Mend-Ooyo joined a cultural evening organized by Mr. Phillipe Merlin, newly appointed Ambassador of France to Mongolia, at the French Embassy. The Ambassador himself moderated the evening, personally introducing the calligrapher Tamir Samandbadraa and the ethnic orchestra group called Altai to the audience. Also joining the event were several Ambassadors and cultural figures. 

On the 18th of June Mend-Ooyo received a group of students from Mercer University and Adjunct professor Jonathan S.Addleton, former Ambassador US to Mongolia, in his studio. The meeting occurred after his return to Ulaanbaatar after trips to the countryside, visiting Khovd, Khuvsgul and Arkhangai provinces and their cultural and historical areas. 

When he returned to the capital of Khovd province, it was the 6th of June. There, he found a tree that had been planted by Yavuuhulan, his poetry teacher, during his travels to Khovd city in 1973. Yavuuhulan dedicated a poem “A lullaby for the fourth number tree of Khovd city” to the tree he planted in the garden of the province. Mongolians now call the tree “poetry tree”, showing their respects and recalling Yavuuhulan when visiting the tree. Mend-Ooyo paid his respects to the legendary tree and recited a few of his late mentor’s verses. Upon returning to the “Steppe Hotel” he was delighted to find that the staff were preparing to plant some trees in the area. He gleefully joined them and planted a tree of his own. 

Now, the next performance was announced at another theatre on 28th May. 
Hosted by FOCUS TRAP and Théâtre d'Ailes Ardentes Join the event if you can! https://www.facebook.com/events/2292595037724154/

At the announcement:
These Steppe Letters embody the committed word of the great Mongolian poet G.Mend-Ooyo. They transport us to the heart of the Land of the Great Blue Sky where one of the last nomadic peoples of the planet has always maintained an intimate and spiritual link with their ancestral land. A call to be aware of the beauty of the world more than ever threatened by the greed of men.

Last Friday, 19th of April, on the occasion of the American Poetry and Jazz Appreciation month, members of the U.S Embassy and Mongolian Academy of Culture and Poetry celebrated together with an American poetry reading accompanied by jazz music at the American center at City library.

Mongolian poet G.Mend-Ooyo has been the director of the Mongolian Academy of Culture and Poetry since 2005, and has since been working closely with the American Embassy in Ulaanbaatar. In 2010 and 2011, the Academy published two volumes of American Poetry collections in Mongolian. At the reading, they read some translations from the volumes and read the newly translated works too. Poet Mend-Ooyo read the Letters from the Ming Dynasty by Joseph Brodsky and Shining Horses by Robert Ness.

 
G.Mend-Ooyo’s  "I am coming to you" was published in Arabic, English, and the original Mongolian in the new issue of Nadwah online bilingual magazine for poetry, for which the editing poet is Sayed Gouda. In the new issue are featured works from sixteen established and published poets that represent wide varieties of cultures. We are happy to see in this new issue Native American, African, Pakistani, Mongolian, Greek and Italian poems translated in Nadwah for the first time. As in the previous issue, they also featured translated works of native master poets as well: Rilke, Nabokov and al-Malaeka.

The 15th March is the birthday of Begzin Yavuuhulan (1929-1982) a great poet and enlightener of Mongolia. It is widely celebrated in Mongolia as Yavuu's day, due to his widespread influence over Mongolian poetry and culture. Poet G.Mend-Ooyo is one of his proteges and part of the next generation of poets carrying his legacy. In 2017,  Mend Ooyo held the opening ceremony of the World Congress of Poets at the International Poetry Festival during World Poetry days at the Yavuuhulan Garden in the heart of Ulaanbaatar city.

"Letters from the Steppe", Mend-Ooyo's poetry reading in French
, will be held at theatre 14, Paris on the 21st of January.

Directed by Anne-Sylvie Meyza and Rodrigo Ramis

Translation: Raphaël Blanchier

Music and sound creation: Benjamin Lauber

With: Romain Pompidou, Anne-Sylvie Meyza and Rodrigo Ramis

 

Deux hommes et une femme ouvrent tour à tour huit lettres qui leur sont destinées en provenance des lointaines steppes de Mongolie.
 
Les trois émissaires incarnent la parole nomade du poète mongol Mend-Ooyo à travers ses souvenirs, ses récits, ses réflexions et ses convictions. Au sein d'un espace-temps où plane l'esprit d'une terre ancestrale, ils tissent ainsi un lien privilégié avec tous ceux qui sont venus jusqu'à eux. 
 
Parfois, la voix du poète s'élève dans sa langue natale et les sonorités des steppes mongoles se font entendre avec le craquement du feu dans la yourte, le hurlement du vent, les crissements des pas dans la neige, le bêlement des moutons, le cri de l'aigle, le galop des chevaux...