Fan Yang to perform in VN to raise charity fund

Canadian Vietnamese bubble artist Fan Yang will perform in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City by the end of April to raise fund for Nghia Tinh Truong Son (Sentimental Attachment for Truong Son) charity programme.

Fan Yang was born to a Hungarian father and a Vietnamese mother in 1962 in the northern port city of Hai Phong. In 1964, he moved with his father to Yugoslavia and took up bubble blowing at the age of six before settling in Canada.

Since 1982, Fan Yang has traveled around the world to entertain audiences and achieved 16 Guinness world records in bubble blowing performances.

All proceeds from the two first shows in Ho Chi Minh City will be used to help war invalids, martyrs’ families and disadvantaged families living in the provinces along Truong Son road.

Japanese writer to talk on contemporary literature

The Japan Foundation Center for Cultural Exchange in Vietnam has invited Mr. Masatsugu Ono, a promising young writer from Japan, to talk on contemporary Japanese literature.

Mr. Ono holds a Ph. D in Literature from the University of Paris VIII. He was born in 1970 and has been working very actively in the field of literature, from novel writing to translations of foreign literatures and to literary criticism and lecturing in public spaces.

He made his debut as a writer/author in 2001 with the novel “Mizu ni Umoreru Haka [lit. Graves Buried in Water],” for which he won the Asahi New Writer’s Award. In his second novel “Nigiyakana Wan ni Seowareta Fune. The Ship Piggybacked by Jolly Bay],” he received the Mishima Yukio Prize.

Since then, he has been nominated twice for the Akutagawa Prize, one of the most prestigious literary prizes in Japan. His sharp critiques on other contemporary literature works have frequently appeared in newspapers, magazines and websites.

His lectures will be held at the Japan Foundation Center for Cultural Exchange in Vietnam at 27 Quang Trung Street in Hoan Kiem District in Hanoi on March 8, at the Southern Cultural Center at 15 Le Loi street in Hue city City on March 10 and at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities (USSH) at 10-12 street Dinh Tien Hoang Street in District 1 on March 12. Admission is free.

Advanced registration is recommended. For more information, please call the Japan Foundation Center for Cultural Exchange in Vietnam at 04-3944-7419 or visit their website at www.jpf.org.vn . All lectures will be delivered in Japanese with Vietnamese interpretation.

Painting exhibition of women artists in HCM City

An exhibition of paintings by ten women artists from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City will be held at the Ho Chi Minh City Exhibition House on March 4-13.

Featuring nearly 100 works, the exhibition displays works in oils, acrylics, lacquer and pottery depicting social life, beautiful landscapes and people in various regions of the country.

The artists, Bui Mai Hien, Le Thu, Nguyen Thi Lan Huong, Phan Thi Minh Chau, Nguyen Thi My, Ngo Hai Yen, Nguyen Thi Tam, Dang Thi Duong, Cao Thi Duoc and Tran Thuy Linh are members of the Hanoi and HCMC Fine Art Association.

The painters will also take part in a four-day creative composition trip to the Mekong Delta provinces.