Final round of Sao Mai singing contest in Europe

On July 11, twenty-one contestants representing overseas Vietnamese (OVs) in the Czech Republic, Romania, Russia, Ukraine, Germany and Italy participated in the final round of Sao Mai singing contest in Prague.

They were selected from the qualifying rounds held in June in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Russia and Germany.

Each contestant sang a select song based on different music genres: folklore, opera to pop.

Successful contestants entered the final night on July 12 to attend the national final round of Sao Mai singing contest in mid-August in Vietnam.

The contest in Europe was held by the Vietnamese Art and Culture Association in the Czech Republic under the auspices of the Vietnam Embassy and the Overseas Vietnamese Association in the Czech Republic.

Writers’ Association convenes ninth congress

The ninth congress of the Vietnam Writers’ Association for the 2015-2020 tenure, opened in Hanoi on July 11, with the presence of Politburo member, Secretary of the Party Central Committee (PCC) and Head of the PCC’s Commission for Communication and Education Dinh The Huynh.

Addressing the opening ceremony, Huynh stressed that the congress’ contents to devise the association’s plan in the coming term should strictly follow the Party resolution on building and developing Vietnamese culture and people to meet requirements of national development in a sustainable manner.

He also urged writers to strive to produce many works with strong value in ideology and arts for readers.

The association’s members elected the association’s standing committee, including poets: Huu Thinh, Nguyen Quang Thieu and Tran Dang Khoa, and writers: Nguyen Tri Huan, Khuat Quang Thuy and Nguyen Binh Phuong. Poet Huu Thinh was re-elected the association’s Chairman.

According to the congress’ report, for the past five years, the association has had over 1,000 works in different types. Five member writers received Ho Chi Minh Awards, 15 writers got State Awards and five others earned ASEAN Awards.

The association regularly organises the Vietnam Poetry Day and presents literature awards annually to outstanding writers and their works.

It also hosted successfully the third International Conference to Promote Vietnamese Literature and the second Asia Pacific Poetry Festival while co-operating with foreign partners to publish many works by Vietnamese authors in other languages.