The 'Reflections' section of the Digital Bulletin of the Tres Culturas Foundation was created with the aim of offering our users tools that allow for a more leisurely meditation on the topics dealt with in the various activities organised by the Foundation, whether they be seminars, workshops, book presentations, exhibitions, etc. Tres Culturas' 'Reflections' also aims to be a place to find analysis and specialised opinions on current affairs or relevant issues in the Euro-Mediterranean and Middle Eastern context.
Spring brings together some of the most important literary events on the Spanish publishing scene. Both the Madrid Book Fair and the International Comic Fair in Barcelona coincide on these dates, while Andalusia hosts events such as the book fairs in Granada and Seville. The commitment of the Fundación Tres Culturas in the publishing field over the years has been reflected both in the production of specialised publications in the form of books, magazines or art catalogues, and in the programming of specific activities linked to the literary sphere, such as 'Martes de Cine' which traditionally shows films based on literary works during these months, or the launch of the 'Tres con Libros' (Three with Books) Reading Club.
The Tres Culturas Foundation also actively participates in literary events such as book fairs and writers' forums. In April this year, Tres Culturas is organising the 'Tres Festival, voces del Mediterráneo' in Granada, which will bring together more than 30 authors and intellectuals from Mediterranean countries, from established figures to emerging authors, to coincide with the city's Book Fair. Almudena Grandes, Buket Uzuner, Rachid Boudjedra, Nawal el-Saadawi, Abraham B. Yehoshua, Mircea Cartarescu and Hubert Haddad will take part in this forum.
In the coming months, Tres Culturas will expand its contribution in the publishing field by dedicating this space to contents aimed at showing the broad literary panorama of the Near East and the Mediterranean, both through specialised articles and by giving a voice to the most outstanding authors of this panorama, some of whom we have had the opportunity to meet personally in Tres Culturas.
Article: Trends in contemporary Arabic literature'. By David Tresilian. Magazine culturesThe 'Art and Culture in the Middle East', issue 5, 'Art and Culture in the Middle East'.
Despite the progress made in the publication of Arabic literary works in Western languages, "the vast literary landscape of the Arab world remains little known, even to the best-intentioned foreign observers, because of the still imperfect flow of translations (...)". This starting point is used by the author of the article, David Tresilian, to draw a picture of trends in contemporary Arab literature, with an emphasis on prose fiction that has appeared in recent decades and on living writers. According to Tresilian, these trends include the important role played by literature written by women, as well as the emergence of works produced by writers for minorities.
David Tresilian is a professor at the American University of Paris. Author of, among others, the work A Brief Introduction to Modern Arabic Literature. The full article can be found at the following link: http://revistaculturas.org/tendencias-en-la-literatura-arabe-contemporanea/
Poetry meeting: 'The colour of time', by Clarisse Nicoϊdski'.
The Fundación Tres Culturas del Mediterráneo and the Centro Sefarad-Israel, in collaboration with the publishing house Sexto Piso, organised a poetic meeting for the presentation of the book The colour of timeby the writer Clarisse Nicoïdski. Along with the writer of Sephardic origin, the director of culture of the Centro Sefarad-Israel, Esther Bendahan, and the poet Carmen Camacho spoke, as well as the translator of the work, Ernesto Kavi, who was present virtually.
The colour of time brings together for the first time the poetic work of Clarisse Nicoϊdski, who is unanimously considered by critics to be the most important Sephardic poet of the 20th century. Her work influenced several Latin American poets, especially Juan Gelman and the Spaniard José Ángel Valente. The presentation of the work was followed by a poetry recital by Carmen Camacho (in Spanish) and Esther Bendahan (in Sephardic), accompanied by the harp of Mar Gabarre, composer and vocalist of the group Musgö.
Promoting reading through the lending of book bundles
Tres Culturas offers other institutions, libraries or entities the possibility of accessing the catalogue of works that have passed through its 'Tres con Libros' Reading Club.
The Fundación Tres Culturas Reading Club was set up at the beginning of 2009 with the aim of promoting reading, disseminating Mediterranean authors and developing initiatives that stimulate intercultural dialogue as a means of enrichment between cultures. The members of the Reading Club meet throughout the year to read, analyse and debate these works by organising meetings and round tables in which the authors themselves sometimes participate.
The Tres Culturas catalogue includes works by writers such as Mohamed Chukri, Carlos Zanón, Elif Shafak, David Grossman, Angel Wagenstein, Igor Stiks, Tahar Ben Jelloun, Yasmina Khadra, Alaa Al-Aswany and Buket Uzuner.
The guidelines for requesting a Tres Culturas book loan can be found at the following link: http://www.tresculturas.org/club/PAUTAS.pdf
To consult the available books: http://www.tresculturas.org/club/lote%20libros.pdf
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