Yinchuan Hongpai International Poetry Festival

A belated report… informal, to share with poets

The festival took place in Sept 2011, organized by Wang Xiping (poet and journalist ) and sponsored by Zhang Shaohua (poet-businessman, both from Yinchuan, China) which was phenomenal in China

Twenty five national and international poets and twenty five local poets have been invited to the festival.

Going to the Wild Wild West of China (Yinchuan, Ningxia Province) was the first time even for many Chinese poets. On the 2nd day of arrival, they visited the ancient imperial tomb from the West Xia dynasty,

and then to an old castle. This was on the hillside near the castle.

In the picture were Duo Duo, Zhang Shaohua, and Mindy Zhang.

Zhang Shaohua (1980-) , a young entrepreneur and poetry lover, donated 200,000 to the poetry festival.  Poets had great tours and banquet everyday throughout the festival.

The best part of the festival was going to the well-known Mount Helan. Magnificent!  Poets spent one afternoon and evening there, many wishing they could stay there for a whole month.

After a nice meal in the mountain resort area with the local snake wine and deep-fried scorpion (of course there were many other great dishes), a poetry reading took place by a bonfire started by Duo Duo and Li Shaojun.

The reading by the bonfire was curated by Mindy Zhang in Chinese and English.

The next day they visited some caves in another mountain area near the Inner Mongolia and took a ride back to the entrance of the fort.

In the afternoon of the final day, poets were resting in a bar, drinking and chatting and resting after a full schedule in the morning. Mindy translated Ilya’s award acceptance speech in Wang Xiping’s office (close to the bar, in the building of the local newspaper), and then joined the poets in the bar in the late afternoon.

After a symposium on “How poets can be ‘involved’ and take social responsibilities” where there was a heated argument and discussion, the final event took place in the TV station where a live show was broadcasted of the poetry reading and award ceremony. (The above picture shows Duo Duo at the ribbon-cutting ceremony which is a normal practice for important events in China.)

It was  Sept 24, 2011, the World Poetry Day, we did poetry readings to support World Poetry Movement. Before the readings,  seven poets received awards. Ilya Kaminsky(USA) received the grand award — the 21 century International Poetry Award.  Maryam Ala Amjadi (India) received Young Poet’s award. The local TV anchor woman and poet Mindy Zhang co-hosted the event. Awards were presented by the head of cultural department and head of the writers association in that region.

(a belated informal report… some of the above photos are used here — courtesy of Yinchuan Media Group)

Official report in Chinese, Chinese News Agency, September 24, 2011:

宁夏新闻网讯（记者 祁瀛涛）9月24日，是以和平为主题的“世界诗歌日”，这一天全世界已经有107个国家在举办诗歌活动，当日，首届中国•宁夏“黄河金岸诗歌节”鸿派国际青年诗会颁奖盛典在银川举行。因为本次诗会，中国成为第108个参加世界诗歌日活动的国家。此次颁奖晚会邀请了来自美国、瑞典、墨西哥、伊朗、印度以及中国北京、上海、海口、杭州、武汉、广州、深圳、西宁、兰州、成都、台湾、青海等共20多位诗人。

　　首届中国•宁夏“黄河金岸诗歌节”鸿派国际青年诗会于今年6月份正式启动，历经3个月，七大奖项共收到1000多件参赛作品，经过激烈角逐淘汰，由11位国内诗人、评论家组成专业评委团进行评选，最终产生7位获奖者。

　　在这个令人耀目的“世界诗歌日”里，来自美国/乌克兰诗人卡明斯基(Ilya Kaminsky)捧得鸿派国际最高奖项——首届中国•宁夏“黄河金岸诗歌节”鸿派国际青年诗人奖，著名评论家、茅盾文学奖评委、宁夏文联副主席哈若蕙为其颁奖。李成恩摘取首届中国•宁夏“黄河金岸诗歌节”鸿派国际 “后一代”金奖，后一代潜力奖分别由来自伊朗的80后诗人玛丽安•阿拉-阿姆佳蒂(Maryam Ala Amjadi)和台湾的80后诗人蒋阔宇获得。来自北京的诗人杨典荣获中国•宁夏“黄河金岸诗歌节”鸿派国际经典诗集奖，瑞典籍诗人李笠荣获首届中国•宁夏“黄河金岸诗歌节”鸿派国际优秀翻译作品奖。而首届中国•宁夏“黄河金岸诗歌节”鸿派国际十年诗歌推动奖由上海诗人祁国捧走。