Poetry slams and artistic performances will be showcased at Viet Nam Poetry Day 2016, to be held here on February 22.

A woman releases bands with printed verses to the sky on the Viet Nam Poetry Day last year. – Photo hanoimoi.com 

Under the theme "The Country and Spring Sail", artists at the poetry festival will praise the country, the Party and the beauty of spring, according to Nguyen Quang Thieu, vice chairman of the Viet Nam Writers' Association and organiser of the event.

The event will take place across three stages: the Van Mieu (Temple of Literature), Quoc Tu Giam (the First National University) and the Ho Van (Lake of Literature).

An exhibition featuring eminent poets associated with the resistance effort against the French will be organised.

On the occasion, two Prix Goncour-honoured poets from Belgium and France will join poet Thieu in a poem recital at the French Institute on 24 Trang Tien Street in Ha Noi.

As one of the annual activities of HCM City's Writers' Association, Viet Nam Poetry Day will be organised in new areas.

The event will take place on February 14-16 and will include a conference on the vitality of poetry in urban areas; an exchange programme between HCM City's Writers' Association and the HCM City University of Social Sciences and Humanities; and several activities honouring poetry, organised by the Union of Arts and Literature Associations.

Since its debut on Nguyen Tieu (the 15th day of the first lunar month) in 2003, Viet Nam Poetry Day has become a national tradition, taking place in the spring of each year.

Starting out as an initiative of the Viet Nam Writers' Association, Poetry Day has been organised in many provinces and cities to honour poetry, which has been an integral part of Vietnamese culture for thousands of years. 

VNS