"In Ancient Ayuthia": 50 years of writing

Khoo Soo Hay, UNE alumnus, joined other distinguished poets, such as the National Literature Laureate Prof Muhammad Salleh, at recent celebrations of UNESCO's World Poetry Day at Wawasan Open University (WOU) in Malaysia. His poems, published in an anthology titled “In Ancient Ayuthia”, touch on environmental, social, political, religious issues, and romance, satire, and whimsical pieces. Some of this writing was completed while a student at UNE in the 1960s when Khoo Soo Hay was resident in Wright College.

In a truly international demonstration of the global reach of poetry, poems were read in Mandarin, Tamil, Malayalam, Urdu, Punjabi, Persian, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Russian, German, French and Arabic. Event organising chairman, Prof Datuk Dr. Ghulam Sarwar Yousof, said “poetry is deliberately aimed at the heart, changes viewpoints and perceptions, and brings enlightenment to the extent that in ancient times, poets were also philosophers.” The purpose of World Poetry Day is to promote the reading, writing, publishing and teaching of poetry throughout the world and, as the UNESCO session declaring the day in 1999 says, to "give fresh recognition and impetus to national, regional and international poetry movements."

Khoo Soo Hay has donated a copy of his anthology to Dixson Library.

Book launch and recitation