Nou Hach Literary Journal

An international poetry festival titled ‘Northern Europe meets Mekong’ will run throughout June in Battambang, Siem Reap and Phnom Penh. The festival features writers from Cambodia and Europe who will hold poetry readings at venues throughout Phnom Penh, conduct creative writing workshops with children, and speak at a free one-day seminar at the Buddhist Institute on 20^th June.

The festival aims to promote poetry and to share universal ideas between poets from all over the world. Audiences will be entertained with poetry readings at venues as varied as the Australian Centre for Education, the French Cultural Centre and Monument Books, while finding out more about the art of modern poetry.

“The International Poetry Festival will an important event in Cambodia, bringing writers from Europe and Cambodia together to discuss modern poetry,” said Mr Kho Tararith, Director of Nou Hach Literary Association. “The festival aims to remind writers from Cambodia and all over the world about Cambodia’s literary history while exploring new writing – to both conserve traditions and to develop new ideas in Cambodian society,” Mr Kho said.

The month-long festival will come to a peak with a full day seminar on 20^th June at the Buddhist Institute featuring writers from Cambodia, Sweden, Iceland, Demark and Fore Island. Hosted by Nou Hach Literary Association, in cooperation with the Sowers Association and the Khmer Writers’ Association abroad, the seminars are now in their seventh year and mark an important event on the Cambodian literary calendar.

“We would like to welcome Cambodians and people from other countries who are interested in this festival to join us throughout June to celebrate poetry and the sharing of ideas,” said Mr Kho.

Nou Hach Literary Association works to promote literature in Cambodia through the production of a literary journal, writing competitions, radio shows, workshops and through their website: www.nouhachjournal.net.

For interviews or more information please contact:

(Khmer) Kho Tararith, Director, 011 955 599 khmerlite@gmail.com, or

(Eng) Laura McKay, 089 820 517 laurajeanmckay@yahoo.com.au

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Northern Europe meets Mekong: International Poetry Festival June 2009

Join us for a festival of poetry and ideas in June 2009. This exciting festival includes poets from Northern Europe and Cambodia reading poetry in their original language and translations.

For more information please contact:

Nou Hach Literary Association

(Khmer) Kho Tararith, Director, 011 955 599 khmerlite@gmail.com, or

(Eng) Laura McKay, 089 820 517 laurajeanmckay@yahoo.com.au

Schedule – Northern Europe meets Mekong

Phnom Penh – Battambang – Siem Reap – Sun 7 – Sat 13

Date	Session	Venue	Speaker
Mon 8	Readings	9am – 11am Battambang Pedagogy	1.Teacher and students 2.Chhoung Chenda 3.Hanna Hallgren 4.Jóanes Nielsen
	Workshop	8am-11am Ned Yong High School	1. Marianne Larsen 2.Kristín Bjarnadóttir
	Readings	3pm – 5pm Ned Yong High School	1.Teacher and students 2.Chhoung Chinda 3.Athena Farrokhzad 4. Jóanes Nielsen
Tues 9	Readings	4pm (arrive at 2pm to set up) Phare Ponleu Selpak Org	1.Uy Live 2. KHUT Narinkannbo 3.Kristín Bjarnadóttir 4. Anna Mattsson 5. Hanna Hallgren 6.Athena Farrokhzad
Thurs 11	Readings	8am – 11am Siemreap Pedagogy	1. Iv Hout 2.Teacher and students 3.Jóanes 4. Marianne 5. Kristín
	workshops	8am – 11am Siemreap Pedagogy	5. Hanna 6. Athena
Sat 13	Reading	3pm Cultural village	1. Iv Hout 2. Pranit 3. All Nordic poets

Phnom Penh readings Mon 15 – Sat 20

Date	Session	Venue	Speaker
Mon 15	Reading	U C 11am to 12.30pm	1. Noun Pechsodeny 2. Houn Savong 4. Pol Pisey 5. Athena Farrokhzad 6. Jóanes Nielsen
	Workshop	PSE – Steung Meanchey	Ms Marianne Larsen Ms Kristin Bjarnadottir
Tues 16	Reading	5pm French Cultural Centre (CCF) – Exhibition Hall	1. Thon Sambo 2. Ven. Chin Meas 3. Pov Sok 4. Athena Farrokhzad 5. Jóanes Nielsen
	Workshop	PSE – Steung Meanchey	1. Ms Marianne Larsen 2. Ms Kristin Bjarnadottir
	Reading	6-7.30 Australian Centre for Education – GIL Centre	1. Synoda 2. Ying Yon 3. Ngoun Sivngim 4. Hanna Hallgren 5. Anna Mattsson
Wed 17		7pm Gasolina	1. Yin Luoth 2. Neng Kanitha 3. Hanna Hallgren 4. Marianne Larsen
Thur 18	Reading	Monument Books	1.Yin Luoth 2.Khem Chan So Akhaing 3. Marianne Larsen 4.Kristín Bjarnadóttir
Fri 19	Reading	6pm Reyum	1.Ven Son 2. Pal Vannarirak 3. Kristín Bjarnadóttir 4. Anna Mattsson
Sat 20	Seminar and reading	7.30am -17.00pm	Cambodian and North Europe writers

Presentation of poets

Jóanes Nielsen – Faroe Islands

Born in 1953, Jóanes Nielsen  is married and has three daughters. Has been a worker and a fisherman since 1967 and until the middle of the 90s. Since then, he has been a full time writer. He published his first book in 1978, and has since that published eight more poetry collections and three novels. He is also a journalist and a drama writer.

