Poetry Day set for next week

The annual Poetry Day will take place next Thursday in Ha Noi, Nghe An and HCM City.

Huu Thinh, chairman of the Viet Nam Writers Association, said the occasion would also be used to mark the 100th anniversary of Ho Chi Minh who left the country in 1911 to seek ways for national salvation from the French colonists.

"There will be a soil and water procession at Ha Noi's Temple of Literature," Thinh said. "A delegation of writers from the central region will bring some soil from President Ho's home in Sen Village to the temple."

They will also bring some water from the source of the historical Pac Bo Cave's Lenin Stream, where the president lived and worked in the 1940s, in the northern province of Cao Bang to the temple.

The soil and water will be housed at the association's museum in Ha Noi.

Poetry readings will take place in President Ho's homeland, Nghe An Province, and at Nha Rong Wharf in HCM City.

At Ha Noi's Temple of Literature the busts of 30 famed writers will be displayed.

Lanterns bearing 100 verses will also adorn the temple.

The first Poetry Day was held in 2003 at the Temple of Literature.

Pirated DVD copies of ‘Bi, Don't Be Afraid' flood local shops

Illegal copies of the award-winning film Bi, Don't Be Afraid are flooding shops in Ha Noi and HCM City a month ahead of its release around the country.

"Many people have bought the bootleg DVDs but they have hazy pictures and awful sound," Chu Tat Khang, a representative of Galaxy, the distributor of Bi, Don't Be Afraid, said.

A scene of film 'Bi, Don't Be Afraid'.

Bi, Don't Be Afraid, directed by Phan Dang Di, tells the story of a family in Ha Noi as seen through the eyes of Bi, a six-year-old boy.

It won several international prizes last year, including the Best Screenplay Award at the Cannes International Critic's Week and the New Talent Award at the 54th Hong Kong Asian Film Festival.

The film is scheduled to hit the screen on March 13.

Tickets for Backstreet Boys concert set to go on sale

Tickets for a concert by the Backstreet Boys will go on sale on Feb 12, in Ha Noi, HCM City, Bien Hoa and Hai Phong.

Tickets can also be booked online by visiting the website www.bsb.com.vn, according to Water Buffalo Productions, the organisers.

Tickets cost VND500,000-VND2 million (US$25-100).

The This Is Us concert will take place on March 24 at Military Zone 7's Stadium in HCM City, and on March 26 at My Dinh National Stadium in Ha Noi.

Viet Nam to host inaugural international choir competition

The first ever International Choir Competition will be held in the central city of Hoi An between March 15 and 18, according to Le Van Giang, chairman of the Hoi An People's Committee.

Already, 34 choirs from various countries and territories including Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Hong Kong and Estonia have registered to take part in the contest, he said.

Around 900 singers and musicians will compete in 13 categories of six different choir groups of various ages.

The opening performance will be held on March 16 on a floating stage in the Hoai River Square.

The event has been jointly organised by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Quang Nam Province authorities and the Germany-based Interkultur organisation.

Tour operator plans underwater weddings in Nha Trang

HCM City-based tour operator Vietravel has unveiled plans to organise underwater weddings for a record nine couples in Nha Trang on Valentine's Day, February 14.

The Viet Nam Dive Centre, or Vinadive, a branch of Vietravel, said it will organise the 30-minute underwater nuptials with traditional Christian rituals like exchange of rings and kissing of the bride.

Other rituals like popping the champagne and cutting the wedding cake in front of the two families and friends will be held on board the Vinadive off Mun Islet off the central city.

The day before the wedding, Vinadive instructors will teach the couples to dive.

For Valentine's Day this year, Vinadive is offering the package at VND8 million per couple, a discount of VND2 million.

The centre organised Viet Nam's first underwater wedding in 2007.

Further information is available at Vinadive, Biet Thu Street, Nha Trang and www.vietnamdive.com.

Thais fall for Vietnamese kids' book

Popular children's book writer Nguyen Nhat Anh has sold the rights to Thailand-based Nanmee Books Publishing House for translation of one of his best-selling books into Thai.

Cho Toi Xin Mot Ve Di Tuoi Tho (Give Me A Ticket Back To Childhood) is a narration by an urban boy named Mui of the events in his and three friends' lives.

The book received a sensational reception from critics and readers of all ages, selling a record -- for children's books -- 20,000 copies within a week of being published in 2008.

It was reprinted by the Tre (Youth) Publishing House.

Translator Montira Rato will work to get the Thai version published in August to mark 35 years of diplomatic relations between Viet Nam and Thailand.

Last year the Viet Nam Writers Association nominated the book for the Southeast Asian Writers Award instituted by the Thai royal family, and it duly won the prize.

The HCM City-based Anh began writing in 1984 and is known for his simple style and accurately depicting the purity and sensitivity of children's minds.

His other famous books include Toi La Be To (I'm Be To) and Dao Mong Mo (The Dreamlike Island), both about young girls and boys. Both have seen reprints.

His latest book, Toi Thay Hoa Vang Tren Co Xanh (I See Yellow Flowers on the Green Grass), sold 32,000 copies in just two months of publication last year.

Co Gai Den Tu Hom Qua (The Girl Comes from Yesterday), which Tre published in 1995, remains one of the country's best-selling kids' books.

Moscow University recently included it in the curriculum for Vietnamese-language students.

It is also expected to be translated into Russian.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News