The Eurasian Cultural Spaces: An Interview

Sameh Hussein & Nermin Amer

CAIRO: On January 24, the days of the E began in Urasian Peoples’ Assembly and the VI Eurasian Literary Festival LIffTEgypt, which are held by the International Federation of Non-Governmental Organizations the Eurasian Peoples’ Assembly and the Foundation for the Promotion of Literary Projects of the Eurasian Peoples “LIffT” and concluded on February 6.

The main goal of the Eurasian Peoples’ Assembly which represent more than 53 countries on two continents was to form a common integration model of the Greater Eurasian Partnership of Peoples based on Spiritual, Moral and Cultural Principles… through the development of multilateral cooperation with the public or people’s diplomacy.

 Upon completion of the VI Eurasian Literary Festival, Russian writer Margarita Al and Egyptian writer Ashraf Aboul-Yazid were guests in the Talk Show which was hosted LIVE by Nile Culture TV Channel (on February, 5, 2023). The Program was edited by Sameh Hussein and presented by Nermin Amer.

 Margarita Al (Russia), poet, philosopher and artist ,is a literary  laureate of international prizes for her commitment to experimental poetry. She was awarded the Mark David Burliuk Silver Medal. She is the head of the Literary Council of the Association of Eurasian Peoples’ Assembly. Member of the International PEN Club. Owner of the LIFFT publishing house and the LIFFT literary magazine. President of the International Literary Movement “LIffT”. Acting President of the World Organization of Writers (WOW)

Ashraf Aboul –Yazid, novelist, poet, journalist and travel writer. He has worked in cultural journalism for over three decades. He is member of the Egyptian Writers’ Union and President of Asia Journalist Association. He has written 42 books on novels, poetry, travel literature, biographies, translations and children’s literature. Some of his books have been published in English, German, Spanish, Russian, Turkish, Korean, Persian, Sindhi and Malayalam languages.

First of all, can we find out more about the Eurasian Peoples’ Assembly?

It is the International Union of Non-Governmental Organizations and Citizens with an Active Life Position, Sharing and Promoting the Ideas and Values of Eurasian Integration, Protection of Peace, Strengthening Friendship, Accord, Partnership and Good Neighborliness among Nations.

The main purpose of the Assembly is forming a public integration model of a large Eurasian partnership of peoples based on spiritual and moral principles, in the name of establishing peace and harmony, through the development of multilateral cooperation and public (people’s) diplomacy.

What events are held for the Eurasian Peoples’ Assembly in Egypt?

Opening of the representative office of the Eurasian Peoples’ Assembly in Egypt, participation in the 54th Cairo International Book Fair, A. Karpov’s meeting with the Egyptian Chess Federation, Presentation of the book of the poet and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Alexandra Ochirova “My Horizons”, translated into Arabic, round table at the Russian-Egyptian Foundation for Science and Culture and meeting with members of the Parliament of the Arab Republic of Egypt. There were also business forum “Prospects for business cooperation in the Eurasian space”, panel session “Sustainable development of the tourism and hospitality industry in modern conditions.”, meeting with representatives of the Association of Graduates of Soviet and Russian Universities in Egypt and meeting with the leadership of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Arab Republic of Egypt. For us , as a part of this event, we held the VI Eurasian Literary Festival “LIffT” in Egypt.

You had the opportunity to receive the flag of the Eurasia Literature Festival from the poetess and artist Margherita Al, the director of the festival, and give it to Dr. Wale Okediran so that the flag of Egypt moves to Nigeria.  Tell us more on this tradition.

There is a symbolic matter, for the flame to remain burning; and for the flag to remain raised. It is a marathon. The new winner receives the flag of the festival, with its distinctive logo, from the previous winner. As Ashraf Aboul-Yazid received the flag in Istanbul when he won the gold medal, he handed it over to the new winner, Dr. Wale. Okediran; who will hand it over to the new winner in Nigeria, February next year, with the announcement of the winner of the seventh edition of the festival. The LiffT festival has 6 laureates. The festival is held in the country of the Laureate: Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Egypt and  Nigeria in 2024. During the awards ceremony, the flag is transferred from one country to another.

We need to know more of poet Margarita Al and her experimental poetry.

Margarita Al is the creator of a new genre of experimental poetry that combines minimalism and performance, elements of pantomime are simultaneously voiced by the author’s voice, new qualities of poetry arise, which Andrei Voznesensky once designated with a completely new term Eye of the Ear.

The 19th century was intended for hearing, the 20th century for the eye, and the 21st century for the eye and ear at the same time. For Andrey Voznesensky, these are vidioms, and for Margarita Al, this is a video-audio-pantomime. She received a poetic education at the Academy of Poets and Philosophers at the faculty headed by Professor K. Kedrov, the founder and creator of the school of meta-metaphor. His influence on the formation of the poet Marguerite Al became the most important.

As a result of her studies, Margarita Al became the brightest star of the avant-garde poetic community of DOOS, which included Konstantin Kedrov, Andrey Voznesensky, Heinrich Sapgir, Elena Katsyuba, head of the Sorbonne Department of Slavic Studies – Michel Ocouturier, translator and artist Christina Zeytunyan-Belous (Paris), poetess and avant-garde theorist Kira Sapgir, Doctor of Cultural Studies, creator of the ZEVGMA avant-garde anthology Sergei Biryukov. In total more than 30 world names.

