Poems by contemporary Moroccan authors were presented for the second time this year at an event organized by the Embassy of the Kingdom of Morocco to Bulgaria and the Europe and the World Foundation.

The evening of Moroccan poetry was held on 20 November at the Journalist Club in the building of the Union of Bulgarian Journalists.

The first such event was held on June 1, 2018, at the Residence of H. E. Mrs. Zakia El Midaoui, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Morocco to Bulgaria.  The new event was once again under the patronage of the Moroccan Ambassador. In her welcoming speech to the guests Her Excellency emphasized:

“Tonight’s event marks the commemoration of the 63rd anniversary of the three glorious national celebrations of the Kingdom of Morocco, which are the return of the late King Mohammed V of exile, the Feast of the Renaissance and that of the Independence of the Kingdom. These three important events, celebrated each year by the Moroccan people from Tangiers to Laguouira, symbolize the triumph of the will of the throne and the Moroccan people in the national struggle for freedom, independence and unity.”

Her Excellency then thanked Gerginza Dvoretska, Chair of the Europe and the World Foundation, as well as all the others who took part in its preparation and implementation.

As it had happened in the first Moroccan Poetry Evening the literary reading was opened by H. E. Mrs. Zakia El Midaoui, who read in the original French the poem Scars of the Sun by the Moroccan poet and writer Tahar Ben Jelloun, Goncourt Prize winner and a member of the Goncourt Academy, who is popular in Bulgaria, too.

During the second Evening of Moroccan poetry, verses from modern Moroccan poets, writing in Arabic and French, were read. The poet and translator Khayri Hamdan, winner of this year’s Peroto Award for the translation of literature from Bulgarian into a foreign language, presented his new translations of poems from Moroccan poets writing in Arabic: Ez Eldin Buraka, Iman Alchattabi , Hassan Bolhuishat, Ali Azahaf.

One of the poems included in the first evening of Moroccan poetry, Empty Chairs by the poet Nadaj Rajjah Om Sanaa, was read in the original Arabic by Mrs. Malica El Haddad, Advisor to the Embassy of the Kingdom of Morocco.

The poems of the poets Aissa Iken, Abderahamn Benamaza, Abdelatif Laabi, who write in French and were translated by Gergina Dvoretzka, were performed by the actors Iva Karamancheva and Georgi Mihalkov. Gergina Dvoretzka read personally a poem by poet Fatema Shahid, Echo Whispers the Remnants of Legends, in the original French and in a new translation of hers.

The poet Ivan Hristov shared his impressions from the International Poetry Forum in Safi, Morocco, where he was awarded the honorary prize “Culture is a Refuge for Humanity”. The attendants also had the opportunity to hear his performances of kaval, which he also presented to the Moroccan poetry forum. A musical greeting with a song with lyrics written by him was performed by the poet Ivailo Dimanov, manager of the Journalist Club.

The evening ended with an invitation to all guests to taste the famous Moroccan sweets and mint tea.

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The material was provided by the Europe and the World Foundation. You can see details of the event on its site.

On the photo above: Greetings of H. E. Mrs. Zakia El Midaoui, translated by Mrs. Nelly Valkova from the Embassy of the Kingdom of Morocco (right). To the left are Mrs. Gergina Dvoretzka, President of the Europe and the World Foundation, and Mr. Khairi Hamdan, poet and translator