Though Viet Nam has made certain attempts in promoting its literature to the world, these remain insubstantial, as remarked by experts at an ongoing international meeting in Ha Noi.

An international conference on Vietnamese literature, which kicked off in the Vietnamese capital on Monday and will wrap up on Friday, is attended by the local literati and over 150 international poets, authors, and translators from 43 countries and territories.

Veteran poet Huu Thinh, chair of the Viet Nam Writers Association, opened the conference by pointing to the fact that Viet Nam has been heavily ‘importing’ foreign literary works for several decades.

Vietnamese and international literati at the conference

“We aspire to be one of the world’s culture exchange partners on an equal basis, not a mere ‘consumer’ of the world’s tomes. The world is eager to learn about Vietnamese culture just as much as we are about theirs,” Thinh stressed. However, ‘exporting’ Vietnamese works is few and far between.

Only a limited number of works authored by late revered poets and authors – including Nguyen Trai, Nguyen Du, and President Ho Chi Minh – have been translated and introduced in Russia, France and China, along with a small number written by emerging writers.

The conference in Ha Noi is the onset of the ongoing activities in the capital and the northern province of Quang Ninh to foster the country’s literature, including the second Asia-Pacific Poetry Festival and the 13^th Viet Nam Poetry Day.

Thinh, of the Viet Nam Writers Association, thus called for the establishment of an agency dedicated to promoting Vietnamese culture to the world.

The activities are designed to link Vietnamese authors and poets with international translators, researchers and publishers, and introduce local literary works to potential partners in different countries and territories.