>> From the Library of Congress in Washington DC. ^E00:00:04 ^B00:00:24 >> I am the director of the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, which is the reading and literacy promotion arm of the library. And it is also fortunate to be, we feel fortunate that we're also the home of the library's Poetry and Literature Center, which is an important activity for not only the library but and one sense as the Poetry and Literature Center under the leadership of Rob Casper expands its wings a bit. We are moving. Of course into this wonderful program today which creates new partnerships not just for the Poetry and Literature Center and the Center for the Book, but the library of Congress itself. So we are really celebrating a coming together of many strands. And prior to this program with my colleagues from the Library of Congress, we were trying to recall another program at the library where our four area studies divisions had come together for a program and we couldn't think of any. So it's really a wonderful partnership and a new beginning for us in many ways. I am going to set the stage for my colleagues in the Area Studies Divisions who are going to be heading the panels by just trying to in two minutes give you some information about the history of the international role of the Library of Congress. Our first library was actually part of the US capitol. The Library of Congress was created in 1800 and the legislative branch. Thomas Jefferson had hoped that someday it would become, based on his wide collection the expansive the content of his collection, which came to the Library of Congress after the British burned the Capitol in 1814. The Jefferson Library was sold back to the Library with the idea of reestablishing the Library of Congress under a different auspice. Jefferson's wide-ranging library of course covered all kinds of subjects including international subjects. But Jefferson hoped that it not only would be a new beginning for Congress, which needed to know about all of these subjects but that someday it could be shared with the American people as well, which is the case now. That didn't occur until after the Civil War and things got pulled together in Washington DC. The Smithsonian had been created in 1846. And they created an international exchange program and as the Library of Congress moved towards becoming a national library in the 1860 and 1870s, the librarian of Congress persuaded the secretary of the Smithsonian to let the Library of Congress be the recipient of any receipts from foreign documents that were sent by the Smithsonian to other countries. And we started building a foreign documents collection. And the Library of Congress took the whole operation over in 1866. In 1870 copyright was centralized at the Library of Congress and the beginnings were made for the building, the great Jefferson Building opened in 1897. We couldn't develop real area studies divisions until we had substantive collections. The Library of Congress the functions all come after the collections. A number of small gifts from China and other countries came to the Library of Congress in the capitol but we are out of phase and to do anything with them. Once the Jefferson, now called the Jefferson Building had opened and a new librarian had started, his name was Herbert Putnam, and he was librarian for 40 years. And Putnam decided to build on the copyright law, which was building these huge Americana collections and to begin going overseas and building international collections. And that really started in part with the Yudin Collection in 1907. So we had this building. Putnam said we needed to be an international library. And he began sending Library of Congress employees overaseas to investigate and the Yudin Collection was one of the first, Russian collection and later on he sent representatives to China and to other parts of the world and the basis was laid for the divisions which were all created in the twentieth century, the last century. That you will be learning about today. The first was the Hispanic, which was created in 1939. And the other divisions the African and Middle Eastern division. The Asian division and the European division in their current form, were brought together 1978. So this with the collections grew the area studies foreign interest of the Library of Congress and today it is safe to say, in spite of all the resource problems that we have that we are truly a great international institution, and in many ways a world library. In this coming together with this new partnership really is a testimonial and a continuation of this wonderful tradition. So thank you for joining us. I'm now going to turn the program over to a second partner. Well, we have two major partners. International Writing Program at the University of Iowa where our writers are from. The area Studies Division of the Library of Congress. You'll meet the directors. And the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, US Department of State and the representative