Today, we take a look at the last Vietnamese poet of the New Poetry Movement who has died at the age of 100. We also look at the poet who has been nominated posthumously for the Costa Book Award.

New Poetry Movements Last Vietnamese Poet Passes Away

Nguyen Xuan Sanh, the translator and poet who was the last representative of the New Poetry Movement, died in Hanoi on Sunday at the age of 100.

Sanh was born in 1920 in the central Lam Dong region. A Confucian scholar, his father was born in Quang Binh and then moved to the city. Sanh was educated in Hanoi, and began writing poetry at a very young age His first poem was published when he was 16.

In 1939, together with a number of other poets; including Nguyen Xuan Khoat and Nguyen Luong Ngoc, he helped to fund the Xuân Thu Nhã Tập group. A book featuring their poetry and some prose was published in 1942. It is believed by researchers that the group made a significant contribution to the creativity and innovation of the New Poetry Movement, a part of the Vietnamese poetry scene.

Sanh joined the students’ patriotic movement shortly before the revolution in August 1945, and during the war against France, he was a member of the art group of the Inter-region IV.

Over the years, he held a number of influential positions on a range of writers committees and associations. He was also the principal of the Youth Writers’ Training School from 1966 to 1975. He penned many books and also won numerous awards for his poetry. 2 of his poems have been a part of the school curriculum for the last 60 years.

Posthumous Costa Awards Nomination for Poet

The Irish poet, Eavan Boland, who died as a result of a stroke in April this year, has received a posthumous nomination for the shortlist of the Costa Book Awards.

The award, which is the only one open only to writers living in Ireland and the UK, has five categories. Boland has been nominated with her final collection of poetry “The Historians”.

This is only the third time that a collection has been nominated posthumously since the awards’ inception. The previous posthumous nominations were Birthday Letters by Ted Hughes and Inside The Wave by Helen Dunmore.

In total, there have been 20 nominations over the five categories. The shortlist was created from a record number of entries this year, 708 in total.

The winners of this year’s awards will be announced on 4^th January 2021. They will each receive £5,000. There is also an additional award that is given each year and this is for the Overall winner of the 2020 Costa Book of the Year. This will be given to one of the 5 category winners and will be announced on 26^th January in a virtual ceremony. This award has a prize of £30,000.

Last year’s book of the year was Jack Fairweather’s The Volunteer.