Poet Xuan Quynh was awarded the Ho Chi Minh Prize.

The President signed a decision to award the fifth prize in literature and arts to the late poet after the controversy surrounding the award.

Mr. Phung Huy Can - Director of the Department of Emulation and Commendation of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism - confirmed the information.

Previously, the late poet was nominated for the 2016 Ho Chi Minh Prize for two works, The Sky in the Egg and Lullaby on the Earth. However, after three rounds of review, Xuan Quynh's application was unexpectedly rejected in January.

Poet Xuan Quynh.

Artists and writers have expressed their disappointment. Meanwhile, the late poet's family wants to clarify the reason. Mr. Phung Huy Can explained that Xuan Quynh's profile lacked the required awards (awards in competitions organized by the Ministry of Culture or the Central Literature and Arts Associations or international awards). In February, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Ngoc Thien signed an official dispatch requesting the State Council to reconsider and include Xuan Quynh and poet Thu Bon in the list.

Poet Xuan Quynh (1942 - 1988) is famous for her works Boat and the Sea, Waves, Late Autumn Love Poems, Noon Chicken Sounds... She is also the author of many poetry collections Flowers Along the Trenches, Lullaby on the Ground, The Train Station in the Afternoon You Left, May Grass Flowers, Self-Singing...

Critic Pham Xuan Nguyen commented that Xuan Quynh's poetry shows her attachment to the people and the country, completely meeting the criteria of the Ho Chi Minh Prize. Besides, her lyrical poems have a long-lasting vitality.

Poet Nguyen Quang Thieu - Vice President of the Vietnam Writers' Association - commented: "Xuan Quynh - with all her creativity from the war years to the post-peace years - has left behind a considerable legacy of poetry. She is one of the outstanding female poets of modern Vietnamese poetry."

According to VNE