West Indian dramatist and poet Derek Walcott, winner of the 1992 Nobel Prize in Literature, is expected to appear at a colloquium to be held in Tainan City tomorrow, the National Museum of Taiwanese Literature reported yesterday.
Walcott, who was born in Castries, St. Lucia in 1930 to a British father and a West Indian mother, will attend the colloquium titled: "Poetry, Language and Identity," to be sponsored by the National Museum of Taiwanese Literature with various local poets, academics and literati also taking part.
It is hoped that Walcott, who skillfully fuses folk island culture with the classical and avant-garde in his poems, will be inspirational to Taiwan's literary circles at a time when Taiwan is enthusiastically promoting maritime culture, a museum spokesman said.
Walcott also visited Taiwan in 2002, when he was the focus of a week of readings, discussions and lectures.
Walcott, who from the age of eight envisaged becoming a poet, published his first poem at 14 and had his first verse collection printed by the time he was 18.
Walcott, who divides his time between the US and Trinidad, exalts in the English language with his meticulously honed poems and evocative dramas, while also using a rich mix of Latin, French and Trinidadian patois.
In addition to poems and verse, Walcott also writes plays and epic poems. His 1990 epic poem Omeros, which echoes Homer's Iliad and Odyssey as it examines the Caribbean's colonial past and complex present, won him the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1992.
Often focusing on West Indian folk traditions, Walcott's plays include Dream on Monkey Mountain (1970), The Joker of Seville (1975), A Branch of the Blue Nile (1986), while his verse collections include In a Green Night (1962), the autobiographical Another Life (1973), Sea Grapes (1976) and Midsummer (1984).
Professor Xi Mi from the University of California in Los Angeles will be the host of the colloquium, while Taiwan poets Lee Kuei-hsien and Lee Min-yung, and professor Tseng Chen-chen of National Dong Hwa University and Lin Jui-ming, director of the National Museum of Taiwanese Literature, will join Walcott for the discussion, according to the museum spokesman.
UPGRADE: The Kang Ding-class frigate is replacing its Chaparall missiles with Tien Chien II and Hua Yang VLS, which would provide it with long-range, 360° air defense Taiwan plans to produce 1,200 to 1,376 Hai Chien II missiles (海劍二, Sea Sword II) — also known as TC-2N — to serve as the standard air defense system of the navy’s surface combatant fleet, a source said yesterday. Last week, the Hai Chien II, the naval version of the Tien Kung II missile (天劍二, Sky Sword II), completed a live-fire test in waters off the National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology’s Jiupeng facility (九鵬) in Pingtung County’s Manjhou Township (滿州). The MIM72 Chaparral and other dated air defense missiles that currently arm Taiwanese ships have inadequate range to combat Chinese
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
Shih Hsin University President Chen Ching-he (陳清河) yesterday issued a public apology for comments made in his commencement speech last week, stating that he has asked the school to suspend his duties and halt his wages for two months as a show of contrition. At the commencement ceremony on May 30, Chen said, “If you don’t manage your time well, or your own emotions, or your health, then I am telling every one of you — put a quick end to ‘you,’ because the world has no need for ‘you.’” The comments have sparked significant controversy online, and Chen through an open
Johanne Liou (劉喬安), a Taiwanese woman who shot to unwanted fame during the Sunflower movement protests in 2014, returned to Taiwan last night after being deported from the US. She is to stand trial in Taiwan for charges involving embezzlement, fraud and drug crimes. The Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said it took her into custody at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and would first question her before transferring her to the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. She was arrested upon disembarking a flight from San Francisco that landed shortly before 7pm. Liou absconded to the US in 2019 after jumping bail
RSS