Poetry festival spotlights Taipei’s cultural vibrancy

2015/10/21

Taipei City’s rich cultural heritage and rising reputation as a regional hub of literary excellence will be on full display during a poetry festival running Oct. 24 to Nov. 8 in the northern Taiwan metropolis.

Organized by the local government’s Department of Cultural Affairs, the annual event is themed Orbital Revolution of Poetry. It features artistic performances, book exhibitions, documentary screenings, lectures, poetry competitions, recitals, seminars and various crossover activities like poetry installations.

Some of the city’s premier cultural venues will play host to the activities. These include Eslite Spectrum’s Songyan and Xinyi stores, Kishu An Forest of Literature, Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei, National Taiwan Museum, Spot Taipei, Taipei Zhongshan Hall and Thinkers’ Theater.

DCA Commissioner Ni Chung-hwa said Taipei Poetry Festival is one of the city’s finest cultural traditions and offers a smorgasbord of literary delights. “More than 20 literati and scholars from home and abroad are set to take part, with the attendance of the Syrian poet, essayist and translator Ali Ahmad Said Esber, aka Adonis, a special highlight.”

Adonis, 85, has penned 22 volumes of poems and is a regular Nobel Prize in literature nominee since 1988. He will give two lectures on his career and modern Arab poetry Oct. 24 and 25 at Eslite Spectrum’s Xinyi store.

Another must is the eight-session seminar involving renowned poets Fiona Sze-Lorrain of France, Tang Siu-wa from Hong Kong, Yomota Inuhiko of Japan, Nikola Madzirov from Macedonia and Luke Kennard of the U.K. They are expected to engage in wide-ranging exchanges with local counterparts such as Meng Lang, Tseng Shu-mei and Yang Ze.

Equally appealing is an innovative poetry performance by prestigious Taiwan dancer Yu Yen-feng, as well as Hualien County-based Langsan Theater and New Taipei City-headquartered Against Again Troupe Nov. 7 at Taipei Zhongshan Hall.

Performed to the songs of Tibetan vocalist Lhundup Tsering, the shows feature reinterpretations of surrealist pieces by Le Moulin Poetry Society—a Taiwan experimental pioneer organization during the Japanese colonial period (1895-1945). Kennard and Sze-Lorrain will also join the event.

“The festival is more than a platform for poets: It is a literary-themed fiesta combining various art forms and cultural expression,” Ni said. “The diversity of the event reflects the city’s robust reading landscape and is certain to prove popular with locals and visitors alike.”

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=238025&ctNode=2194&mp=9)