An agreement signing ceremony for a project on assisting literature for children in the 2006-2010 period between the Kim Dong Publishing House and the Danish Embassy was held on December 29, 2005. This was one of the cultural co-operation activities between Vietnam and Denmark in order to offer Vietnamese children to get access to new books of creativity in the next five years.
Addressing the signing ceremony, Peter Lysholt Hansen, Danish ambassador to Vietnam, said that with this co-operation, the long standing tradition of literature for children in Vietnam and Denmark had been combined. Accordingly, writers and artists of Vietnam and Denmark will work together to produce interesting work of high education value on a basis of proud tradition of the two nations.
On April 15, 2006, the Kim Dong Publishing House, the Hanoi Writers’ Association and the Danish Writers’ Association signed a co-operation agreement to implement the project. Accordingly, young Vietnamese writers and artists will co-operate with their Danish colleagues to exchange ideas and experience in composing literature works for Vietnamese children. Apart from improving the influence and attraction of Vietnamese literature for children, the project will help children develop their imagination and analysis.
The project began in early 2006 with the introduction of works by the famous writer Hans Christian Andersen and other writers and artists, whose works are popular in Denmark.
However, the main focus of the project is to promote creativity of writers and artists in Vietnamese literature for children. Therefore, in the coming years, many activities, such as joint seminars and composition camps, will also be held. In particular, with the co-operation with the Kim Dong Publishing House, the largest publishing house in Vietnam for children, interesting books will reach children nationwide via a programme entitled the ‘Story telling train.’ At each stop of the train, there will be a book-reading club. The programme will reach children in many provinces and cities all around Vietnam.
Each year, a composition movement will be held with a theme of the life and activities of Vietnamese children. A jury will be established to select outstanding works for prizes and awards in autumn.
The Kim Dong Publishing House concentrated its investment in developing book titles via compositions movements between 1993 and 2002. At the same time, the publishing house has expanded its international co-operation to introduce world culture, and especially literature and science books to Vietnamese children. Director of the Kim Dong Publishing House, Pham Quang Vinh, said that with 50 years experience in publishing books for children and organising composition movements, the Kim Dong Publishing House would successfully complete its tasks in the project.
With a variety of activities, in the next five years, the project will make a significant contribution to developing literature for children in Vietnam. Vietnamese children have learned about Danish literature for children mainly via the works of Hans Christian Andersen. However, the homeland of the famous writer will offer them more with works created by Vietnamese and Danish writers and artists.
Vietnamese
