HAIKOU, October 17. /TASS/. The jury of the second Boao International Poetry Festival, taking place on the coast of the Island of Hainan, awarded the Russian poet Irina Chudnova the Poet of the Year title on Saturday.
"I thanked everyone who believed in me and said that this award is especially dear to me. Because the themes of my poems are connected with China and with the Chinese culture," she told a TASS correspondent. As the poetess clarified, she intends to write new pieces for Russian readers, in which she offers to "touch upon the reflection of the Chinese life", to experience unforgettable emotions themselves.
The author also thanked her colleague Wang Jianzhao, who translated into Chinese a number of her poems, including Green or Blue - Choose, Shabbat Tea in the Willow Garden, and several pieces from Twenty-Four Seasons written in Russian. It was he who sent this selection to the organizers of the festival, considering it worthy of nomination for the prize. The poetess also noted that she wrote poetry in Chinese.
As Chudnova admitted earlier in an interview with local media, this is not her first visit to Hainan. Thus, a month earlier, the author of lyric poetry came there to participate in a poetry summit, which took place in Lingao County (north-western part of the island). "In those days, I wrote several poems, including two in Chinese, which I had never done before: communication with colleagues pushed me. During the summit, I met with many poets who had also previously received the Boao Prize," she told reportersf rom the "Hainan Life" portal.
Irina also noted that this time another poet from Russia was especially noted - Anastasia Podareva, who lives in Hangzhou (Eastern China), who turned out to be one of the best in the "New Talents" nomination.
Cultural format of cooperation
The festival is a special mechanism for cultural and humanitarian cooperation organized on the sidelines of the Boao Economic Forum for Asia. The festival was first held in December 2018, but due to the fact that its name in the current wording appeared only last year, it appears as the second.
Organized by the World Poetry Movement and the Huang Yazhou Poetry Development Foundation, the event has a rich program and takes place on Hainan from October 16-19. The Boao International Poetry Prize is awarded in four categories: Poet of the Year, New Talent of the Year, Excellence Award and Collection of Poetry of the Year.