We begin the week here on My Poetic Side with a look at a new coin in Thailand with a poetry link, a new banknote in Bulgaria dedicated to a poet and finally the winners of this year’s Hebrew Poetry Prize.
New Coin Honouring Guru Nanak Dev Released in Bangkok
Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of Thailand announced on Saturday that a new coin was being released in honour of the 550th Guru Nanak Dev birth anniversary. The occasion was to be further commemorated with the first-ever Thai translation of Tirukkural, a Tamil classic.
There are approximately 250,000 Indians currently living in Thailand.
Tirukkural is the work of the poet Thiruvalluvar. It has been translated into many languages over the years but this is the first time that a Thai translation has been completed.
New 50 Lev Bank Note Released by Bulgarian National Bank
On Friday, the Bulgarian National Bank placed a new 50 Lev banknote into public circulation. The new note, which is quite similar to the one that it replaces, features a couple of new additions. The first is an anti-counterfeiting measure and the second is to help those people who are visually impaired.
The face of the note features a portrait of the poet and writer Pencho Slaveykov together with fragments of both the National Library and the National Theatre in the background. On the back, there is a reproduction of part of one of his works, an illustration of a bird taken from one of his poetry books and also a profile drawing of Mara Belcheva, his partner and a fellow poet.
Both the feature for those who are visually impaired and the anti-counterfeiting measures are slowly being rolled out on a number of denominations of notes in the country.
2019 Hebrew Poetry Prize Winners
An announcement was made yesterday by a spokesman for the president’s office. The winner of the Hebrew Poetry Prize for 2019 is Sivan Har Shefi; her winning work is Zarka. The prize is awarded in the memory of the late First Lady of Israel, Nechama Rivlin. This is the first year that this will occur. Nechama Rivlin, who was a founder of the prize, passed away earlier this year.
For the second year, the prizes (which total 70,000) will be awarded at Beit HaNasi.
A commendation will be being awarded to Avishai Houri for his work
and also to Lee Maman’s
Both poets will receive a prize of NIS 10,000.
The prize is a relatively new one having only been created last year in an initiative between Sigal Yaakobi – Administrator General, and Nechame Rivlin. The goal of the creation of the prize was to find a good use for the legacy that had been passed on from Dr Gardner Simon, for the promotion and encouragement of writings in Hebrew.
Chaim Be’er, the Ben-Gurion University’s Professor Emeritus of the Hebrew Language Department, chaired the committee of judges. The committee also included a number of other academics and several publishers and editors.
You must register to comment. Log in or Register.