Launching two literary works imbued with love

The launching ceremony of the two books is both a special literary event and a profound memory of the close friendship that has lasted for decades between poet Thuan Huu, former member of the Party Central Committee, former Editor-in-Chief of Nhan Dan Newspaper, former Deputy Head of the Central Propaganda Department, and writer Phan Duc Nhan, former member of the 11th National Assembly .

The authors are all children of the heroic and hard-working Central region, having experienced together many ups and downs of life, so that their feelings, beliefs and aspirations have become an indispensable part of the works accumulated over the years.

Poet Thuan Huu shared his simple and emotional words at the ceremony.

The event to launch the two books was held in a solemn yet warm atmosphere of the art room of the Writers Association Publishing House. Many Politburo members, Central Party Committee members and leaders and former leaders of agencies, departments and branches attended or sent congratulatory flower baskets to the authors.

Chairman of the Vietnam Writers Association Nguyen Quang Thieu expressed his respect and admiration for the authors.

Speaking at the book launch, Chairman of the Vietnam Writers Association Nguyen Quang Thieu sent his warmest and deepest congratulations to the two authors. He emphasized that this is an opportunity to honor the dedication of poet Thuan Huu and writer Phan Duc Nhan, while also arousing in readers a love for literature, history and noble human values. It is also an affirmation that Vietnamese literature continues its journey of marking and nurturing beautiful and meaningful stories of people and times.

Through the works, the beauty of literature, human values ​​and the writer's soul have clearly appeared, helping to open up to readers a world full of emotions that they have not had the opportunity to understand.

Poetry collection "Picked up along the road" by poet Thuan Huu.

Poet Thuan Huu expressed his gratitude and shared his emotions at the book launch. He expressed that he is the son of a fisherman in the Vi Giam region, where there is a small village leaning against the mountain, facing the sea. That son came from a poor countryside, was lucky to work as a journalist, traveled a lot, studied a lot and lived in many different countrysides of the Fatherland. During more than 20 years of being attached to the Central Highlands, he met and became close to writer Phan Duc Nhan.

In the poet's heart, it is a land imbued with human love, where "we are like the Han River hiding in the heart of all", where each word of love is uttered, deeply "Quang Nam, I am indebted to you for the rest of my life". Poet Thuan Huu also shared about the love-themed poetry that he received many questions about to affirm: "Being human, living to love/ Is more miraculous than all miracles". To him, the most beautiful and greatest love belongs to the realm of imagination.

The Chairman of the Vietnam Writers Association presented flowers to congratulate the authors.

Poet Thuan Huu's collection of poems "Picked up along the road" is his fourth work, after the works he has published: "Moments of agitation" (poetry collection, Quang Nam-Da Nang Literature and Arts Association, 1987), "Daylight" (story collection, Da Nang Publishing House, 1988), "The sea calls" (poetry collection, Da Nang Publishing House, 2000).

"Picked up along the road" consists of more than 100 poems, arranged in three parts: Homeland-country; Relatives-memories; Love of the sea-love of you. The book has a simple yet powerful spirit, where each word is the echo of a sensitive and life-loving soul. Although he always humbly refuses to accept the title of "poet", his works have left a deep impression through natural verses like breath, simple like life.

The two works were welcomed in a warm atmosphere.

His poems evoke images of people walking on hot sand, walking in the rain and wind, walking in all the joys and sorrows of life: "I am the child of a hilly region/ But I am also the child of the sea/ The love of the country is mixed with my blood and flesh/ I grew up in the sun and wind of the mountains and the waves of the ocean".

Even when he writes about sadness, pain, uncertainty... in the end, beauty, love, the light of hope and pride still resonate: "More than twenty years of bitterness and sweetness/ I am like the Han River hiding everything in my heart/ In the midst of the dark and unfair life, the river still flows/ Da Nang still passionately smells the first kiss". Poet Thuan Huu has many touching poems and verses: "In the late afternoon of the year, the female with white hair/ Quietly sits beside the green grave of her mother".

The poem about father by poet Thuan Huu is full of emotion.

The President of the Vietnam Writers Association shared: "Just two poetic lines full of images written about mother have spoken to the utmost loneliness of a child without a mother. Talking about loneliness without using any adjectives to describe loneliness. The white color of the hair on the child's head in that space, that time makes me see the devastated heart of the child named Thuan Huu".

Many of Thuan Huu's poems are explorations of nature, explorations of people, from which he sends us messages of life. Poetry does not come from a strange planet in this endless universe. Poetry comes from everywhere, every place, every human life that we have gone through, lived with. Poetry waits for people with a loving heart, a deep insight, a beautiful aspiration to step forward so that it can give that person inspiration, words and thoughts and turn those simple things into poetry and turn that person into a poet.

