HA NOI — This year's Vietnamese Book Awards took place yesterday with the Kim Dong Publishing House taking home a slew of prizes.

The awards, which are divided into the Good Books and Beautiful Books categories, were selected from a total of 26,000 books published this year.

Taking home the top prize in the Beautiful Books section was La Co Theu Sau Chu Vang, (A Flag Embroidered with Six Golden Letters), which told the story of young national hero Tran Quoc Toan (1267-85) and was published by the publishing house.

In the category of Good Books, Chuong Thau and Pham Ngo Minh won with their book Huynh Thuc Khang (1876-1947), a patriotic and scholar. The 1,800 page book had taken an extensive period of time to compiled and features poems, writing and research by Khang.

Thau and Minh include personal stories and a biography of Khang, the strong-willed scholar who led the Vietnamese people in the Duy Tan movement against French domination.

Hue's Long An Palace to reopen to the public

THUA THIEN HUE — A palace in the imperial city of Hue will re-open to the public early next month, three years after it was closed for renovation work.

The Long An Palace was built in 1845 under the reign of King Thieu Tri. In 1847, the palace was used to store the king's corpse for eight months before his funeral, and was home to an altar dedicated to the king until the French invasion in 1885.

In 1908, the palace was used as a library for a local school under a new name, Tan Tho Vien (New Library).

Then in 1923, the building was converted into the Khai Dinh Museum to store and exhibit royal treasures.

On display in the palace will be objects from the Hue Imperial Antiques Museum.

Czech beer festival to be held in Can Tho

HCM CITY — The first-ever large-scale Czech Gambrinus Beerfest will be held in Can Tho City on Friday, following its successful conclusion in HCM City and Vung Tau.

The organiser expects more than 1,000 guests, who will learn more about the Czech Republic's culture through games, costumes and attractions, including Prague Square, Old Town Square, Kinsky Castle and Prague's Astronomical Clock.

Some well-known Vietnamese singers, as well as Filipino bands, will perform at the event to be organised by SABMiller Viet Nam.

Two famed art galleries to close up shop

HA NOI — Tu Do Gallery in HCM City and Gallery 39 Ly Quoc Su in Ha Noi will be closing soon due to various reasons.

Tu Do (Freedom) owner artist Tran Thi Thu Ha admitted she was too old to run a gallery by herself.

The gallery will host its final exhibitions before officially closing early next year.

Gallery 39 Ly Quoc Su owned by Le Thiet Cuong will also close soon as the painter wants more time to concentrate on his work.

Cuong has hosted 30 exhibitions for various artists in Viet Nam without receiving any fees from them. His own solo exhibition titled Minh (Myself) will be the last the gallery hosts before its close on Friday. — VNS