is Bruce Armstrong who is the Director of Citizen Exchanges at the US State Department. Let's give him a hand and Bruce will really get us started. Thank you for listening to my history lesson. ^M00:06:32 [ Applause ] ^M00:06:37 [ Inaudible ] ^M00:06:45 >> Well thank you. It's really great to be here. Before I start my remarks, I just have a brief personal comment to make, which is many, many decades ago I got a PhD in German literature. Which meant that for many years I lived on the planet of literature and that was the world I was in. And that I start working for the government and a lot of years of gone by since then. So to be able to be involved with this program now, meet writers, listen to writers read from their works. This is so incredible, I feel like I need to pinch myself. Or I shouldn't pinch myself. I may wake up. So, soon enough I will have to go back to the world of memos and boring meetings. But for while I'm here. Wow this is great. So on behalf of the US Department of State's, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. I'm very pleased to welcome everyone to this afternoon's panel discussions featuring writers from the International Writing Program's fall residency. I have a lot of thank yous to say. Or some very important ones. First of all I have to thank Chris Merrill and the IWP staff for their tremendous dedication to this program and all the hard work they invest in it. Without them, no program. That's clear. And it is through this partnership that together we can help writers from all around the world strengthen their voices. Why do we do it? For a very simple reason. Because we believe that in helping writers we are helping make the world a better place. Simple, naive, perhaps, but we truly believe it. Now that belief is difficult to prove, and it is very difficult to translate into metrics on an Excel sheet to prove the effectiveness of it, but we believe it in our hearts and we know that it's true. I also want to thank the Library of Congress for hosting this afternoon's event. We are very, very grateful for this partnership. We really appreciate that. And most importantly, I want to congratulate all the writers who I had a chance to meet this morning and listen to them, introduce themselves. I want to congratulate all of you on completing the 2014 IWP fall residency. And it's so wonderful that you can take part in this program. Probably most of you here know more about the IWP then I do, but nevertheless, if there are some people out there that aren't entirely familiar with it such a great program. I want to talk about a little bit. The IWP brings together rising and established literary stars from across the world to explore their creative writing process through a partnership with the University of Iowa. During the 10-week fall residency in Iowa City, writers give public readings and lectures, share their work and their respective cultures, collaborate with artists from other genres and art forms, and travel and interact with American audiences and literary communities across the nation. At the State Department, we are proud of our involvement with the strategic exchange program that has included over 1400 writers from more than 140 countries since 1967. ^M00:10:06 I mean that's very impressive. And there are actually few programs few things that can say that they've lasted that long and IWP is one of them, and clearly, I mean it's a tremendous program that has had really major impact. For more than 60 years, the US government has supported international exchange programs that build bridges between countries and cultures and advance important principle such as respect for human rights, freedom of expression, and democratic principles. We support a broad array of programs. We do academic exchanges, we do youth exchange, we did sports-based exchange, and also definitely last but not least cultural exchanges. And we believe in the power of exchanges across the board to create personal connections between Americans and the rest of the world. And we believe that cultural exchanges are particularly effective at doing that. Again, very difficult to develop an Excel sheet that proves that. But anyone who has been involved with these programs, and I think Chris Merrill and his team would certainly speak to this, knows that they are effective. We also believe that one of the clear signs of the vitality of a nation, any nation, is the extent to which art and literature, and that means artist and writers, play a central and dynamic role in civic society. That is a very important barometer for the health of a society in our view. For the writers on this afternoon's panels, I hope that your experiences in the United States have left you inspired to continue to pursue your creative work back home and to share your experiences with people in your communities because that's a very important part of this. And we hope very much that you will remain in contact with each other and with IWP. So thanks again to our partners at the IWP and