Vietnam translates Swedish poems

      A book of Swedish poetry, translated into Vietnamese, will be released today to mark the start of Swedish Literature Week, which runs until Saturday.
Swedish Poetry, introduces 24 poets from Karin Boye (1900-1941), who was loved by generations of teenage girls, to Jenny Tunedal, who was born in 1970.
"It is the first book of Swedish poetry published in Vietnamese. It is a cultural gift depicting a panorama of Swedish poetry," said Pham Xuan Nguyen, a literary critic from the Centre for East-West Cultures and Languages.
The entries are not entirely are representative of Swedish poetry, poet Erik Begqvist, says in the preface. As the book's editor, he translated some of the poems published in English. They were later translated into Vietnamese.
The collection, compiled by a diverse team, covers a snapshot of modern Swedish poetry, with emphasis on the late 20th century.
"As every reader understands, this collection is one of many possible snapshots. Every anthology has a shadow, and this in turn has another shadow. So some of the great poets aren't represented but undoubtedly some of the most important Swedish poets of modern times are represented," says the editor.
Nearly all the featured poets are available in some of the main languages such as English, French, German and Spanish. Translations, published either in books or periodicals and magazines, where then translated into Vietnamese by poets such as Bang Viet; Chau Dien; Hoang Hung; Ngo Tu Lap and Pham Xuan Nguyen.
While Begqvist translated some works into English two were translated directly from Swedish to Vietnamese by the Vietnamese woman Mimmi Dieu Huong Bergstrom, who is married to a Swede.
The week also introduces works of Vietnamese writers Ma Van Khang and Le Minh Khue, which were translated into Swedish.
The Vietnamese writers and seven visiting Swedish poets will discuss their work with students in Ha Noi today and Nghe An Province on Thursday and Friday. A seminar on translation runs tomorrow at East West library-cafe, 11 Tran Quy Cap Street, Ha Noi.
The Swedish Literature Week, a cultural project funded by the Swedish Government, has run for five years.