From September 20 to 27, Babishai Director, Beverley Nambozo Nsengiyunva, participated in two major poetry events in China. The Second International Poetry Forum of Shi Shangzhuang , that took place in Hebei Province and the Translation Workshop at The International Writing Centre of Beijing Normal University and the Lu Xun Institute.

In China, the celebration of culture and the arts is immersed in their communication, fashion and poise. They have high esteem for poets and publish poetry to a wide extent, translating from Chinese to various international languages. In Beijing, fie international poets namely Simon Ortiz, a native American poet from Arizona and Emeritus Professor at Arizona State University, Dileep Jhaveri a doctor and poet from India, Inam Bioud, a poet, painter and scholar from Algeria, Yuyutsu Sharma a poet, editor and widely travelled author from Nepal and Beverley Nambozo Nsengiyunva, poet, artrepreneur and public speaking trainer from Uganda.

Professor Lan Lan, Beverley Nambozo and Li Xing Chen at the Beijing Normal University International Writing Center.

The translation experience was interesting, arduous and fulfilling. With translation, it’s impossible to translate word by word and so interpretations and general understanding must be conveyed. However, because of the richness of poetry and the layeredness of themes made the workshop worthwhile.

Organised by Jami Proctor-Xu, a poet, translator, essayist and mother and divides her time between the U.S and China, the event portrayed the vastness and importance of poetry. Jami worked with the Beijing Normal University International Writing Center and The Lu Xun Institute.

At the Second International Poetry Forum of Shi Shangzhuang in Shi Shangzhuang, Xinglong County, Hebei Province, there were a new group of international poets namely Meng Ling from Thailand, Sayed Gouda from Egypt, Aleksei Filiminov from Russia, He Jia Lin from Hong Kong, and Zhang Bing from China, in an event organised by Xiao Xiao, a Chinese poet and author.

Here above is a newspaper clipping o f the event.

Hebei is a poetry village. At every stop, there is an artefact, a poem inscribed in stone and a constant reminder of poetry’s magnificence. Hebei, the home of Liu Zhang, a famous Chinese poet, also celebrates poetry with n entire park, with monuments of famous global female and male poets.  The villagers at Hebei are festive, welcoming guests with aplomb. During the readings and presentations at this event, we witnessed the role of arts at  a massive scale, towards personal and international development.

At the translation workshop in Beijing.