here at the Library of Congress. It's just a tremendous privilege to be here in this building. This is a wonderful opportunity to hear from the writers in their own voices and I can't think of a better location to do it than in the Library of Congress, our nation's oldest federal cultural institution and the biggest library in the world. So thank you very much. ^M00:12:33 [ Applause ] ^M00:12:39 Oh I forgot important part of my duty here. And now I would like to introduce Chris Merrill. The man who makes this happen. ^M00:12:48 [ Applause ] ^M00:12:53 >> Thank you so much Bruce, and to John and to my colleagues at the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs who make all of this happen. And a very special thanks to the wonderful poet Rob Casbah, whose idea it was to bring together a big collection of our writers. When we first got together to talk about this a couple of years ago I think I had in mind that it might be interesting if we could bring together oh I don't know three or four of the writers just to give a little bit of a reading. And when Rob and I started to talk and he had a sense of how many writers we have. He said let's turn into an all day festival and I thought that's just the kind of thinking that is at the center of the International Writing Program. We like to think big and so this afternoon you will hear from 16 of the 29 writers who have been in residence for the last 11 weeks in Iowa City. They come from all corners of the globe. They write in all forms and genres. They are, as Bruce was pointing out rising stars on the national stage, on the international stage. They are people who will tell us something about what it is like to live within their own cultures. And it is particularly gratifying for me to be here at the Library of Congress. I was thinking that this has been the home for so long for all the books of the world. But it has also offered safe haven to writers from around the world in many different ways. And I'm thinking particularly of the extraordinary French poets and diplomat Saint-John Perse, who won the Nobel Prize in 1960. He was one of the very few diplomats in Europe between the World Wars who understood the nature of the threat approaching from Germany. And he famously stared Hitler down at the Munich conference where he pleaded with the French delegation not to appease him in any way, shape, or form. He had that wonderful line about Hitler, who he said had the eyes of a dead fish. Accordingly, when the Germans invaded Paris, one of the very first places the Gestapo went was to the flat of Saint-John Perse, who by then had fallen out of favor with the French Foreign Ministry, the French government and was in flight. They took five manuscripts which he had written between his first posting in China and up to the outbreak of the Second World War. They disappeared never to return. He made his way to America and Archibald Macleish the librarian of Congress who made a space for Saint-John Perse, also known as Alexis Leger. Parse did not want any kind of the sinecure, though. He insisted on actually working here as a consultant to the library. And one of the things that he did was to put together an annotated bibliography of all the books and texts that one needed to know to be conversant with foreign affairs in the twentieth century. It runs to about 900 texts and it's clear to reading it. Which you can find here in the library that Parse himself had in fact read all of it. And it's that kind of broad view of the world, that deep engagement with economics, and history, and political science, and of course the literature of various countries that I imagine to be at the center of all great writers. Parse exemplified it. All the great writers of the world to find their home here in the Library of Congress and this afternoon we have the good luck to hear from 16 of our writers who will talk a little bit. Read a little bit in their own languages. Field some questions from the different heads of the divisions here who have worked so hard over the last several months to put together a program that I'm quite certain is going to be one for the books. So please join me in welcoming the writers who will start to make their way up onto the stage and unless, Rob are you going to say word? Nope then I'm turning it over to the writers okay. ^M00:17:23 [ Applause ] ^E00:17:27 ^B00:17:32 >> My name is Georgette Dorn and I'm the Chief of the Hispanic division and we have the first foreign area of reading room of the Library of Congress as John Cole said. Established in 1939. We also have an archive of recorded Hispanic literature and tape. So I hope that maybe we can record all of these or some of these when they come back to the library again. Our first speaker is Cynthia Edul playwright fiction writer from Argentina. Edul's plays, "Miami," "Bonsai Family," "The Tour," and "A Donde van los Corazones Rotos" have all been produced for the stage. Her novel "The Succession" appeared in 2012. Edul is a founder and artistic director