My Mind Words Paper [Search results for mediterranean literature] 

Deadline: 17 - 21 May 2012

On the wave of the “Arab Spring”, synonym of transformation and renewal, Baad El Bahr Cultural Association (BEBA) is launching the third edition of the Cairo Mediterranean Literary Festival, an event that has proven itself a tangible demonstration of the possibility of constructive dialogue between the two shores of the Mediterranean.

Baad El Bahr, founded as a nonprofit in 2008 (www.baadelbahr.org), is a cultural association based in Cairo and created by individuals from diverse national and cultural backgrounds, involved for years in various branches of Egypt's cultural life. The association offers to the public workshops, conferences, exhibitions and long term activities such as the translation and publication of literary texts and the ongoing Cairo Mediterranean Literary Festival, an annual appointment with different themes.

“Literature and humor” was the theme of the festival first edition (5-12 May 2010). It was co-sponsored by the Delegation of the European Community in Egypt. “Literature and humor” gave a particular emphasis to Arabic and romance languages. Guests came from Italy, France, Spain, Egypt, Lebanon and Algeria.

“Literature and the city” was the theme of the second edition (21-25 May 2011). Guests were, for the most part, contemporary authors whose works reflect the often radical changes that have taken place in cities in the last twenty years. The festival hosted writers from Italy and Egypt who participated in round table discussion.

The 2012 edition of the festival is entitled “Literature and Body” and will take place in Cairo from the 17thto the 21st May 2012.

The festival this year explores the long-standing but inexhaustible relationship between "literature and the body."

The body has been present through centuries of literature as an object of constant attention, undergoing continuous changes, but without losing its freshness and its ability to amaze us.

To paraphrase the title of a collection of short stories by Raymond Carver, what is it we talk about when we talk about the body, in our modern times?

There is probably no vision more different, from one side to the other of the Mediterranean, from country to country, than that of the body. So it will be more interesting than ever this year to hear the voices from different cultural backgrounds, incited in different ways to probe themselves and each other.

The theatrical reading form seems to us particularly suitable for this edition, where the text is elevated by the physicality of the “rap-rep”. There will also be conferences for deeper reflection, face-to-face or virtual encounters between authors, visual support in the form of two major exhibitions dedicated to the body and films and documentaries, as well as interactive seminars and book presentations. All of these, we hope, will make for discussion that is as vibrant and vital as the body itself.

Most of the guests are contemporary authors from the Mediterranean basin such has the French philosopher Gilles Lipovetsky and the Egyptian philosopher Anwar Moghith, the Lebanese director Jocelyne Saab, the Italian authors Simonetta Agnello Hornby and Viola Di Grado, the actress Fernanda Calati, Alessandro Golinelli, the Spanish writer Maria Laura Espido Freire and more.

The festival events will take place in different venues in Cairo in partnership with the Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Institut Français, Instituto Cervantes, Mashrabia Gallery, British Council, Goethe Institut, Alitalia and Rising Stars.

Links: festival program, guests

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Website: http://www.cairomedliteraryfestival.org/

Deadline: 15 June 2012

For centuries, the Mediterranean Sea has both divided and joined the many disparate nations, cultures, language groups and artistic traditions which flourished in the Mediterranean Basin: the Maghreb, Iberia, Southern Europe, the Balkans, the Levant and Egypt. As a dividing line and barrier to inter-cultural exchange, it has allowed each of these regions and their many cultures to develop unique artistic traditions. As the major feature binding these diverse cultures together, however, it has also facilitated inter-cultural exchange. What happens, then, when these traditions travel, meet and merge with each other? How does the host country adopt and adapt the ideas and aesthetics coming from abroad to its own native tradition?

This volume will look at such pan-Mediterranean artistic exchange (in literature as well as film, painting, music, photography, etc.) produced during or about the Modernist period, roughly the last quarter of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th. We welcome papers addressing any aspect of Modernist and avante-garde literature and art on four related themes: first, papers which describe the interaction of two or more Mediterranean artistic traditions (international Futurism, for example, or the reception of French Surrealism in Algeria); second, two or more Mediterranean cultures (Alexandria’s Jewish community or relations between Greeks and Turks in Cyprus); third, depictions of the Mediterranean itself during the period (in, for example, Lawrence Durrell’s Bitter Lemons of Cyprus or Henry Miller’s Colossus of Maroussi); or, fourth, the myriad forms of Modernist and avante-garde art which emerged from a single location (such as Cavafy, Marinetti, Ungaretti and Durrell in Alexandria). Papers on similar themes will also be considered.

Title: The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Modernity

Eds. Adam J. Goldwyn (Uppsala University) and Renee Silverman (Florida International University)

CONTACT INFORMATION:

For inquiries: adam.goldwyn@lingfil.uu.se

For submissions: Email one to two page abstracts by June 15 to Dr. Goldwyn at adam.goldwyn@lingfil.uu.se

Deadline: 15 June 2012

For centuries, the Mediterranean Sea has both divided and joined the many disparate nations, cultures, language groups and artistic traditions which flourished in the Mediterranean Basin: the Maghreb, Iberia, Southern Europe, the Balkans, the Levant and Egypt. As a dividing line and barrier to inter-cultural exchange, it has allowed each of these regions and their many cultures to develop unique artistic traditions. As the major feature binding these diverse cultures together, however, it has also facilitated inter-cultural exchange. What happens, then, when these traditions travel, meet and merge with each other? How does the host country adopt and adapt the ideas and aesthetics coming from abroad to its own native tradition?

