Weigl will participate in several discussions and literary exchanges during his visit which began on December 10.

Weigl, whose name is familiar in literature about the American War, has published several poetical anthologies, including The Monkey Wars and Song of Napalm which earned him a Pulitzer Prize-nomination in 1988.

He was granted the Lannan Literary Award in Poetry in 2006.

In addition to writing poetry, Weigl worked with editor and translator Thanh T. Nguyen of the Joiner Research Centre to translate poems of liberation soldiers captured during war.

Weigl recited his poems during the Friends poetry programme at the Quang Tri Old Citadel last night.
The venue was among the fiercest battlefields of the American War, and Vietnamese veterans who are members of varied poetry clubs will join the programme.

Weigl is expected to exchange views with Song Huong (Perfume River) magazine which publishes creative writing, reviews and cultural research in the central city of Hue on December 14.

He also will present his memoir The Circle of Hanh in Hanoi on December 15. First published in the US in 2000, the memoir is his own story about his struggles with drugs and alcohol after the war and his subsequent redemptive return to Vietnam, where he adopted an eight-year-old girl, Hanh.