of the International Platform of Performing Arts and the President of the Associacion para el Teatro Latinomaericano. She teaches literature at the Universidad de San Andres in Buenos Aires. Her participation is made possible by the Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs of the US Department of State. Omar Perez, our second poet is a poet, editor, and translator from Cuba. He won Cuba's National Critics Prize for his collection of essays "La Perseverancia de un Hombre Oscuro" and the 2010 Nicholas Guillen Award for the poetry for "Critica de la Razon Puta." He is. ^M00:18:55 [ Speaking in Foreign Language ] ^M00:19:07 With two of them appearing as bilingual editions. "Something Sacred," And "Did You Hear About the Fighting Cat." His recent works moves across media, especially music and collage. He has been an editor of "Letras Cubanas" and translates contemporary literature from Italy, Africa, the US, and other countries. Our third poet, writer is Enrique Serrano fiction writer Columbia is the author of books, "La Marca de Espana," "De Parte de Dios," "Tamarlan," "Donde no te Conozcan," "El Hombre de Diamante." A passage to India from Columbia and [foreign word]. He has worded for the Columbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. And is a professor of international relations and politics. Our fourth reader is Natasha Tiniacos, poet, Venezuela. ^M00:20:02 She is the author of the poetry's collection "Historia Privada de un Etcetera" and the award-winning "Mujer a Fuego Lento". Her work appears in Venezuela and in Spanish journals and magazines. She translates poetry for the site The Verbatim Project and is editor-in-chief of BACKROOMCaracas, a platform for contemporary Venezuelan art. Her participation is made possible by the Department of State. So with us Cynthia Edul. >> Thank you. ^M00:20:35 [ Applause ] ^M00:20:41 Thank you so I chose two paragraphs to read in Spanish. ^M00:20:47 [Speaking in Foreign Language] ^M00:23:53 And that's all and I forgot to say that it's two paragraphs from my novel [foreign word] and thank you very much. ^M00:24:04 [ Applause ] ^E00:24:08 ^B00:24:13 >> I'm going to read two poems in Spanish. I've written here in the US. ^E00:24:18 ^B00:24:32 [Speaking in Foreign Language] ^M00:26:46 [ Applause ] ^M00:26:52 >> Enrique Serrano. >> Thank you. I'm going to read part of a short story and tribute to [inaudible]. ^M00:27:05 [Speaking in Foreign Language] ^M00:28:11 I'm going to read a poem called "Soldier of Fortune." ^M00:28:16 [Speaking in Foreign Language] ^M00:29:47 [ Applause ] ^M00:29:53 >> And Natasha Tiniacos. I'm going to read from my book. ^M00:29:57 [Speaking in Foreign Language] ^M00:32:01 [ Applause ] ^M00:32:08 >> Now I will ask a question that each one of you should answer. The first question is who are the writers who influenced you, and how? And we will start with you. >> Me? >> Cynthia. >> Okay. A lot basically of writers just to mention some of them, of course the common place is [inaudible] because he created a system for Western literature. And should I speak in English is it or Spanish? >> Knows English is much better. >> Okay. Okay. Sorry. Sorry. Suddenly I. >> I was thinking that you would read translations. I was told you would read translations. I'm sorry that didn't happen. >> Okay so and then of course I have to mention for me, a writer who is very important and my private story is Julio Cortazar, from Argentina, he's a novelist, a very well novelist. [Foreign word] is another one who is very important and my proper my own search and literature. And the third one is [foreign word] who is another novel is very important to practically [foreign word] from the same generation of writers in Argentina literature. That and another writer for me is a short story teller called [foreign word] for me is one of the best in my country. And she was also very important as an influence in my literary career. Of course, at this same time. I'm a lecturer in a university of literature. So I have a lot of writers who are part of my work, but I have to make my selection [inaudible] I would make it with these four I told you. >> Very good. Thank you. >> Amar? >> Well I just improvised my list here. I must say that I don't believe in influences so much as I do believe in coincidences. But my list is Jose Marti, Bob Dylan, William Shakespeare, [foreign word], and Bob Crilley. >> And how they influenced you? If at all? >> Well, as I told you I don't believe very much in influence. I think that to think of influence in art is a very limited way to look at the way really things operate in life. I think everything has been said already. Many centuries ago. Culture already expressed what it had to express as an organism. We are just deaf and blind. We're just not looking we are just not listening. That's the point. That's why we keep on writing and we keep on doing art. Because we are asleep. All we are doing now is finding points of coincidence. We call them artists and thinkers and philosophers and