From October 13th to 17th, the 8th Yakut Ice and Snow Gratitude Literature Festival was held in Yakutsk, Russia. Chinese poet Cao Shui won three awards, namely the 8th Yakut Great Snow Gratitude Literature Award, the Hakim Abay International Poetry Gold Award of the Kazakhstan, and International Award For Multidisciplinary Excellence “Oscar Rigoberto Bejarano Guevara” by the UN Federation of Art，Literature，Peace and Culture. The award ceremony was held in the auditorium of the Yakut Library, accompanied by roundtable discussions, visits to local universities, experiences of Yakut life, and a series of activities. Cao Shui also visited Irkutsk and Novosibirsk.
On the evening of October 14th, the 8th Yakut Ice and Snow Gratitude Literature Festival in Russia held a grand opening ceremony. Poets from China, Brazil, Mongolia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, and various republics of the Russian Federation attended. The Minister of Culture of Yakutia delivered a speech on behalf of the Sakha Republic. Natalia Kharlapieva, President of the Sakha Republic Writers Association, delivered a speech welcoming poets from around the world to introduce Yakutsk, located deep in the Eurasian continent.
Yakut reciters recited representative works of invited poets on site, including Chinese poet Cao Shui’s “Snow Country”, and presented the Yakut Ice and Snow Gratitude Literature Award to the poets. Cao gave a speech titled ‘Eurasian Land: The Common Homeland of Humanity’, telling the theme of his epic story. From Mesopotamia to Canaan, Egypt, and Greece in the west, and to Persia, India, and China in the east, the protagonist often travels around the Eurasian continent before finally fleeing to Siberia, passing through Yakutsk in the heart of Siberia. Cao Shui recited the award-winning poem “Snow Country” on site, and the audience seemed to be there, receiving rounds of applause.
The heavy snow sealed up all the mountain passes.
We run horses between heaven and earth
Laughter on horseback floats in the wind
Your lips are as red as wild roses
My hair is as black as smoke.
We meet on both sides of the river.
We are looking across two worlds.
We looked inside and outside the castle.
We are looking across two worlds.
We were suddenly dizzy.
Experience love and hate in a flash
Savor joys and sorrows in a flash
We reached out at the same time.
Snow and ice are beating each other’s hearts at the fingertips
That’s how we go together.
Spend a day in the Snowy Country
From sunrise to sunset
Once you wake up, it’s over
This day is a lifetime
On the 16th, the launching ceremony of the Yakutian language version of the Kazakh epic “Kopolanti Batel” and the award ceremony of the Great Poetry Movement Medal were held at the Yakut National Library. At the launch ceremony, the award ceremony will be held first, presenting seven awards.
1. Cao Shui, the founder of the Great Poetry Movement, and Vadim Terekhin, Vice Chairman of the Russian Writers Association and Chairman of the BRICS Writers Association, awarded the Order of the Great Poetry Movement to Natalia Kharlapieva, Chairman of the Yakut Writers Association of Russia.
2. Vadim Terekhin, Vice President of the Russian Writers Association, presented the UNFALPC International Interdisciplinary Excellence Award to Chinese poet Cao.
3. Cao Shui, the chairman of the Beijing International Poetry Film Festival, presented the first Beijing International Poetry Film Award to Vadim Terekhin, the vice chairman of the Russian Writers Association.
4. Cao Shui, the chairman of the Beijing International Film Festival, presented the first Beijing International Poetry Film Award to Ulugbek Yesdaulet, the former chairman of the Kazakhstan Writers Association.
5. Cao Shui, the executive chairman of the Silk Road International Poetry Festival, presented the first Wang Wei International Poetry Award laureate and the fifth Silk Road International Poetry Award to Ulugbek Yesdaulet, the former chairman of the Kazakhstan Writers Association.
6. Ulugbek Yesdaulet, former chairman of the Kazakhstan Writers Association, presented the Hakim Abay International Poetry Gold Award of the Republic of Kazakhstan to Chinese poet Cao Shui.
7. Natalia Kharlapieva,, President of the Yakut Writers Association of Russia, presented the 8th Yakut Great Snow Gratitude Literature Award to Chinese poet Cao Shui.
