KUALA LUMPUR, June 3 – Malaysian poet Zurinah Hassan (photo) has been chosen recipient of Thailand’s ‘Sunthorn Phu’ award.
The 64-year-old Kedah-born will be bestowed the award in Bangkok on June 26. In a statement today, the National Academy of Arts, Culture and Heritage (Aswara) said each Asean country chose its own poet for the Asean poetry prize.
The Malaysian selection committee for this award was headed by Aswara rector Prof Dr Hatta Azad Khan.
The statement noted that several of the poems penned by Zurinah had won national literary awards, with some of her work translated into various foreign languages, especially English.
Her poetry books include ‘Sesayup Jalan’ (1974), ‘Di Sini Tiada Perhentian’ (1977), ‘Keberangkatan’ (1985), ‘Pujangga Tidak Bernama’ (1994) and ‘Memandang ke Pelabuhan’/(Facing the Harbour) (2010).
The Sunthorn Phu award was established last year by Thailand’s Culture Ministry, with the cooperation of the Thai Poet Society.
It takes the name after Sunthorn Phu (full name Phra Sonthorn Vohaa), the most popular palace poet in the era of Rattanakosin. Sunthorn Phu was born in 1786 and died in 1855.
– BERNAMA
