Activities honoring poet Nguyen Du, his Kieu tale to run in Vietnam

(VNF)- A clutch of activities and workshops will be organized to pay respect to eminent Vietnamese poet Nguyen Du and his world-famous masterpiece ‘The Tale of Kieu’.

Poet Nguyen Du will become the third person after revered politician Nguyen Trai and prominent late Vietnamese President Ho Chi Minh to be recognized as an Outstanding Man of Culture by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) next November.

Politician Nguyen Trai and late Vietnamese President Ho were venerated as such by the organization in 1980 and 1990 respectively.

The Vietnam Kieu Study Association o Tuesday cooperated with the Vietnam National Library to host a workshop themed “The Great Poet Nguyen Du and His Masterpiece ‘The Tale of Kieu’”.

This is the third workshop on poet Nguyen Du and is one of the events to mark his 250th birthday.

Around 30 reports centered on the revered poet’s artistry and his masterpiece were presented at the conference.

An international conference on Nguyen Du and his masterpiece will be jointly held later on by the Academy of Social Sciences, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and the central province of Ha Tinh, Nguyen Du’s hometown.

Nguyen Du (1766–1820), whose pen names are To Nhu and Thanh Hien, is a celebrated Vietnamese poet who composed in Nom script- the ancient Vietnamese writing script which was adapted from the Chinese characters.

His most-known work, “The Tale of Kieu,” which boasts 3,254 verse lines, has taken a firm footing in Vietnamese daily life. The names of many characters from the tale have become household names.

The masterpiece has been translated into some 20 different languages, including French, Chinese, English, Russian, Japanese, Korean and German./.

by VNF