This volume will look at such pan-Mediterranean artistic exchange (in literature as well as film, painting, music, photography, etc.) produced during or about the Modernist period, roughly the last quarter of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th. We welcome papers addressing any aspect of Modernist and avante-garde literature and art on four related themes: first, papers which describe the interaction of two or more Mediterranean artistic traditions (international Futurism, for example, or the reception of French Surrealism in Algeria); second, two or more Mediterranean cultures (Alexandria’s Jewish community or relations between Greeks and Turks in Cyprus); third, depictions of the Mediterranean itself during the period (in, for example, Lawrence Durrell’s Bitter Lemons of Cyprus or Henry Miller’s Colossus of Maroussi); or, fourth, the myriad forms of Modernist and avante-garde art which emerged from a single location (such as Cavafy, Marinetti, Ungaretti and Durrell in Alexandria). Papers on similar themes will also be considered.

Title: The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Modernity

Eds. Adam J. Goldwyn (Uppsala University) and Renee Silverman (Florida International University)

CONTACT INFORMATION:

For inquiries: adam.goldwyn@lingfil.uu.se

For submissions: Email one to two page abstracts by June 15 to Dr. Goldwyn at adam.goldwyn@lingfil.uu.se

Date: 3 April 2012

You are cordially invited to presentation of the Poetry Segment of the Lagos Black Heritage Festival, LBHF, on Tuesady (April 3, 2012) at the Freedom Park, Broad Street, Lagos, at 6pm.

The theme of the Segment is BLACK MEDITERRANEAN: THE AFRO-ITALIAN CONNECTIONS, and it features a collection of 16 Nigerian and 16 Italian Poets, who worked on varied sub-themes deriving from the main thematic framework, including Trade, Migration, Religion, Politics, Trafficking among others. The poems will also be published in a collection by Book Craft, Nigeria.

The Nigerians and some of the Italian poets will be read/perform their work at the event on Tuesday evening.

The cross-generational Nigerian poets featuring in the project are:

Richard Ali, editor Sentinel Nigeria Magazine, Divan of the Four Winds; Gimba Kakanda whose works have been published in various local and international media, including the Indian Journal Prosopisia: An Anthology of Poetry and Creative Writing; Razinatu T. Mohammed, whose collection of short stories titled, A Love Like a Woman’s and Other Stories won the maiden prize for the Association of Nigerian Authors/ Lantern Book Prize 2005; Uche Peter Umez, an alumnus of the International Writing Program (IWP), USA, and UNESCO-Aschberg Laureate; Tolu Ogunlesi's poetry, essays and fiction have appeared in World Literature Today, Transition, Wasafiri, The Caine Prize Anthology and translated into Chinese, Italian, Norwegian and Turkish; Jumoke Verissimo, author of the poetry collection I Am Memory, and winner of the 2009 Carlos Idzia Ahmad Prize for a first book of poetry, second prize 2009 ; among other prizes; Ify Omalicha (late), author Amidst the Blowing Tempest, They Run Still & Now that Dreams are Born;

Tade Ipadeola, author of two volumes of poetry – A Time of Signs (2000), and The Rain Fardel (2005).

Others are: Ben Omowafola Tomoloju, dramatist, poet, singer and author of Jankariwo, Askari among other works, and producer, director of the yearly poetry programme, P.L.A.Y.; Olufunmi Aluko, winner 1st Prize for Poetry in the Poetry/Painting Competition of the Communion and Liberation Movement; Deji Toye’s collection of poems Millennial Liege is awaiting publication; Chiedu Ezeanah’s first book of poetry,, Solar Energies (Book 1 of The Tristia Trilogy), is soon to be published; Chris Abani is author of the collections Sanctificum (2010), There Are No Names for Red (2010), Feed Me The Sun - Collected Long Poems (2010) and Kalakuta Republic(2001) among others; Ogaga Ifowodo, poet and writer, teacher of poetry and literature in English at Texas State University, USA is author of three collections of poetry: Homeland and Other Poems, Madiba, and The Oil Lamp; and Odia Ofeimun whose numerous collection of poems include The Poet Lied (1980), A Handle For The Flutist (1986), Dreams At Work and London Letter And Other Poems (2000).

Also included in the collection of poets are the Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, Playwright, Poet, Essayist and Human Rights activist, and John Pepper Clark Bekederemo, renowned poet and dramatist and recipient of the Nigerian National Merit Award for literary excellence (1991).

The Poetry Project is coordinated by Alessandra Di Maio (Italy) and Jahman Anikulapo (Culture Advocates Caucus, CAC, Nigeria) for the Lagos Black Heritage Festival.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Website: http://www.lagosblackheritagefestival.org/