Pen name Mai Văn Phấn | Occupation Poet | |
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Period 1955 – present
"We always have hope for a brighter future, like seeds that are sown in the darkness and move towards the light" (Mai Văn Phấn) | ||
Vietnamese poet Mai Văn Phấn. His words express the value of culture, spirit, traditions and customs of the Vietnamese people. Here, the poet speaks up about the joy and immense sadness that his people have been through. His poems illuminate and reveal poverty, diseases, suffering and backwardness while at the same time capturing the heart and soul and expressions of the Vietnamese people. The poet is the one who designs a structure for the society and nature in his own way. He explores the mystery and complexity of human nature and the natural world. Mai Văn Phấn sees the world through the eyes of a poet who can see into another world.
Contents
Biography
Mai Văn Phấn was born 1955 in Ninh Bình, Red River Delta in North Vietnam. He joined the army infantry in 1974. Mai Văn Phấn left the army in 1981 and entered Hanoi College of Foreign Languages, Department of Linguistics and Russian culture. Continued learning in 1983 at Gorki Pedagogics School, Minsk, (Capital of the Byelorussian SSR). Winner of numerous awards for poetry in Viet Nam: “Poetry contest” of Weekly Người Hà Nội in 1994. “Poetry contest” of Weekly Văn Nghệ 1995. “Literature” of celebrity culture Nguyễn Bỉnh Khiêm (Hải Phòng city) in 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995. Recipient of the prestigious “Vietnam Writers' Association” Award in 2010.
Notable works
He has won several literary awards in Vietnam and published 23 books of poetry:
♦ "Giọt nắng" (Drops of Sunlight, 1992);
♦ "Gọi xanh" (Calling to the Blue, 1995);
♦ "Cầu nguyện ban mai"(Prayers to Dawn, 1997);
♦ "Nghi lễ nhận tên" (Ritual of Naming, 1999);
♦ "Người cùng thời" (People of the Era, 1999);
♦ "Vách nước" (Water Wall, 2003);
♦ "Hôm sau" (The Day After, 2009);
♦ "và đột nhiên gió thổi" (and Suddenly the Wind Blows, 2009);
♦ "Bầu trời không mái che" (Vietnamese-only version of Firmament Without Roof Cover, 2010);
♦ Thơ tuyển Mai Văn Phấn (Mai Văn Phấn: Selected Poems - essays and the interviews, 2011);
♦ "hoa giấu mặt" (hidden-face Flower, 2012);
♦ "Firmament Without Roof Cover" (Bầu trời không mái che, 2012);
♦ "Vừa sinh ra ở đó" (Just Born There, 2013);
♦ "Những hạt giống của đêm và ngày/ Seeds of Night and Day" (2013);
♦ "Buông tay cho trời rạng/ Out of the Dark" (2013);
♦ "Bầu trời không mái che/ A Ciel Ouvert" (French Edition, 2013);
♦ "Zanore në vesë" (Vowels in the dew, Những nguyên âm trong sương sớm, Albanian Edition, 2014);
♦ "Ra vườn chùa xem cắt cỏ/ Grass Cutting in a Temple Garden" (2014);
♦ "Yên Tử Dağının Çiçeği" (The Flower of Mount Yên Tử, ŞİİRDEN YAYINCILIK, Turkey, 2015);
♦ The Selected Poems of Mai Văn Phấn (Publishing House of The Vietnam Writers' Association, 2015);
♦♦♦
His poems have also appeared in more than 50 anthologies, including Poetry NZ 36 (New Zealand) Poetry Kit Magazine 5 & 6 (British); Poesy Magazine 33, Fulcrum 3, The Writers Post volume 6, 7 & 8, Wordbridge (US); Poem and Comment Magazine (S. Korean); Softblow Poetry Journal (Singapore), Literature Newspaper (Indonesia); Tranan (Sweden)...
Viewpoints
"Whether be written with any trend, poetry is always carrying the beauty of primordial, to the resurrection, recreate the world, forever opposed to the bad and evil.” (The beauty and power of poetry - Mai Văn Phấn)
“Each poem always helps the poet renew himself, and discover the world and life... As long as the poet still accumulate and experience for creation, the door is always opened in front of him as a “border pass” for him to come to the new land, and then closed, and opened again, and so on. Creation is a route on which the poet should overcome many border passes in the boundless space of border passes.” (Poetic Space - Mai Văn Phấn)
"The poetic creation is nearly like the amazement state of a child who, in the first time, sees the strange phenomena of nature and finds out the human mysteries and complications... The poet is a selected person (temporarily called as a God-selected person), who is “granted a favour”in the spirit of Jesus Christ, or meets a “good fortune” in Buddhism." (Creativity, the spirit for the destination - Mai Văn Phấn)
Interviews
- "Creation Was A Process of Escape from Personality”
- "Should a poet think of his responsibility or mission upon his poetic creation?"
- "When one has to live, has the right to live and read”
- "Another way leading to the modern Vietnamese Poetry”