Hillside verses

Hui says the space in the bookshop inspired the organization of works.

The opening ceremony was also an event to pay homage to poetry by hosting the first Avant-Garde poetry awards.

The award for translation went to Liu Xiangyang, who has translated works by US poets, such as Jack Gilbert, Louise Gluck and Gary Snyder.

"Liu's translation has not only conveyed the poets' temperament and grace, but also showed the professionalism of a translator," according to the award's jury.

"He has spent over 10 years translating Gluck's poems, trying to represent the poet's subtle narrative aesthetics, which sometimes is swanking passion, and sometimes reserved prayer. He shows the true feelings in details and sublimates their meaning into the infinite," the comment says.

The Avant-Garde young poet award went to Li Suo, who published her first poetry collection, A Pearl Ship on Wednesday, in 2019.Li is "a poet who is growing increasingly important" and "one of the most remarkable female poets in China", according to the award's jury.

"Li Suo is explicitly drawing the outline of her poetry world, with pure breaths and a bright and warm heart. Her poems are full of desire to grow and the tension of life. Such a poet as Li is worth more expectation," the comment says.

Han Dong won the main Avant-Garde poetry award, for "his unassuming metaphysical imagination that gives his diction a certain kind of transcendence. He endows plainness a spirit.... His language is highly recognizable among works in Chinese language, and thus the language gains a new space in his writing," the award's jury says.

"In our time, what we need the most is great poetry, which is a free spirit, a living weapon and a shelter for souls. And poets are the brightest stars in the universe and the greatest walkers on Earth," Qian says.

"We hope that through our unremitting efforts, our humble and honest guard, we will provide poetry a blue sky."