Tehran celebrates publishing of Ashraf Aboul-Yazid’s poems in Persian

Egyptian poet and novelist Ashraf Aboul-Yazid celebrated the publishing of his poems in Persian during Tehran International Book Fair.

The ceremony started by reciting poems in Arabic, by the poet, and their equivalent in Persian, by the translator professor Nasrin Shakibi Mumtaz.

The poet and the translator (with the flowers)

The poet signed copies of his poems to many authors, publishers and readers who attended the ceremony, and started by cutting the cake that had the title in Arabic “The Memory of Butterflies”.

The translated selected poems published were chosen from 3 of the poetry volumes, “The Memory of Silence” published in Beirut (2000), “On the Passage of Death”, and “The Memory of Butterflies” published in Cairo, in 2001, 2005, consequently.

The Cake

The publisher, Ms. Azam Kyan Afraz hosted the event in her wing in the Book Fair, and welcomed Ms. Pooneh Nedai, another Iranian publisher, and a member of AJA, who attended the ceremony, along with writers and translators such as Rasool Samawi Reza Amery, Ali Moradi, among others.

“His poetry knows no boundaries” said Mrs. Nasrin Shakibi Mumtaz commenting on her choice of Ashraf’s poems to translate. She is a professor at Al-Zahraa University, and she spent a few years teaching Persian in Seoul, South Korea. Mrs. Nasrin translated Ashraf’s first novel, Shamawes, to be published soon in Tehran, by Afraz, as well. Afraz publishing house is known for introducing Arabic literature versions in Persian, so you find the works of Adonis, Mahmoud Darwish, Nizar Qabbani, Nuri al-Jarrah, Jamal Juma, Brewin Habib in poetry, as well as the novels of Naguib Mahfou, z Abdel- Rahman Munief and Ahlam Mosteghanemi.

In Radio

Some of Ashraf Aboul-Yazid works were translated were into English, Italian, Spanish, Turkish, and Korean. He also introduced some of the world literature to Arab readers, such as the Korean poets Ko Un and Chu Oh- hyun.

In Tehran, the event was concluded by interviewing the poet by the Iranian media. of Ashraf Aboul-Yazid also talked to Tehran Radio Live, with translation assistance by Mr. Reza Shakibi.

Ashraf in Tehran