Life, Poetry, and Prison--Cuoc Song, Thi Van, va Tu Day is a new bilingual publication of the poetry of Nguyen Chi Thien especially designed in small inexpensive size for students use and organization benefits. The author and his editorial assistant Jean Libby will be presenting some of these poems at the Milpitas Community Library on July 14, 2007. The Vietnamese reading is at 3:00 p.m.; English reading at 4:15 p.m., and a reception at the the library is at 5:15 p.m. Admission is free and all are welcome. 40 N. Milpitas Blvd. 95035 The Friends of the Milpitas Library program sponsors have prepared a souvenir for attendees which commemorates the anniversary (Ky Niem Hoa Dia Nguc) on July 16, 1979 when the author brought his manuscript of prison poems to the British Embassy in Hanoi, asking that they be published in "their free country." The souvenir reproduces the original handwritten French inscription by the poet (he brought it first to the French Embassy on July 14, 1979 but was unable to get in), the English translation published by the Index on Censorship in London in July 1982, and a new handwritten translation in Vietnamese by the author. The original inscription and English translation was first published by QueMe in 1982 in a trilingual collection Nguc Ca--Chants de Prison--Prison Songs--with music by Pham Duy. This is reprinted with the permission of the original publisher in 1982, QueMe in Paris. The author was presented commendations from the Mayor of Milpitas, Jose Esteves, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, and the Viet Arts Institute.    more »