A Chinese-Icelandic poetry festival will be held in Beijing and Huangshan (“Yellow Mountain”) in Anhui province in eastern China October 24-28 on behalf of the China-Iceland Cultural Fund, established by Chinese poet and investor Huang Nubo.
From last year’s poetry festival.
This is the second festival organized by the fund; last year in October an Icelandic-Chinese poetry festival was held in the Nordic House in Reykjavík.
This year the festival’s theme is “Inheritance and Innovation”. Five Icelandic poets are invited to participate, Gerdur Kristný, Ingunn Snaedal, Sigurbjörg Thrastardóttir, Steinunn Sigurdardóttir and Thórarinn Eldjárn, a press release states.
Additionally, two Swedish and one Greenlandic representative will also participate in the program, as will Icelandic artist Sigurdur Gudmundsson, who lives in Xiamen, China.
Participants are all well-known poets in their home countries and use innovation in their literary creations. Most of them have received international recognition.
The festival will be held in cooperation with respected companies and institutions in the field of literature in East Asia.
In connection with the festival, a selection of the participants’ poetry will be published as a poetry collection, along with translations, in China.
The purpose of the China-Iceland Cultural Fund is to increase cultural collaboration between Iceland and China, emphasizing literature, particularly poetry.
Established last year, it is meant to operate for ten years, in which time it has been guaranteed a contribution of USD 1 million (ISK 116 million, EUR 726,000).
The fund’s board is based in China and is comprised of chairman Huang Nubo, Professor Xie Mian, who directs Bejing University’s Poetry Center, and Icelandic Ambassador to China Kristín A. Árnadóttir.
The fund’s project management, chaired by Chinese translator Hjörleifur Sveinbjörnsson, is based in Iceland.
The China-Iceland Cultural Fund’s founder, Huang Nubo, garnered much attention both in the Icelandic and international media because of his intention to invest in land in northeast Iceland, Grímsstadir á Fjöllum, to build a hotel there.
Click here to read more about his investment plans.
ESA
