Mediterranean Waves:  Poetic anthology by the Silk Road Literature Series on its fifth anniversary

By Ashrad Aboul-Yazid
AJA President

CAIRO: As the Silk Road Literature Series celebrates its fifth anniversary, the second issue of its books (Anthology) will be released on June 1, titled “Mediterranean Waves”.

The poetic anthology is published in English showcasing varied generations of world poets and poetesses.

The iconic names represent almost 30 countries, including Palestine, Kosovo, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Serbia, Syria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cyprus, Morocco, Greece, Monte Negro, Lebanon, Algeria, Croatia, Tunisia, Turkey, Germany, Mexico, Uzbekistan. India, Azerbaijan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Yemen, Bangladesh, Pakistan, New Zealand, and Egypt.

The list includes the names of poet, novelist, and filmmaker Liana Badr (Palestine), poet and critic Fahredin Shehu (Kosovo), Maria Do Sameiro Barroso (Portugal), Cilenti Emanuele(Italy), Smaragdi Mitropoulou  (Greece), Nemer Saady  (Palestine), Moamen Samir (Egypt), Deema Mahmood (Egypt), Dr. Muhammad Helmy Al-Risha (Palestine), Rasha Ahmed (Egypt), Ana Stjelja (Serbia), Mumtaz Haramy (Syria), Jasna Šamić (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Pambos Kouzalis (Cyprus), Youssef Lazrak  (Morocco), Nawar Al-Shater (Syria), Nina Alexi (Greece), and Dr. Nawal Alhwar (Syria), Ljiljana Jaric (Serbia), Rafaa Abu Jabal (Syria), Anita Pizzic (Serbia), Katarina Saric (Monte Negro), Mahmoud Suleiman (Egypt), Mohammed El Hedeiny(Egypt), and Mohamed Ghazi Al-Najjar (Egypt) Linda Ibrahim (Syria), Marija Najthefer Popov(Serbia), Rouba El-Youssef (Lebanon), Marko Stanojevic (Serbia), Moaen Shalabia (Palestine), Antonis Filippeos (Greece), Bilal Al-Masry (Lebanon), Munira Mesbah (Lebanon), Nina Lys Affane (Algeria), Tarek Ammar (Egypt), Safaa Al- Bialy (Egypt), Rifaa’ Abu-Jabal (Syria) , Anita Pešić Lutkoljubica (Serbia), Katarina Sarić (Monte Negro), Dr. Nina Abdul Razzaq (Palestine), Jasmina Hanjalić (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Nikola Šimić Tonin (Croatia), Goran Radičević (Monte Negro), Jelena Ljubenović (Serbia), Mohamed Gassara (Tunisia), Türkan Ergör (Turkey), Metin Fındıkçı(Turkey) ), and the editor of anthology , AshrafAboul-Yazid (Egypt).

As a response to global poets’ wish to participate, the anthology devoted its second section entitled “Other Waves” to get other exceptional names such as Xanthi Hondrou-Hill (Germany), Francisco Azuela (Mexico), Umid Ali (Uzbekistan), Suchismita Ghoshal (India), Nigar Arif(Azerbaijan) , Kamala (Malaysia), Lily Siti Multatuliana SutanIskandar (Indonesia), Fares Aljanadi (Yemen), Madhu Gangopadhyay (India), Mahanaj Parvin (Bangladesh), Muhabbat Yuldasheva (Uzbekistan), Sherzod Artikov (Uzbekistan), Swapanjoy Chowdhury (Bangladesh), Lev RI Ardiansyah  (Indonesia), Umida Khushvaktova (Uzbekistan), Sheena Chak (Malaysia), Deepika Singh (India), Debaprasanna Biswas (India), RezaUddin Stalin(Bangladesh), Sajid Hussain (Pakistan), Sue Zhu (New Zealand), DrRaja Rajeswari Seetha Raman (Malaysia), Aasia Majeed (Pakistan) Pankhuri Sinha (India), and Dr. Brajesh Kumar Gupta Mewadev (India).

The Artist Abdel Wahab Abdel Mohsen Foundation gifted the anthology amazing photos of artistic works with boats painted by artists who participated in the most important international cultural event for plastic art related to the cultural development of society; the Burullus International Forum for Painting on Walls and Boats, as the editor of the series chose to decorate the poetic works with pictures of boats presented.

Artists are Ahmed Hilal, Al-Hussaini Ali, Rami Rabee, Zakaria Al-Qadi, Samir Abdul-Azim, Samir Abdel-Fadil, Alaa Abu Al-Hamd, Ali Hassan, Omar Al-Fayoumi, Muhammad Abla, Mustafa Issa Ahmed, Walid Qanoush, Yassin Harraz, Evelyn Asham Allah, Jihan Suleiman, Jehan Fayez, Sally Al-Zaini, Aqeelah Riyadh, Mervat Shazly, Mona Gharib, Iman Ezzat, Muhammad Abu Al-Wafa, Kamal Abu Halawa (Jordan), and Huma Khan (India).

Boats painted of the three artists, Abd El Wahab Abdel Mohsen, Yassin Harraz and Aqila Riyadh illustrated the cover of the Anthology, which was published in more than 500 pages, and will be available for free reading and browsing.

Print copies will be available on demand in Cairo. Editor Ashraf Aboul-Yazid said there will be more surprises to celebrate the fifth anniversary of launching the Silk Road Literature Series in 2016.