poets of thousands of years ago. Everything has already been said. They are not really influences urges coincidences. Because we're going around the same point. >> Thank you. >>Enrique Serrano? >> Thank you. I do recognize the influence of the writers of historic novels. And very important for me have been for instant Robert Graves, and [foreign word]. Because they picture models of what I could do and some time as a projection of my interest and concerns. I think as Omar, that the most important things are already in world literature, but to recognize in order to have this personally and to treasure to express it. I owe it very much to the writers of the nineteenth century, especially [foreign word], and my second [foreign word], but during the twentieth century appeared a very interesting and powerful writer [foreign word]. And I owe it very much to him. >> And how did they influence you? How did they influence you in what way? >> Because I couldn't find the way to write short stories. For instance how to say the important things in some expressive way and I [inaudible] with the pureness and neatness of language and it was really the translation and standard language to every tongue in the world in the universality of language and message to say. And with historic efforts. It's very important to recognize them. >> Thank you. And Natasha? >> I was trying to think of an image to express influence and not to confess appropriation that is my guess. But maybe it's like learning to walk. I think you learn by observation. Of course, reading is our school. And I really want to walk like the Venezuelan poets Raphael [inaudible], the Canadian poet, Ann Carson. I think her explorations in gender and her dedication to the classics and the philosophy also on how it permits her poetry makes me reconsider the limits between gender. Also the African-American poet that just won the MacArthur [inaudible] award, Terrance Hayes. I have translated him to the Spanish and I feel extremely close to his poetry even though we come from two different cultures, two different languages. But I think we are a coincidence. I share coincidence with Terrance because we live in the same era with the same concerns in necessity of the digital era. And his case is masculine identity my cases feminine Latin American identity in this era. Of course, the thought of [inaudible]. I am a huge reader of his work and also music. John Cage as a philosopher and the [inaudible]. Again my language, [speaking in foreign language] I think we all owe him a lot. But again, I really think of. I want to learn how to walk because I really want to sound like them. ^M00:40:01 >> Thank you. The second question is in your country. What is the literary scene like right now? And how are you a part of the literary scene? >> Okay I start? >> Yes. >> Okay I will be the first always so. >> It's always hard to be the first. >> Yes absolutely. >> And be it the first one for the whole group. >> Yes. Okay I am no problem. The literary scene in my country, it's pretty huge. Like regarding the market. There are lots of publishing, but what is interesting is that. Okay I can talk in the way of the system of literature, like a very economical system with very important writers, which means like what does it mean to write [inaudible]? That's a very huge question in a way you know because we had that kind of figure. And what happened after the change in the system or the foundation we can say the system of Argentine of literature. And that's a question that you can you know in a way try to see or what? Or try? I will do the same when you are talking to just I promise. And the other point of view for me for this issue has to be more with the publishing which is very important independent. The under and independent publishing houses. >> Independent publishing. >> Independent publishing houses. It small in the middle. If you want medium. It small and medium that are allowed you know in order to try to avoid little Gemini you say in English? [Foreign word] might be domination? >> Domination. >> The domination of the big houses. There are more from Spain you know the big houses like [speaking and foreign language] are from, or [speaking in foreign language] are from Spain. So in a way it's more related with the of the market that kind of. >> Getting away from the Spanish? >> Getting away from the Spanish publishing houses. So the last I had to say 20 years we cover in a way big energy of the publishing because in the sixties Argentina was one of the most important places to publish in Latin America. ^M00:42:32 [Speaking in Foreign Language] ^M00:42:38 When nobody and Latin America wanted to publish that novel so you can see in the scene of the sixties how important was [foreign word] for this kind of movement of the Latin America narrative and Latin American writing. And I think in the last 20 years after the dictatorship and all that break in the story of the country. We are getting again to that kind of energy that represented love in the