Writers meet in Ha Noi for Mekong Literature Award

HA NOI — Well-known writers from Viet Nam, Laos and Cambodia are getting together for a first-ever five-day conference in Ha Noi from Thursday.

Top of the agenda, the conference will mull over top-notch literary work from the three countries for the newly established Mekong Literature Prize. The meeting will also discuss translating a selection of outstanding pieces to be translated into two other languages.

Work to be presented at the event includes stories about the Indochinese resistance, Vietnamese volunteers in Laos and pieces about relations between people of the three countries.

Twelve Mekong Literature Prizes are up for grabs, with five allotted to Vietnamese writers, three to Laos and four to those from Cambodia.

The awards will be given out on Monday.

The conference is part of an agreement made at a meeting last December between chairmen of writers associations in the three countries. The move aims to encourage literary works exploring their friendship and solidarity. Both Cambodia and Laos will hold similar events.

Sidelining the conference, field trips with Vietnamese writers will be organised for foreign writers to learn about Vietnamese history and culture and their share experiences writing about Viet Nam. — VNS