Cao Shui, the initiator of the Poetry Movement, and Vadim Terekhin, Vice Chairman of the Russian Writers Association and Chairman of the BRICS Writers Association, awarded the Poetry Movement Medal to Natalia Kharlapieva, Chairman of the Yakut Writers Association in Russia. The Great Poetry Medal is made of pure silver, with a diameter of 70mm, a thickness of 3.4mm, and a weight of 70 grams. From design to casting, it was created by renowned artists. The portrait was taken by the famous photographer Song Zuifa, the medal was designed by the famous sculptor Zhang Guoliang, and the seal was carved by the famous calligrapher Gu Mingchuan; On the front is the portrait of Cao Shui, the initiator of the Great Poetic Movement, written in both Chinese and English: Great Poetic Movement; On the back is an ancient three leaf clover map of Asia, Europe, and Africa, annotated with the English words ASIA, EUROPE, and AFRICA. The map was drawn by German geographer Heinrich Binting in 1581 and represents the ancient world known at the time. It symbolizes the common home of humanity and is surrounded by carvings of the core ideas of the great poetry movement, which are “the fusion of ancient and modern, the combination of East and West, and the unity of heaven and man”. The Great Poetry Movement began with Cao Shui writing the “Manifesto of the Great Poetry Movement” in 2007 and has now spread to major languages around the world. From 2023, the Committee of the Great Poetic Movement will select 2-4 international poets who have made outstanding contributions to great poetry and epic poetry every year. The medal of 2023 will be awarded to the Türkiye poet Nurduran Duman, the chairman of Homer International Poetry Festival, Haluk Sahin, and the former chairman of Kazakhstan Writers Association, Ulugbek Yesdaulet. The medals for the year 2024 were awarded to Fernando Rendon, President of the Medellin International Poetry Festival, American poet George Wallace, and prominent UAE poet Adel Khozam. The medals for the year 2025 were awarded to Vadim Terekhin, Vice President of the Russian Writers Association, and Ana Maria Oviedo Palomares, President of the World Poetry Festival in Venezuela.
Vadim Terekhin, Vice Chairman of the Russian Writers Association and Chairman of the BRICS Writers Association, presented the nternational Award For Multidisciplinary Excellence “Oscar Rigoberto Bejarano Guevara” by the UN Federation of Art，Literature，Peace and Culture to Cao Shui. Before Cao Shui received a letter from Miguel Leonardo Gamarra Quiroz, founder and president of the UNFALPC, congratulating Cao Shui on receiving nternational Award For Multidisciplinary Excellence “Oscar Rigoberto Bejarano Guevara” , recognizing Cao Shui’s outstanding contributions in interdisciplinary writing and research. This time, Vadim presented the award on behalf of Miguel Leonardo Gamarra Quiroz and delivered the winning speech.
Ulugbek Yedaulet, former chairman of the Kazakhstan Writers Association, presented the Hakim Abay International Poetry Gold Award to Chinese poet Cao Shui. This award is named after Abay Kunanbayev (1845-1904), a great Kazakh thinker, philosopher, democratic poet, and pioneer of modern Kazakh written literature. He created a large number of poems, essays, long poems, and philosophical works with pure and refined language and realistic techniques, opening up a new path for the development of Kazakh poetry and is known as the national writer of Kazakhstan. This award was established in 2025 to specifically reward international poets who have made outstanding contributions to literary creation. Ulugbek was present to wear medal for Cao Shui and read out the award speech, recognizing Cao Shui’s outstanding achievements in poetry and literary creation.
Natalia Kharlapieva, President of the Yakut Writers Association in Russia, presented the 8th Yakut Great Snow Gratitude Literature Award to Chinese poet Cao Shui. This literary award is presented to outstanding poets who participate in literary festivals, and has been awarded eight times since its establishment, rewarding poets for their literary creations. This award is also established in memory of Danilov Semen Petrovich, the great national poet of Yakut.
During the literary festival, President of the Sakha (Yakut) Republic of Russia, Eisen Sergeevich Nikolaev, also received guests, including Chinese poets Cao Shui and Wang Jianzhao. A symposium was held at the Presidential Palace, with Cao Shui’s speech titled ‘China and Sakha will jointly create a great poem’.
During the literary festival, poets also visited the old town of Yakutsk, visited the National Poet Semen Danilov Memorial Hall, and experienced the Yakut people’s life near the Arctic. The organizing committee also held forums, interviews, cultural performances and other activities, and the literary festival achieved complete success. Cao Shui and Wang Jianzhao also visited important Siberian cities such as Irkutsk and Novosibirsk. (End)