Argentina literature. In that system. I am I don't know, not a rising star. I don't like to think of it, and that way but at. >> No, a rising star, a star, right? >> No-no a star known note justifies it for myself. I'm a star I commit suicide. After that, so I can't allowed to think in those terms. But I don't on the worker. >> Thank you, thank you very much [applause]. Omar your next. >> I must start by saying that my connection with the literary scene is pretty regular so whatever I can say must be understood in these terms I would say that the literary scene and Cuba, and especially in Havana. Cuba is a very, Havana-centric place. Everything is supposed to happen here, but actually it's not it, it's the way it seems. I see it as a very fragmentary cultural space not only in the sense of cultural organization, but in the sense of ideas. When I talk about idea I don't talk about opinions. That's a very common confusion. And we must also take into consideration that this literary scene as you have put it is very much divided by the political situation in Cuba. There is a lot of writers and artists living outside of Cuba. Most of them possibly here in the United States, most of them, possibly in Miami and this division has not yet been solved in I think fully fruitful terms. So somehow that affects us the life inside the island. I don't know if I answered your question. >> It's your show you say whatever you want to say. >> Okay I think I say what I wanted to say. >> And [inaudible] is still there, right? >> [Inaudible] is definitely still there. Yeah. >> He's been here many times. >> Yeah, yeah. Sure, sure. [Inaudible] yeah they travel a lot. >> Okay thank you. >> You're welcome >> Enrique? >> I do think the literary scene in Columbia has changed very vastly in the last 20 years. Perhaps and with the recent death of [inaudible] in 2013 and 14. The void probably will be filled with many voices many alternatives and for instance, very political writers link it journalism and there is another kind of experiment in order to write intimate stories. History families, for instance. Historic families and history of region and not neatly [inaudible] stories in order to have some landscape of their world country. There are many interests today, interested people in historic novel too. Proper history of Columbia, but history of the world narrated in our terms and from our perspective. And that's why we found a sort of reward. So many young people reading Colombian authors for the first time in our history. >> To make their fame abroad? To become famous other countries, right? >> Yes. >> Nobody's a prophet in his own country. That's so true of writers, isn't it? >> Yeah. It's normal. They grew up as writers, especially in Spain or North America, Canada and the United States because this is a wider and very broader alternative to have. Possibilities to express but not only in political terms, even an aesthetic range of possibilities. That's why we are changing very fast I think. >> Thank you. Natasha? >> Well the political. Excuse me the literary scene in my country is. Huh? >> Good mistake. >> Good mistake? Well, as of course politics our political and economical crisis is influence and the literary scene because we are experiencing a certain depression. There's no paper to publish books and Venezuela. Supers are closing down too. There is no support from the government to import books. So you wonder how is the literary scene in our country where a small portion houses are doing whatever, there like mafia oh I found paper here were going to publish a small quantity of books. And also there is no books to read from overseas, but there is this crisis or sort of shortcomings. They force us to become very strong and to become very stubborn. We want to write anyways. There is a new generation publishing online. Of course, polarization also has to do with our lack of paper or literary scene. The government is financing publications. Of course, but you have to pay loyalty. Venezuela had this fame that it was a poet's country that just, they are the ones known overseas, but there's also a new generation of fiction writers in Spain we have. Juan Carlos [inaudible], Juan Carlos [Inaudible] and of course Raphael [inaudible] who is thriving right now. Also in Spain and overseas. There's [inaudible] I'm throwing named because this also way to make you know and take them or make them travel to new readers. ^M00:50:03 And I think so these shortcomings are just forcing us to become stronger and to keep writing to express whatever we think we want to say. >> Well thank you very much. We have time for one more question. In your residence here. What have you learned about the American literary community? And what have you learned about the country as a whole? >> Okay. >> The United States. >> Yes, yes I know. Me again. First about the American literary, American community was pretty important in the city of Iowa, which is a city of literary community very strong which surprised me a lot