The sweet sounds of spring on the Silk Road

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CAIRO: In 2016, the Egyptian writer, poet and journalist Ashraf Aboul-Yazid launched his literary project, “The Silk Road Literature Series”. Five books were printed and published in Cairo, featuring a robust bridge between cultures.

The first book in the Silk Road Literature Series was a poetic collection by poet Hemant Divate (India) entitled “A Depressingly Monotonous Landscape” translated by Sarabjeet Garcha into English, and by Ashraf Aboul-Yazid into Arabic.

The second book was “Al Anamel Al-Qurmozeyya”, a collection of eight Korean novellas written by Korean women authors and translated into Arabic by Radwa Ashraf.

The third book was written in Arabic, basically as a PhD thesis by Sabeena K, India, on “The Poetic Narratives in Ashraf Aboul-Yazid ‘s novels”.

The Fourth book was a collected selection of love poems written by Korean poet, monk and revolutionary personality Manhae, translated by Ashraf Aboul-Yazid.

The final book in print was a collection of critical essays written by Egyptian TV director Fatema Al Zahraa Hassan, entitled “Passionate about Life, on Screen, at Stage”.

Korean poetry featured high

After the spread of Coronavirus, the Silk Road Literature Series moved online, thanks to the new digital platform of ISSUU.

The Silk Road Literature Series attracted many authors, from Asia, Europe, Latin America and Canada. Arab authors from Egypt and Lebanon joined the publication campaign. Recently new anthologies were published.

The Sounds of Spring is a new poetic anthology published by the Silk Road Literature Series 2021, written by Eva Petropoulou Lianoy (Greece) who called most of participants.

The authors also included  Deema Mahmood (Egypt), Dr. Perwaiz Shaharyar (India), Ana Stjelia (Serbia), Nandita De nee Chatterjee (India), Amb Lovelyn P Eyo (Nigeria), Khaled Sendyouni (Egypt), Pooneh Nedai (Iran), Marwa Nabil (Egypt), Dr Zohir Biswas (Bangladesh), Eduard Harents (Armenia), Moumen Samir (Egypt), Zdenka Mlinar (Croatia), Dr. Miltiadis Dovas (Greece), Ljubica Katić (Croatia), Antonis Filippeos (Greece), Jyotirmaya Thakur (India), Jyoti Nair (India), Vicky Anagnosti (Greece), Pavlina Behraki (Greece), Pankhuri Sinha (India) and Ashraf Aboul-Yazid (Egypt), the poet, novelist and the founding publisher of “The Silk Road Literature Series.

All paintings are gifted to the Silk Road Literature Series by the Egyptian iconic artist Dr. Abd Elwahab Abd Mohsenwho holds a bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts from Helwan University.

He has been a practitioner of art since the 1970s until this very day. His work is often inspired by nature and his experiments mainly evolve around the constant trial of new and different materials, techniques and mediums. He has participated in many international graphic events including Triennial and Biennale events in Kraków, Poland; Norway; Yugoslavia; Japan; India; Switzerland, and Egypt in both Cairo and Alexandria.

Painting by Abdelwahab 

Abdelwahab has held 46 solo exhibitions and won various awards along the years including The Jury Prize at Alexandria Biennale, an award from The Egyptian International Graphics Triennial and another from Graphics Triennial in Portugal. Collectibles of his can be found at Winterthur Museum in Switzerland, Sapporo Museum and Kōchi Museum in Japan, Sackler Museum of Art and Archaeology at Peking University in China, Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts as well as the Museum of Modern Egyptian Art.

His works can also be found in India, Italy, France, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Argentine, Switzerland, Germany and the United Kingdom.