A ceremony was held in Hanoi on October 21 by the Vietnam Writers’ Association (VWA) to introduce the publication to the public.
The publication is the outcome of a conference on advertising Vietnamese literature abroad, hosted by the VWA in March 2015 with an aim to encourage more projects on translating Vietnamese literary work into foreign languages.
Speaking at the event, VWA Chairman, poet Huu Thinh conveyed his thanks to the translator for his effort and significant devotion in translating the Vietnamese work.
He expressed his belief that since poetry has its own way to shorten any distance, the collection would help foreigners understand more about the Vietnamese leader as well as Vietnamese people’s struggle for freedom.
For his part, poet Gjeke Marinaj shared that he has had a love for the Vietnamese land and its people for a long time. He stressed his respect for President Ho Chi Minh as a poet, a leader and a soldier who fought for peace.
He said that this Albanian version of the collection is the result of months of working and referencing other translations of ‘Prison Diary’ in order to produce a full translation of the work.
In its first publication in Albanian, 5,000 copies have been printed and the book has been released in Albania, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia.
He expressed his hope that his translation of the work would help the Albanian-speaking community grasp a deeper understanding of the messages of humanity, solidarity, and peace featured in the book.
‘Prison Diary’ consists of 133 poems written in Chinese Han script from August 29, 1942, to September 10, 1943. It has been translated into 25 languages around the world.