because now a commonplace between us to say oh yes in Iowa like you can go and the taxi driver could be a writer in a way you know and could be making the I'm a failure of creative writing, I'm of fiction. So, but that was something I have it all the time. So was like very important in that the city that loves writers and holds writers. So that's unique. So for me that was very, very important to know. About American literature. I think I know a lot. Because for me it was one of the more the literature which I was much more fond to. I think everybody in a way, you know, there are those kind of mustards of literature from Faulkner to Hemingway to [inaudible] that were very, very important in the moment I was becoming a big reader so that's something that it was here. Of course I can confirm. I think of course all the countries in this moment of globalization that there's still that problem for the young emerging writers how to enter or how to publish how to enter the system. So that. Still, I don't know how the medium or independent publishing houses can work in that way. But I think that a huge market could be like a kind of very frightening for the underwriter. So I think I could see that bad but at the same time there is I don't, a lot of movement and energy in that system. At the same time about America I don't know, I learned a lot of things. I don't know how to make my enumeration but I will do it. It's like kind of at first I was very, very, very surprised for the kindness of the people that hold us was very important for me. And also the landscapes of this country. They are fantastic and of course invite too much to think and to fantasize. You know, because there are so you know those landscapes that for me were and the cities. You know, so I think I learned a lot and now I am [inaudible]. So I hope I will learn more from. >> You know for [inaudible] the Midwest was the real America. >> Exactly. >> Yes. >> Exactly. And also the other stuff for me was very important the imagination of the America of the nineteenth century I think. You know that America of Whitman or those kind of writers. And also the moment of the creation of the country that kind of elegance in the politics that I still am looking for for my country and for a lot of countries. And I think here to you know to try to recover that spirit, I think that something I'm I don't know very fond of America. >> Thank you. Omar? >> The most important thing that I have seen here in America is that America is not a country. It is several countries in one. And when I am in Tuscaloosa or New Orleans. I feel at home. When I'm in Washington I don't feel at home. As to the literary American scene of course is a lot of potential. But I hate to say but it's not my favorite word I think that an artist and a writer and a poet always has the responsibility to understand the difference between a career and the devotion to what he or she does. And I see a danger in industrializing literature and turning literature into a factory. And over emphasizing the role of teaching literature and creative writing. I think that there will always be aspects, probably the most important aspects of literature and poetry and art that cannot be taught. Cannot be turned into an industry into programs or anything like that. And especially the young people have to be aware of that. That's it. >> Thank you very much Enrique. Enrique? >> I've learned many things from America. So before coming here and I do try to understand the complexity of every American. When I went here for the first time. It was in 1981. It was a very different country. And in the nineties. In the beginning of 21st century America suffers many transgression and transformations. Some of them desired. Some of them not. And as Omar said literature is one of them. To be aware of the possibilities of expression and not to abandon the purity of the spirit that built this country is probably the alternative to fight on for a future. Because we are tempted to a sort of easy beauty and an easy literature. And it's a trap, probably for every country and for every expression. I think America, North America has a very impressive ability. In a very large future combining people, languages, expressions, possibilities, aesthetics, etc. And there are many Americans Americas and we will understand slowly one by one in the future. This program is the possibility to begin with in real terms, the comprehension of the future of America. >> Thank you very much. Natasha? >> I'm sorry Georgette we please forget the first part of the question? >> Okay, it is what are your impressions of the literary community that you saw here and of the country? >> Well the literary community, I was in West Iowa City and is with the International Writing Program I think is the best thing. Seems you are starting this challenging and challenging craft. You always think oh the International Writing Program is very important. I want to go there some time in my life. How I wish blah, blah, blah. It's like a