Opening of Vietnam Poetry Day 2025 in Ho Chi Minh City

On February 12, the Ho Chi Minh City Writers Association held the opening ceremony of Vietnam Poetry Day 2025 with the theme “Song of Unification”. This is the second year that Vietnam Poetry Day in Ho Chi Minh City has become an event in the series of activities of the Lantern Festival.

Attending the event were comrades: Nguyen Van Nen, Politburo member, Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee; Nguyen Phuoc Loc, Deputy Secretary of the City Party Committee, Secretary of the Party Delegation, Chairman of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of Ho Chi Minh City; Nguyen Thi Thu Ha, former member of the Party Central Committee, former Deputy Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee; Pham Chanh Truc, former Deputy Secretary of the City Party Committee, and many poetry lovers in Ho Chi Minh City.

Comrade Nguyen Van Nen, Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee, visited and encouraged the poets. Photo: DUNG PHUONG

Vietnam Poetry Day was established in 2003, based on the spirit of President Ho Chi Minh's poem Nguyen Tieu . Over the past 23 years, Poetry Day has become a cultural event that has received public attention and love. Particularly in Ho Chi Minh City, thanks to the attention and direction of the City Party Committee and People's Committee, Vietnam Poetry Day has become one of the important cultural activities during the Nguyen Tieu festival season, which takes place on the full moon of January every year.

Meritorious Artist Nguyen Anh Tuan recites the poem "Nguyen Tieu" by President Ho Chi Minh. Photo: DUNG PHUONG

After the recitation of President Ho Chi Minh's poem "Nguyen Tieu" performed by Meritorious Artist Nguyen Anh Tuan, Deputy Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Nguyen Phuoc Loc performed the drum-beating ceremony to officially open the 2025 Vietnam Poetry Day in Ho Chi Minh City.

Comrade Nguyen Phuoc Loc, Deputy Secretary of the City Party Committee, Secretary of the Party Delegation, Chairman of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of Ho Chi Minh City, performed the drum beating ceremony to open Vietnam Poetry Day 2025. Photo: DUNG PHUONG

In her opening speech, writer Bich Ngan, President of the Ho Chi Minh City Writers Association, said that this year, on Vietnam Poetry Day, the Ho Chi Minh City Writers Association chose the theme “Song of Unification” to mark 50 years of the country’s unification. Half a century of building and constructing Ho Chi Minh City, we have witnessed the presence of modern works serving the people, the work of nurturing cultural values in which literature and art play an important role, in which poetry always holds a special position.

Writer Bich Ngan, President of the Ho Chi Minh City Writers Association, delivered the opening speech. Photo: DUNG PHUONG

“ The Unification Song is a milestone for us to look back and honor Saigon - Ho Chi Minh City poetry in the roots of Vietnamese poetry, including the turbulent flow of Southern poetry. Because poetry has accompanied the length of our ancestors' expansion of the territory. Wherever the land was reclaimed, poetry appeared there. Every historical change had the participation of poetry. Every poet followed the command from his heart, which was to share the joys and sorrows with every ups and downs of the times, of social life and of the nation”, writer Bich Ngan expressed.

Comrade Nguyen Van Nen and Comrade Nguyen Phuoc Loc took souvenir photos with some artists of Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: DUNG PHUONG

From that meaning, Vietnam Poetry Day in Ho Chi Minh City has left an echo in the hearts of the public. Interspersed with songs set to music from poems with a tone of praise and pride for the tradition of protecting and preserving the country such as Country (poem by Ta Huu Yen, music by Pham Minh Tuan), Tomorrow I'll Go On (poem by Le Giang, music by Thanh Truc), Oh Vietnamese, Vietnamese (poem by Truong Nam Huong, music by Huu Xuan), Season of Swallows Flying (poem by Diep Minh Tuyen, music by Hoang Hiep)... or compositions such as excerpts of the epic poem Road to the City by poet Huu Thinh, excerpts of the epic poem Flowers of the Country by poet Tram Huong, Dich Chuc of a Southerner by poet Dao Phong Lan...

Singer Minh Hieu and the dance group of the Bong Sen Traditional Music and Dance Theater perform the song "Country", based on the poem by Ta Huu Yen. Photo: DUNG PHUONG

At Vietnam Poetry Day 2025, poetry lovers will also have the opportunity to listen to the once proud poets and soldiers who said, "Now in poetry there should be steel, poets must also know how to charge", through the exchange with the theme "We write poetry and fight the enemy", including poets: Nguyen Binh Hong Cau, Tran The Tuyen, Dang Nguyet Anh.

Poets of the previous generation. From left to right: MC Phuong Huyen, poet Nguyen Binh Hong Cau, poet Dang Nguyet Anh, poet Tran The Tuyen, MC Thien Phong. Photo: DUNG PHUONG

During the exchange, poet Dang Nguyet Anh expressed: “Since our nation’s resistance war against America, I have matured a lot. And from then on, I have poetry.”

Some young poets living and studying in Ho Chi Minh City. From left: Doan Nguyen Anh Minh, Tran Duc Tin and Tran Trong Doan. Photo: DUNG PHUONG

Originally a generous land, Ho Chi Minh City, after half a century of national reunification, has further proven its role as an open metropolis, nurturing dynamic and creative consciousness. In the care of the young city, many young literary talents have emerged with diversity and freshness. With the theme "Young Poetry Voice in a Young City", the public had the opportunity to listen to young poets Tran Duc Tin, Doan Nguyen Anh Minh and Tran Trong Doan share their latest works and passion for poetry in today's life.

>> Photos of Vietnam Poetry Day 2025 in Ho Chi Minh City: . Photo: DUNG PHUONG