HÀ NỘI — Thousands of writers and poetry lovers flocked to the Temple of Literature in Hà Nội yesterday to join the 17th Vietnamese Poetry Day.

The event also gathered nearly 200 poets and translators from abroad.

Poet Biplab Majee from India could not hide his admiration for Việt Nam as a "country of poetry".

“You have chosen the first full moon as the Vietnamese Poetry Day,” he said. “Poetry festivals take place in many places in the country. Poetry guests from many countries can experience poetry in Hà Nội right here at the ancient Temple of Literature together with thousands of Vietnamese literature lovers.”

Fernando Rendon, chairman of Colombia’s International Medelin Poetry Festival, said the international poetry movement is a “river full of water”, running nonstop bringing about bumper crops, which are festivals and other activities.

 “The 17th Vietnamese Poetry Day together with the third International Poetry Festival hosted by Việt Nam this year are two among influential activities to fill up the world’s poetry river,” he said.

According to poet Hữu Thỉnh, chairman of the Vietnamese Writers’ Association, in the last century, writers and poets in other countries have supported Vietnamese people in many ways through wars.

“Following this friendship, many young writers in the world visit Việt Nam for the first time at the event to express the friendship,” he said.

“Especially today, literature activities have been renovated while sticking to original values of the people.”

Many writers attending this event said that it was not simple to have your poetry read abroad.

The first task is to wipe out the language barrier by translating poems into other languages, which requires long-term training.

Finally, writers should account for audience’s tastes in other countries.

“All involve a long-term cultural strategy,” Thỉnh said.

The association has set up its own translation centre, which is in charge of selecting works by Vietnamese writers to translate into English and other languages.

Three bilingual English-Vietnamese books have been published for this occasion namely 10 Thế Kỷ Văn Học Việt Nam (Ten Centuries of Vietnamese Literature), poetry collection Sông Núi Trên Vai (Mountains and Rivers on Shoulders) and short story collection Một Loài Chim Trên Sóng (A Sea Bird).

Playground for young poets

A highlight of this year’s Poetry Day was a stage for young poets titled Mở Đường Bay Phía Trước (Opening Sky to Take off). Three groups of poems were recited with guitar and piano played in the background. The poems were all inspired by the young footballers of the national team, who have had reaped great success recently.