International Poetry Nights in Hong Kong
10th Anniversary Celebration
Speech and Silence
The 6th International Poetry Nights in Hong Kong (IPNHK), organised by Hong Kong Poetry Festival Foundation, will be held in Hong Kong from 19th to 24th November 2019. The theme of this year is “Speech and Silence”. As the philosophers are always trying to work out what could be said, whereas the poets are trying to express the inexpressible, poetry starts where philosophy ends. For the unsayable, poetry is presenting a possibility. In this year IPNHK celebrates its 10th anniversary and Noise Asia, a co-organiser, celebrates its 30th anniversary, numbers of invited poets, musicians, translators and scholars will be the highest since the debut of IPNHK in 2009. More than 50 world-renowned poets and musicians will gather to present an extravaganza of poetry, music, dance, film, and multimedia on the campus of universities and cultural venues, creating a series of immersive experience for all. Following the activities in Hong Kong, IPNHK will continue in 10 different cities in China.
Stemming from four continents of various languages, 30 famous poets will participate in IPNHK 2019. Among them, 13 poets are from Europe with two thirds coming from Eastern Europe. There are 9 Asian poets with 6 speaking Chinese. The remaining poets compose of 1 from Africa, 2 from the Middle East and 5 from North and Latin America. Many of these world-renowned poets have been working extensively in other fields; they are also scholars, translators, writers, journalists, visual artists, feminists or factory workers. (The list of the poets is provided below.)
All poets will share their work and thoughts with poetry enthusiasts in 6 poetry recitations with bi- or trilingual projections and musical performances. They will also join many multilingual panel discussions with English interpretation that will cover such diverse topics as philosophy, translation, resistance, gender, AI, etc. The Chinese University Press will publish IPNHK’s anthology and its box set of 30 bi- or trilingual poetry booklets. The recitations and panel discussions are open to the public with free admission, and registration is preferred.
There are 5 cutting-edge concerts that celebrate the 30th anniversary of Noise Asia, another highlight of IPNHK 2019. About 20 music talents will present their work with impromptu performances. Experimental electronic musician Christopher Chaplin, konghou musician Wu Lin, guqin musician Liu Xi Yan, new media artist Milosh Luczynski will be on stage with our music director Dickson Dee in the opening show. Two films will be shown on the closing night. One will be the world premiere of an independent short film produced by Chinese rock star Zhang Chu. Another one is “San Yuan Li”, a commissioned documentary film project for the Venice Biennale in 2003. The original film score was produced by Dickson, he is going to recompose the film score lively on-site. Other performers include Tom Thiel, a member of Sun Electric, Xinjiang singer Cheri Gao, Quanzhou nanyin performer Cai Yayi and the Chinese music ensemble The Gong Strikes One which formed by young musicians in Hong Kong. (The list of artists is provided below.) Tickets will be required for admission. Please follow our social media for details!
Founded by renowned Chinese poet Bei Dao in 2009, “International Poetry Nights in Hong Kong” (IPNHK). It is held once every two years in Hong Kong and extended to different Chinese cities afterward. In the past decade, the award-winning IPNHK has become the most influential poetry festival in Asia and one of the most successful poetry events in the world.
List of poets (in the alphabetical order of the surname）
Ana Luisa AMARAL (Portugal)
Maxim AMELIN (Russia)
Renato Sandoval BACIGALUPO (Peru)
Jen BERVIN (United States)
Ana BLANDIANA (Romania)
Tamim AL-BARGHOUTI (Palestine)
Abbas BEYDOUN (Lebanon)
Milosz BIEDRZYCKI (Poland)
Derek CHUNG (Hong Kong)
Louise DUPRÉ (Canada)
Forrest GANDER (United States)
HWANG Yu-Won (South Korea)
MAOZI (Mainland China)
MATHURA (Estonia)
Sergio RAIMONDI (Argentina)
Ana RISTOVIĆ (Serbia)
K. SATCHIDANANDAN (India)
Martin SOLOTRUK (Slovakia)
Aleš ŠTEGER (Slovenia)
Maria STEPANOVA (Russia)
TÓTH Krisztina (Hungary)
Ijeoma UMEBINYUO (Nigeria)
Anastassis VISTONITIS (Greece)
Jan WAGNER (Germany)
Ernest WICHNER (Germany)
YANG Chia-Hsien (Taiwan)
YOTSUMOTO Yasuhiro (Japan)
YU Youyou (Mainland China)
ZHENG Xiaoqiong (Mainland China)
ZHOU Yunpeng (Mainland China)
List of artists (in the alphabetical order of the surname）
CAI Yayi, Quanzhou nanyin performer (Mainland China)
CHAN Chi-kong & LEE King-chi, The Gong Strikes One (Hong Kong)
Christopher CHAPLIN, experimental electronic musician (United Kingdom)
Dickson DEE, experimental electronic musician (Hong Kong)
Cheri GAO, singer (Mainland China)
LI Fengyun, guqin musician (Mainland China)
LIU Xiyan, guqin musician (Mainland China)
Milosh LUCZYNSKI, new media artist (Poland)
Tom THIELl, Sun Electric (Germany)
TRANSFIGURATE (Hong Kong)
Terry TSANG, contemporary dancer (Hong Kong)
WU Lin, konghou musician (Mainland China)
Six Children Ballet Dancers (Mainland China)
Website: http://www.ipnhk.org
Facebook: International Poetry Nights in Hong Kong
Wechat：IPN-HK
Twitter: IPNHK
Instagram: ipnhk
Media enquiry:
Mr. Percy Mak (Hong Kong)
(+852) 9381 6304
makpercy@gmail.com
International Poetry Nights in Hong Kong – 10th Anniversary Celebration
Supported by Hong Kong Arts Development Council and Ms. Li Wei