Athena Farrokhzad – Sweden

Athena Farrokhzad lives in Stockholm, Sweden, and is a poet, critic and translator. Her poems have been published in different culture magazines. Member of the writers’ collective G=T=B=R=G and is one of the editors of the magazines “Ord&Bild” and “Slut”. Spring 2009 she published her first book, the poetry collection “Manualen” (the Manual) together with another poet, Tova Gerge.

Hanna Hallgren – Sweden

Hanna Hallgren was born in 1972 and lives in Stockholm. She is a poet and critic. Her most recent book is “Jaget är människans mest framträdande sinnessjukdom” (The I is man’s most distinguished mental disease).

Marianne Larsen – Denmark

Marianne Larsen was born 1.27.1951 in Kalundborg, Denmark. After taking her General Certificate she studied comparative literary history and Chinese for a few years at the University of Copenhagen, and has translated modern Chinese poetry to Danish. At age 20 she made her literary debut with the volume of poems Koncentrationer, which established her as a poet who experiments with language. Since then she has written several volumes of poetry. First and foremost she is a lyric poet. But she has also written six novels. She has also written books for children and drama. Marianne Larsen has poems translated into 15 languages, and volumes of her poetry has come out in England, USA, Sweden and Australia. She has received many awards and prizes. She lives as a writer in Copenhagen.

Anna Mattsson – Sweden

Anna Mattsson, born in 1966, lives in Gothenburg, Sweden. She is a poet, novelist and a translator. She made her debut in 1988 with a poetry collection, and has since that published eight more books, among them three novels. Her most recent book is “Gränsglaset” (the Border Glass), 2009. In the early nineties she lived in the Faroe Islands and she works as a translator from Faroese. She used to live and work in Cambodia 2003 – 2006, and has, among others, translated Pippi Longstocking to Khmer.

Kristín Bjarnadóttir – Iceland

Kristín Bjarnadóttir was born on the west coast of Iceland in 1948. She spent her childhood and youth in a rural area. Later on, she moved to Reykjavik and then to Denmark, where she was educated as an actress in the early seventies. She was an actress on the theatre and also on films for many years. Now she lives in Gothenburg, Sweden, and is a journalist, a translator and a poet. Her most recent book is published both in Icelandic and in Swedish: “Jag lutar mig mot dig och flyger” (I lean to you and fly). It’s a poetical travel diary with Kristín’s life passion as a main theme: tango and Argentina.

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Festival showcases Khmer and international poetry

‘Northern Europe Meets the Mekong’ festival hopes to reach out to Cambodians

AN ECLECTIC poetry festival that fuses  Cambodian and Northern European poetry will take place at various locations around Phnom Penh this week.

Following readings in Siem Reap and Battambang, six poets from Sweden, Denmark, Iceland and the Faroe Islands will perform in the capital alongside their Cambodian counterparts.

All the poets will recite in their own language so that listeners can get some idea of the depth of various types of poetry.
Anna Mattson, one of the organisers of the festival, titled “Northern Europe Meets the Mekong”, explains the inspiration behind this exciting exploration of cultural diversity.

“I have been working with literature in Cambodia for some years, and I spent a lot of time talking with people in  both Sweden, where I come from, and Cambodia about how nice it would be to have some sort of meeting between these different cultures,” she said.

“This now has resulted in the showing of different ways of reading and writing poetry,” she said.

This unique cultural opportunity could signal a resurgence of interest in poetry among Cambodians, something Mattson cited as among her goals.

“Before the Pol Pot regime, I’m sure there must have been poetry readings for audiences in Cambodia, because poetry in the Cambodian language is designed for an audience,” she said.

“But in contemporary Cambodia I think that this kind of festival is a new idea, and we hope to reach out to Cambodian listeners.”

Mattson says the distinct differences between Cambodian and Northern European poetry will produce significant challenges during the festival, even though the foreign poetry will be translated into Khmer.

“Cambodian poetry is what we would call in the Western world very traditional poetry,” she said.

“Poetry in the West becomes something very personal, but Cambodian poetry uses different rules, it uses a very metric style, and poets are not free to use the words that they want to, but have to use certain words that fit with the rhythm and subject of the poem,” she added.

However, even though the differences between Cambodian and Northern European poetry are more obvious than the similarities, Mattson says each style of poetry has a great deal to contribute to the festival.

“Cambodian poets almost sing when they recite their poetry. They do not read it out as we do. This is a special tradition, and the mixing of traditions will be the most interesting thing about this festival,” she said.

Cultural exchange
Visitors to the festival will be able to enjoy the poetry, as well as an opportunity for cultural exchange.

The Northern European poets in particular have been chosen for their diverse creative roles, and Mattson hopes that the Cambodian audience will be inspired to pursue similar outlets for their creativity.

“The Northern European poets each write in a very modern style; they don’t focus on the traditional aspects of rhyme and they are all different in the subjects that they write about,” she said.

“They are also very different in age. The youngest one is 25, and the eldest is 60,” she added.
Almost a year’s work has gone into organising the festival.

Support for the event has come from the Nou Hach Literary Project, which aims to promote and strengthen the development of modern Cambodian literature.

The festival also received backing from Northern European organisations including The Swedish Institute, the Swedish Academy and the Nordic Culture Fund.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 29th, 2009 at 15:53 and is filed under News.