The 9th National Poem Day 2011, this year entitled “National Spring”, was held on February 17 at the Temple of Literature, Hanoi, to celebrate the Lunar New Year and the success of the 11th National Congress Party.

This year’s National Poem Day also commemorates the 100th anniversary of Uncle Ho’s departure to seek the means for national salvation and the 70th anniversary of his return to lead the August Revolution.

To prepare for the day, Vietnam Writers’ Association sent a delegation to bring the soil and water from Sen village, where Uncle Ho was born, and Lenin Streamline and Pac Po cave back to the festival in Hanoi.

The event’s highlights included the calligraphy exhibition, entitled “Prison Diary”, by the South Korean and Chinese authors. Twenty poems of late President Ho Chi Minh were written in calligraphy.

Statues of writers and poets who had won Ho Chi Minh prizes were also displayed.

The event attracted many famous poets and 30 poet’s clubs of poem from across the country as well as many overseas Vietnamese.

It ended with the recital of 50 verses of poetry by 50 Hanoian girls. The balloons with the poems attached presented the wishes and the souls of Vietnamese poetry lovers./.