European Literature Day

Hanoi:
Fri 27 May, 6 – 8 pm
Literature from Italy and Germany
Goethe Institute, 56-58 Nguyen Thai Hoc 

Sat 28 May, 8.45 am – 4.30 pm
8.45 – 11.30 am: Children’s books from France
2 – 4.30 pm: Children’s books and Comics from Belgium (Wallonie-Bruxelles) and Denmark
L’Espace, 24 Trang tien

From European Commission to Vietnam:
Book lovers can look forward to a new date in the program of the European Days: for the first time this year, European cultural institutes and embassies will stage a common literary event. The Goethe-Institut, Institut Francais – L‘ Espace and the representation of Wallonie-Bruxelles together with the embassies of Italy and Denmark, will present new books that have recently been translated into Vietnamese. The selection is broad.

From Italy comes the classic “Se questo è un Uomo” (If This is a Man) by Primo Levi and two childrens’s books “Lo stralisco” (Lo stralisco) and “Mattia e il nonno” (Mattino and his grandfather) by Roberto Piumini.

Germany is represented with no fewer than four titles, including the love story “Schweigeminute“ (Moment of Silence) by Siegfried Lenz and the fantasy novel “Nijura. Das Erbe der Elfenkrone” (Nijura. The Heritage of the Elf Queen) by the successful young Vietnamese-German author Jenny Mai Nuyen. The Italian and German literature night will take place at the Goethe-Institut.

See schedule for Fri 27 May 2011 at Goethe Institut below:

• Italian literature translated in Vietnam: presented by H.E Ambassador of Italy Lorenzo Angeloni, in Italian and Vietnamese
• Primo Levi, Se questo è un Uomo (Survival in Auschwitz, Nhã Nam); presented by Giuseppe Tidona (Cultural officer, Embassy of Italy), in Italian and Vietnamese
• Roberto Piumini, Lo stralisco (Stralisco) and Mattia e il nonno (Mattia and his Grandfather), Thương Huyền, translated and presented by Bui Phuong Nga, in Italian and Vietnamese
• Siegfried Lenz, Schweigeminute (Moment of Silence) Phu Nu Publishing House, translated by Nguyen Thi Tam Tinh, presented by Le Quang, in German and Vietnamese
• Daniel Kehlmann, Die Vermessung der Welt; (Measuring the World) Nha Nam & Literature Publishing House
• David Safier, Mieses Karma (Lousy Karma); translated and presented by Le Quang, in German and Vietnamese
• Jenny Mai Nuyen, Nijura. Das Erbe der Elfenkrone (Nijura. The Heritage of the Elf Queen) Kim Dong Publishing House; translated and presented by Ta Quang Hiep, in German and Vietnamese

For young readers, Institut Francais – L’ Espace presents “Encyclopédie Larousse des 6/9 ans” (Larousse Encyclopedia for 6-9 year olds) and new children’s books (Claude Roy), published by Alpha Books, with conference, games and books stand.

From Belgium (Wallonie-Bruxelles), the young will also discover the series of novels by Amélie Nothomb (Nha Nam Editions), a series of Children’s books of Kim Dong Editions as well as the Comic’s series “Lucky Luke” (First New Editions) and Cedric (Nha Nam) which give us a foretaste of the comic book festival which will open on 30 May. In addition,the children’s book “A journey” will be presented which is the result of a Vietnamese-Danish co-production, is published in two languages, and has received much positive attention in Denmark. The Vietnamese version is published by Kim Dong Publishing House.

See schedule for Sat 28 May 2011 at L’Espace below:

8.45 – 11.30 am: Children’s books from France

• Edibooks: conference – games to discover 11 titles of Larousse Encyclopedia for 6-9 year olds
• Alpha Books: Dr. Nguyen Thuy Anh presents children’s books by Claude Roy, Valckx and Pascale Chadenat

All books will be presented by experts who will give an entertaining introduction to each literary scene (in the respective language and in Vietnamese). There will also be book stalls of the publishers Edibooks, Alpha Books, Nha Nam, Kim Dong, Thuong Huyen, VNN Publishing, Phu Nu etc.

Free admission.

EUNIC is the global network “European Union of National Institutes for Culture”. The EUNIC headquarters is in Brussels, with local associations in 53 countries, from A for Afghanistan to V for Vietnam: Since November 2010 eight European Institutes and Embassys are united in the EUNIC cluster in Hanoi in order to promote the variety of European culture and the European-Vietnamese cultural dialogue: The Cultural Institutions British Council, Goethe-Institut, L´Espace, the Delegation Wallonie-Bruxelles and the cultural sections of the Embassies of Austria, Denmark, Italy and the Netherlands. The joint activities in May and June are: The European Literature Day and the European-Vietnamese Documentary Film Festival. Further projects in this year are the European Dance Days (8th and 9th September) as well as the Week of European Languages in October.