New Lao magazine: "Dokked" !!!

Dokked Publishing Company on Friday held a ceremony to launch a new magazine, Lankham , at the Dokked Bookshop in Vientiane.

It is the first magazine to be produced by the company and has 64 pages with features and articles suitable for all the family.

The ceremony featured the reading of several verses from the well-known poem, Sangsinxay , about the birth of the hero Sinxay, by girls from the Children's Education Centre...more info>>

The Director of the company, Ms Douangdeuane Bounyavong, said “People may wonder why we've decided to use this legendary name for our new magazine; we wanted to use a Lao name that had a strong association and we found that Lankham caught the interest of the founding members of the magazine”.

She said the word originated from the poem and was used in connection with the birth of Sinxay. It has two main meanings.

First, lankham refers to palm frond-shaped gold leaf sheets, very thin and around 40 centimetres in length.

In the past these leaves were used to record the teachings of Buddha and were kept buried under 30 small stupas around That Luang which the late King Xaysettha built in the Buddhist calendar year 2109.

The word lan also means a large place or yard that Lao people used in the past to dry rice after the harvest, and the word kham means a verse. So the word lankham in this context means a place or stage to show off good writing and good stories.

“We also see our magazine as supporting the government's ongoing development plans for human resources,” Ms Douangdeuane said.

“Even though we feel our intentions are in the right place we don't know yet if readers will take to the magazine; I think only time and the nature of the content will decide our success,” she said.

This magazine differs from most as it contains only six pages of advertising. The other 58 pages consist of news about social events, short and long stories, tales, cartoons and other articles about cooking, health and entertainment. There will also be some games to test your IQ, and tips about writing poetry.

Young people and older writers contribute to the magazine, with the youngest aged only 10 years old.

A committee of consultants includes well-known writers such as Mrs Dara Kanlaya, Dr Sisaleiw Savengsuksa and Mr Chanthason Inthavong.

By PHOONSAB THEVONGSA
Vientianetimes

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