Chairman of Vietnam Writers Association Nguyen Quang Thieu

In his review of the collection, poet Nguyen Quang Thieu wrote: "Thuan Huu's poetry is like a bell, moving in life, touching joy, sadness and ringing itself. When he writes about pain or darkness, beauty, love and the light of hope still overcome everything to ring." From the image of a lonely pine tree on the top of a mountain, sea shells telling stories of the ocean, to the loneliness before his mother's grave, Thuan Huu's poetry is a journey to discover the beauty and message of life in the most ordinary things.

The collection of poems echoes the narrative of a man who has traveled through the sun, wind, mountains, hills and ocean waves, and also opens an invitation for everyone to listen to the magical sounds of life, thereby rediscovering values ​​that seem to have been forgotten.

Discussions at book launches help the public better understand the work.

Phan Duc Nhan's memoir "Far and Near" is the voice from the heart of a son born and raised on the white sands of Binh Duong (Thang Binh district, Quang Nam province) - a land soaked in blood and sweat from the bombs of war. With a simple and sincere writing style, the author takes readers back to a tragic time, where people from the simple countryside wrote the legend of a strong desire for peace.

Writer Phan Duc Nhan (right) shares about his memoirs and his heroic homeland.

Commenting on the memoir, poet Nguyen Quang Thieu, Chairman of the Vietnam Writers' Association, emphasized: "These are not ordinary pages of literature or history. They are something higher than all, written by a man who lived buried in sand, in bombs, in blood and in immortal dreams of peace." The work is a haunting reminder of the forgetfulness of the past in today's peaceful years, and at the same time a magnificent song about the will and courage of the Vietnamese people.

Poet Nguyen Si Dai expressed his feelings and passion for his works.

Poet Nguyen Quang Thieu emotionally expressed: One day when we walk on the land of Binh Duong, we will see the green of trees and leaves, see the flowers growing from the sand, see the kind eyes and smiles, hear the peaceful voices filled with love of the people living here. We will have the feeling of being on a peaceful land as it has been for thousands of years without a single day of sorrow. But if we have read "Far and Near", we will be shocked to realize that we are on a land of the most brutal, the most painful, but also the most human, the most aspirational and the most courageous.

Phan Duc Nhan did not intend to become a writer or historian. He was just a man who stepped out of that sand, from that life, from that history, from that legend and spoke up for the people of Binh Duong - those who had fallen and those who were still living.

Chairman of Vietnam Writers Association Nguyen Quang Thieu

Each page of the book is like a layer of white sand of Binh Duong, hiding heroic and tragic stories. Phan Duc Nhan is both a witness and an inseparable part of that land. He brings to readers the image of "saints", who are also simple children of Binh Duong homeland who sacrificed everything to protect peace, leaving behind profound lessons about conscience and responsibility to history.

Painter Dao Hai Phong considers himself lucky to be inspired by poetry.

The two books are printed on beautiful paper, hardcover with paintings by famous contemporary artists. The essay collection "Far and Near" uses paintings by three artists: Dao Hai Phong, Do Trung Quan and Vu Trong Anh as supplements.

Supplemental painting by artist Dao Hai Phong in the poetry collection "Picked up along the road".

The poetry collection "Picked Along the Road" has 30 supplementary paintings drawn by artist Dao Hai Phong based on the emotions from the suggestive verses throughout 2024 and has just ended recently. The supplementary paintings were also displayed at the book launch ceremony, creating a unique harmony of language, shapes, and colors.

"I draw the roads that poet Thuan Huu has traveled. Some people will find it familiar because they have also traveled those stretches, at some point in time. There are three points that I nailed down and made the bones of "Picked Along the Road". One is the roads, I myself was drawn into the author's movements when reading poetry, the title of the book partly reflects that movement. Two is the milestones on the roadside, for me every trip starts from kilometer zero. Three is the sea - the place the author is most attached to and coincidentally, I had just enough time to understand the sea...

Artist Dao Hai Phong

As one of the first people to read the manuscript of poet Thuan Huu and also the writer, he diligently composed and understood the work to find a path full of "French style" in the natural, simple and intentional poetic quality.

At the book launch, the public also got to admire impressive paintings by artist Dao Hai Phong.

Artist Dao Hai Phong believes that if reading (poetry) and drawing (painting) are the same, the artist has wasted his own time and the time of the reader (viewer) because he does not allow himself to "recite poetry", translate poetry literally like the work of translating poetry, translating. When drawing paintings with images of roads in many different spaces, times, terrains, and places... Dao Hai Phong has complete intention.

Source: https://nhandan.vn/ra-mat-hai-tac-pham-van-chuong-tham-duom-nghia-tinh-post870165.html