A collective of Vietnamese writers who studied in Russia held a reunion at the Maxim Gorky Literary Institute in Moscow on December 4 to mark its 80th founding anniversary. Attendees included officials, activists and representatives from State agencies, associations and international organisations from both countries. Russian President Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov sent messages of congratulations to the Maxim Gorky Literary Institute. The Institute was founded in 1933 by the famous Russian writer Maxim Gorky, and took his name when he died in 1936.Many Vietnamese writers trained at the Institute have since become famous in Vietnam, poets such as Huu Thinh, Tran Dang Khoa, Pham Tien Duat, Phan Thi Thanh Nhan, Nguyen Dinh Chien and Xuan Quynh, and translators Phan Hong Giang and Nguyen Thi Kim Hien. Poet Huu Thinh, who is Chairman of the Vietnam Writers’ Association, was introduced at the event by Head of the Institute Boris Tarasov. The event also included an international seminar on literature, a poem festival, music and dance performances and an exchange between students and lecturers. VOV