as well as for its natural beauty,” said Nguyen Quang Thieu, Vice-chairman of the Viet Nam Writers Association (VWA).

During the event, the poets from 27 countries and regions will meet and exchange ideas with Vietnamese poets and readers.

Participants will visit Thay Pagoda in Ha Noi where they will also listen to a Zen poem recital read by the Buddhist monks and poets.

Prominent and globally acclaimed poets are scheduled to attend the festival, including Canadian Susan Blanshard, a member of International Pen Women Writers’ Committee; Chinese Tian Xiao Hua, a Vietnamese literature researcher and translator; Israeli Naim Araidi, a founder of International Poetry Festival in Maghar; and Japanese Ban’Ya Natshuishi, director of the Modern Haiku Association.

Also set to attend are Kim Jung-hwan and Ahn Kyung-hwan of South Korea, who are well known in Viet Nam for their contributions to promoting literature exchange between the two countries.

Kim was one of the first Korean poets to establish relations with the VWA. He also translates Vietnamese poems into Korean. Ahn translated the popular poems Prison in Diary by Ho Chi Minh and General Vo Nguyen Giap’s Unforgettable Months and Years for the South Korean readers.

Poets from Australia, the US, Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore are set to attend the festival with their foreign counterparts and about 40 Vietnamese poets. Guest and host will be invited to events for the upcoming Vietnamese Poetry Day which falls on the 15th day of the first lunar month. — VNS