European literature characters through Vietnamese students’ paintings

The second prize–winning painting featuring Swedish characters Pettson and Findus by Nguyen Quynh Anh. Photo courtesy of the organisation board

“European characters in Vietnam” is a creative competition which requires participants to illustrate and create dialogues for characters from European literary works. It received about 1500 submissions and selected 108 best drawings (12 drawings per character) to exhibit at L’Espace and Goethe Institute.

The characters include: Don Quixote – from Spain (in the series Don Quixote, author: Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Literature Publishing House); Harry Potter – from Britain (in the series Harry Potter, author: J.K.Rowling, Tre Publishing House); Heidi – from Switzerland (in Heidi, author: Johanna Spyri, DongA Books – Literature Publishing House); Hero Smurf – from Belgium (in the series The Smurfs, TA Books – Dong Nai Publishing House); Hungarian person – from Hungary (in Hungarian person, author: Lackfi János, Nha Nam Bookstore – Publishing House of the Vietnam writers’ Association); Medardo – from Italy (in The Cloven Viscount, author: Italo Calvino, Nha Nam Bookstore – Literature Publishing House); Le Petit Nicolas – from France (presented in the series Le Petit Nicolas, Nha Nam Bookstore – Literature Publishing House); Pettson & Findus – from Sweden (presented in Pettson &Findus, author: Sven Nordqvist, Huy Hoang Bookstore – Fine Art Publishing House) and Puss in Boots – from Germany (in Grimms Fairytales, Goethe Institut in Hanoi).

The contest aimed to inspire junior and high school students to draw and write about nine characters of European literature, including Puss in Boots, Don Quixote, Harry Potter and Le Petit Nicolas.

Four of the works were the winners of an online vote on Facebook. Duong Le Tue Minh, from Nguyen Tat Thanh School won the first prize for his drawing entitled Conversation between Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, while Nguyen Quynh Anh from Ha Thanh High School grabbed second prize for her work featuring Swedish characters Pettson and Findus.

Chu Van An School’s Nguyen Duc Dai and Le Khanh Ly from Nguyen Tat Thanh School took third prize.

The exhibition will be held in Goethe Institut (56-58 Nguyen Thai Hoc str., Ba Dinh dist., Hanoi)./.

VNF