HA NOI — The second festival of traditional luc bat poetry will be held in Ha Noi tomorrow.
Poet Dang Vuong Hung and lucbat.com initiated the first festival to honour the genre – the six-word verse followed by a line of eight words – last year.
The intention was to have the verse recognised as a national genre and part of the world's heritage, the poet explained.
The festival will feature poetic performance and installation with the wet-rice culture as its theme.
A poem writing competition will be held and various poetic works displayed.
Copies of the anthology Loc Phat Canh Dan, or Good Fortune Distributed in the Year of the Tiger, as well as the best poems among thousands posted on the lucbat.com during the year will be presented to those who have helped develop the genre.
The festival will be held at Van Ho Exhibition Centre, 2 Hoa Lu Street.
Hong Kong choir to sing for children's charity
HCM CITY — Two years after its last performance in HCM City, the Hong Kong Welsh Male Voice Choir will return on October 16 for a charity event by Caravelle Hotel to raise funds for children's education.
Founded in 1978, the all-male group consists of amateurs who sing Welsh folk music, often for charity.
They will perform in the hotel ballroom, taking the stage after a concert by the Chamber Music Group belonging to the Tieng Duong Cam Company and a fashion show.
Songs for a Brighter Future will also include a painting exhibition during which the works will go under the hammer in a silent auction and a raffle.
When the choir was last in Viet Nam in 2008, it helped raise VND330 million (US$17,000) for the East Meets West Foundation for funding heart operations for poor children.
This time around the Caravelle will hand over the proceeds to the Saigon Children's Charity for its educational initiatives.
Tickets to the event cost VND1.5 million and its main sponsor is Frasers Law Firm.
Nhien's fantasy story captivates young readers
HCM CITY — Young writer Phan Hon Nhien's recent fantasy story, Chuoi Hat Azoth (The Azoth Necklace), with its interesting content and vivid illustrations, is receiving a warm welcome from teenage readers.
Illustrated by US-trained painter Phan Vu Linh, the story features a group of teenagers at a boarding high school.
In the story, many strange things happen after Binh Nguyen enrols at the school.
She leads a secluded life, and avoids contact with others.
Some students who share the same room with Nguyen discover that a secret power from her necklace has contributed to this behaviour and led to many accidents at the school as well.
Danny, San and Khiet and several other students, overcoming a fear of the secret world, try to discover the necklace's mysteries.
Published by the Tre (Youth) Publishing Co, The Azoth Necklace became a bestseller in HCM City bookshops last month.
Nhien, 28, an editor of Hoa Hoc Tro (Students' Flowers) magazine, has gained popularity among young readers for several collections of her short stories since they were first published in 2000.
Nhien said she and Linh would work together to produce more fantasy stories with illustrations next year. — VNS