The vibrant literature festival with contributions from 8 European countries, will be full of activities for book lovers that include book presentations, readings, workshops, exhibitions,films, prizes and big discounts on European books in shops on HCMC’s Book Street - Nguyen Van Binh.
Credit: Goethe-Institut Hanoi
The event will run from 4th to 10th May in Hanoi and from 8th to 12th May in Ho Chi Minh City with 24 activities for you to participate in. Different groups of readers, from kids to adults, and with a variety of reading tastes, will all be able to find novels that match their interests and delight their imaginations as they explore literature from eight European countries - Denmark, Germany, France, Sweden, Great Britain, Italy, Spain and Belgium.
In 2016, the world of literature is also celebrating the work of two famous authors - the British playwright William Shakespeare and the Spanish novelist Miguel de Cervantes, author of the fa- mous Don Quixote. 2016 marks the 400th aniversary of the deaths of Shakespeare and Cervantes so during European Literature Days, Britain will host three events – a conference, talk, and workshop celebrating Sheakerspeare, and Spain will host a presentation celebrating Miguel de Cervantes and his seminal work- The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha.
Vietnamese readers of European literature will already be familiar with children’s characters from French and British literature like Nicolas, the Little Prince, Pippi Longstocking and Emil of Lonneberga.
However, many more European books have now been translated into Vietnamese for the first time. These newly translated works, many of which are award-winning titles, will be showcased in book presentations and conferences. These include “Wisdom and Destiny” by Maurice Maeterlinck (Wallonia-Brussels - Nobel prize 1911), “Don’t cry” by Lydie Salvayre (France-Goncourt prize 2014), “War memoirs” by Charles De Gaulle (France), “Geschmack von Apfelkernen” by Kathari- na Hagena, “Das Schloss” by Franz Kafka (Germany ) and a wide range of children book series like “Ulysses Moore” vol. 4,5 and 6 (Italy), the three volume Rico and Oskar series (Germany),
“Speaking English with Martine” (Wallonia-Brussels), “Philosophy for teenagers” (France), and the illustrated children’s series “Secrets Children Need to Know” (Sweden ).
Other events have also been adopted to make the most of this year’s European Literature Days, including a discussion about historical fiction and an exhibition of illuminated picture books (Denmark), a reading of “Sungs Laden” by Karin Kalisa (Germany), a writing competition and a workshop on drawing young characters (France), a movie screening, and a European Books Discount Festival on Book Street (HCMC).