On the initiative of Margarita Al, with the aesthetic support of DOOS, the International Literary Movement of Writers “LIffT” was created, which united and drew the attention of poets and writers from different countries to new poetry, poetry of the 21st century.

Literary festivals are the best opportunity to exchange the works of participants, whether they are poets, novelists or writers. What are the most important publications of the sixth edition of the Eurasian Literary Festival?

I tell you first about four books in which I had a role; the first is my poetry anthology (A Street in Cairo), whose first edition was celebrated in the city of Baku, Azerbaijan, with a literary meeting moderated in the Azerbaijani capital by the translator of the book into the Russian language, the poet Eldar Akhadov. Then there was a second edition that bore the festival’s slogan, so that the third edition came from Moscow, on behalf of The Festival Publishing House (Lifft), in the golden series issued to the festival’s gold medal winners, which I won at the festival’s fifth session, Istanbul (2021)

The second book, an anthology of poetry in the name of (4 poets on the Silk Road), and the poets are Konstantin Kedrov, Margarita Al, Sergey Berikov and Ashraf Aboul-Yazid. It was published in Arabic, and the poems of the comrades between the two covers of the book were translated from English into Arabic, and it was published in the Silk Road Creations series.

The third book is actually three books, as it is the collection of the poet Alexandra Ocherova in Russian, English, and Arabic (with my translation). Alexandra V.  Ocherova – Poet, UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, Doctor of Philosophy, Laureate of the Lenin Komsomol Prize in Science, Member of the Union of Russian Writers, Member of the Russian Academy of Arts.

The last books, which were distributed to some of the participants in the festival, were the Silk Road Anthology, the third edition of which was titled (Ancient Egyptians, Modern Poets), and the fourth (Arabian Nights, World Poems), and a series of anthologies whose poems were written by hundreds of poets around the world, and it will be published soon Her most recent publication is Nano Poems for Africa.

The biggest event was the presentation of the video book “A Living Anthology of World Writers in 4 volumes, 100 authors in total, thanks to the help of curator poet Eldar Akhadov.  It is the first of a 4 volumes series.

How did the guests of the festival react to their visit in Egypt?

More than 300 authors from 72 countries of the world took part in the festival competition. It has become a dream for each participant to visit this beautiful country with its historical civilization as a laureate or prize-winner of its medal. Writers from 18 countries who visited Cairo became eyewitnesses of the world history of Egypt. The great pyramids, the eternal River Nile, the hospitable inhabitants, the bright individuality of the Arab people in clothes, dances, songs – delighted and remembered forever. I am sure that this meeting will be reflected in the literary works of the writers who visited Egypt.

Who are the patrons of world literature whom you gave credit for this mega event for their contributions to the development of world literature?

Since 2019, we have been awarding medals for support in holding the LiffT festival. Medals were awarded to Heydar Aliyev Foundation, Secretary General of the Eurasian Peoples’ Assembly A.Yu.Belyaninov, First Deputy Secretary General of the Eurasian Peoples’ Assembly S.K. Smirnova, Director of the LiffT Foundation A.N. Almukhametov, Poet, Doctor of Philosophy, Professor of the Gorky Literary Institute K.A. Kedrov, Director of the Russian House in Cairo Marat. I. Gattin, Dr. Shady El-Shafie Egypt, and Dr. Yasser Alaham. Syria.

You announced the establishment of Writers World Organization (WOW), how do you present it to our readers?

For the first time, the idea of creating a World Organization of Writers was voiced at the literary forum “Creating the Image of the Future Man and the Man of the Future in Literature” as part of the Eurasian Literary Festival LIFT-2019 in the Republic of Azerbaijan, which brought together writers from 52 countries. Over the next three years of holding international literary forums and festivals, the number of participants has increased significantly, and there is a need to create such an organization.

Today, only a moral and responsible person can save a world full of contradictions, poverty and hunger, inequality, epidemics, and, what is especially terrible, the misanthropic ideas of fascism, nationalism, extremism and terrorism, which must be forever removed from the spiritual and ideological arsenal of mankind. That is why the problems of human security and humanitarian modernization must be integrated into all protocols of interaction between countries and peoples.

An initiative group of writers from around the world, as part of the VI Eurasian Literary Festival LIFT-2023 in the Arab Republic of Egypt, issued a statement/memorandum of intent to establish the World Organization of Writers (WOW), the goals and objectives of which are aimed at humanitarian modernization and the development of spiritual and moral values.

WOW target is to create  a single literary space of writers of the world, strengthening the creative and friendly ties of writers from five continents on the basis of spiritual and moral values common to all peoples, as the main strategic resource for a sustainable and safe human existence.

The tasks to be generated are the expansion of professional interaction, exchange of experience in organizing literary forums and festivals, increasing the prestige of literature and the authority of the modern writer in society, promotion and interchange of literary publications, Support and promotion of works with the perspective of the image of a person of the future  and the contribution of writers to the creation of a multipolar world with humanitarian priorities.

The LiffT festival has become the base platform for the creation of such an organization. Today we are at the stage of preparation for the legal execution of the document. The unanimous decision of the festival participants was the choice of the Acting President of the World Writers Organization Margarita Al.

In Egypt, at the VI Eurasian Literary Festival “LIffT” a memorandum of intent was prepared and signed on the creation of the “World Organization of Writers” (WOW). The LiffT festival has become the base platform for the creation of such an organization. Today we are at the stage of preparation for the legal execution of the document. The unanimous decision of the festival participants was the choice of the Acting President of the World Writers Organization Margarita Al.