HÀ NỘI — An arts programme of music, poems and plays will be held at the Hà Nội Opera House on August 26 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the death of renowned Vietnamese poets and married couple Lưu Quang Vũ and Xuân Quỳnh.

The programme, entitled Tình Yêu Ở Lại (Love Remains), is jointly held by Nông Thôn Ngày Nay (Countryside Today) newspaper, Youth Theatre and channel VTV3 of Vietnam Television. It will be aired on channel VTV1 of Vietnam Television on August 28.

Speaking at the press conference on Wednesday, journalist Lưu Quang Định, editor-in-chief of Nông Thôn Ngày Nay newspaper and also younger brother of poet Vũ, said that the arts programme will take place for one night only to revive most beautiful memories about two talented Vietnamese poets in the hearts of both friends and audience members.

Love Remains will include three parts – the recital of poems and poems set to music by two authors; untold stories about the couple revealed via their friends’ affectionate recollections; and an excerpt from Vũ’s famous play Hoa Cúc Xanh Trên Đầm Lầy (Green Daisy on the Marsh).

Directed by artist Chí Trung, the arts show will also have the participation of director Phạm Thị Thành together with many others like artist Doãn Châu, Lê Khanh and Lê Chức.

Vũ was born in the northern province of Phú Thọ, although his father, playwright Lưu Quang Thuận, came from the central province of Quảng Nam.

Vũ served as a soldier in the anti-American War from 1965-70, when his poems began to gain recognition. But it was in the 1980s that he became a celebrated poet, writing about life in the post-war period and the process of national renewal in the late 1980s.

His dramas, short stories and poems were charactised by their gritty realism and great humanity. He wrote some 50 dramas, most of which criticise the darker side of society, especially corruption and authoritarian behaviour. Many of them earned high literary acclaim.

He was married to fellow poet Xuân Quỳnh. The couple died in a car crash in 1988 when travelling from Hải Phòng City back to their home in Hà Nội. Their 12-year-old son Lưu Quỳnh Thơ was also killed in the accident.

The country’s highest awards, the Hồ Chí Minh Prize in Art and Literature, were posthumously given to Vũ in 2000 and Quỳnh in 2017.

A variety of arts programmes will also be organised to commemorate the couple’s 30th death anniversary, including a conference and the performance of Vũ’s play Nguồn Sáng Trong Đời (Life’s Light) held by the Việt Nam Stage Artists’ Association on August 20, and another conference hosted by the Việt Nam Writers’ Association on August 28.

Định said that his family is planning to ask the Hà Nội’s People’s Committee to name a street in the city after Lưu Quang Vũ and Xuân Quỳnh. Đà Nẵng City already has a street named Lưu Quang Vũ and HCM City has a street called Xuân Quỳnh. — VNS