Simmons festival taps poetry as bridge to Chinese culture

With the Beijing Summer Olympics in the record books, Simmons College professor Afaa Michael Weaver is planning another way to bring Chinese and Americans together. But this time, no one will be running, jumping, or spiking a volleyball.

Instead, more than 24 poets from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the United States will be converging on the college's Fenway campus to translate, discuss, and recite verse at the Chinese Poetry Festival next month.

Weaver, an award-winning poet, thought up the event six years ago after teaching in Taiwan as a Fulbright scholar, and ran a smaller festival in 2004 that focused on the presentation of poets' work. For this year's meeting of the minds, Weaver said, he hopes the program will help to break down barriers between the two cultures through translation workshops and round-table discussions.

"I want the festival to explore how they differ," he said. "I think the lack of understanding magnifies" the cultural differences.

The free, two-day festival, taking place on Oct. 4 and 5, will consist of a translation session of Chinese and American poets, a discussion about translating poetry, and a panel on contemporary issues in China, with an emphasis on the lives of women. There will also be a discussion among professors who teach in programs in the United States, Taiwan, and Hong Kong about instructing developing poets.

Weaver said audience participation is vital to creating a conversation between the two worlds, and added that he hopes by the end of the festival the participants will have a statement on the interaction between Chinese and American poets.

"Poetry is a more complex interaction between the cultures," he said, noting that the form is often embedded with cultural cues that are completely unfamiliar to outsiders. By discussing these cues, Weaver said, the poetry festival can help writers understand the differences and the similarities. "It provides an opportunity to discuss those things."

KIMBERLY SANFELIZ