TAIPEI (TVBS News) — The opening ceremony of the Taipei Poetry Festival unfolded on Saturday (Sept. 23) at the Zhongshan Hall. Organized by Taipei City's Department of Cultural Affairs, the festival features international poets who traveled to Taiwan for the occasion.
The opening ceremony featured some international poets presenting their works and music performances by Taugether and Lo Si-rong, interpreting poems in their own ways.
Bina, a poet and novelist from India, was invited to be this year's resident poet. She describes poetry as an alchemy of words, feelings, and rituals. She will be spending 17 days in Taiwan writing poems.
"I feel like I'm in a lake of oolong tea. Very soothing, calming, and beautiful feeling; this is what Tawian's has given me," Bina said.
At the opening performance, she shared her new poem, "Ode to Taipei," dedicated to the city.
Chiranan Pitpreecha, a prominent figure in the 1970s student movement in Thailand, said she hopes to share her life stories and ideas through poems. To her, poetry is "both the art and the way to communicate beyond words."
"I was asked to tell my own story through poetry, as I have been doing this for 30 years," Pitpreecha said. "For example, sometimes we have political issues, and that's my story. I was a student activist before."
Events of the poetry festival will be held at various locations across the city, aiming to bring poetry into people's lives and break through the barriers of language and format through music, lectures, films, book exhibitions, and more.
"I really wish to engage with people here, especially the young, because they are our future," Bina said.
The Taipei Poetry Festival will run until Oct. 7. The international event is a unique occasion to see Taiwan from a different yet poetic perspective.