dream. In little did I know I was going to come to a city that everything is going to be a motivation for letters. You go to a coffee shop and you can feel it. Everything is in the computers everybody is on their computers because of course the writers workshop and so many stories about how that town have helped to encourage writing in this country but also to establish a [inaudible]. And the other part of the question is? About my? >> Your impression of the country of the United States? >> Wow. I used to live here some years ago. And I think the last one is the same. But I'm older I live in a Latin American country and as Bruce Armstrong said I came here actually to of course to work on my writing but also to remember my democratic principles from my country. And that with work, you can achieve whatever your purpose in your life. And in Latin America. As I said we have to be very stubborn to achieve what we want to achieve in our lives. That's a big lesson. Also, as Enrique said that the country possibilities and I like to think there are possibilities. And I like to think their opportunities for whatever you decide to do in your life. And for a writer in a country on its way to develop. It is very important to have that in mind, keep working because. I'm sorry I. Sometimes my language just. >> No you doing very well. ^M01:00:00 >> Well that's my major lesson is that you can achieve your purposes. Even though it writing and it's [speaking in foreign language] it's the myth of Sisyphus but just keep going. >> Thank you. And now we can open it for some questions from the floor. No? Okay so. ^M01:00:20 [Speaking in Foreign Language] ^M01:00:23 [ Applause ] ^M01:00:27 >> All right, everyone, we're just bringing our second group together for the library's international writing program showcase. I just want to say my name is Rob Casper on the head of the Poetry and Literature Center here at the library. The Poetry and Literature Center tries to promote all the literary programs of the library does. And when I started here almost 4 years ago I discovered there were a wealth of such programs among the various areas studies division. I worked very closely with most the people here who are representing the library, the chiefs, and moderators who are moderating today's discussions with Georgette Dorn and with the Hispanic division. The Poetry and Literary Center has launched an international literary series and also a champion US Hispanic writers. And we're excited to hopefully join them in launching our literary audio archives online and the archive of Hispanic literature on tape online this spring. I've also worked very closely with our next moderator Mary Jane Deeb of the African a middle Eastern division. Together we launched with the Africa summit we launched conversations with African poets and writers series. It's been a wonderful series and a great way to introduce American audiences to writers from the continent and writers who are here [inaudible] writers throughout Africa. So if you want to find out more about the programs we do celebrating international letters you could check out our website or you can check out the website for the various reading rooms that are represented here. The Poetry and Literacy's website is www.LOC.gov/poetry. So without further ado, let me turn over this program to our moderator Mary Jane Deeb and writers representing African and Middle Eastern. The writers that would fall under the African Middle Eastern division here at the Library of Congress. ^E01:02:34 ^B01:02:40 Thank you, Rob and I want to thank the Iowa writers program for having made this possible with the Poetry Center. And Rob has been an absolutely wonderful partner. And I would like to say just a couple of words. I'm the chief of the African and Middle Eastern division that represents 78 countries. The whole continent of Africa; North in sub-Saharan the whole Middle East. The Arab world, going from Morocco to Oman and that includes also Iran and Turkey. And then we have the Hebrew section that includes Israel and Hebrew around the world. So we have three regions. In the center Asia. Of course we cover as well the center of Asia. The caucuses and we go as far as Afghanistan. So today, the writers that are at the table represent this represent in away the countries the division is responsible for. The first writer is that we will hear from is Boaz Gaon who is a playwright, a fiction writer from Israel. And he said six plays produced for the stage. "Danziger," "Boged," "Argentina," "The Return to Haifa," "Prime Time," and "Dress Rehearsal." He is also the author of the novel "Gymax's Yellow Bus" published in 1995 and of the TV series "The Prosecutor" and "Prisoner Milo." Gaon teaches dramatic writing at Minshar College of Arts, overseas drama developments for HS CCTV, and chairs the Gaon Center for the study of Ladino culture at Ben Gurion University. He has long been involved in Israeli-Palestinian peace organizations and initiatives. And he participates courtesy of the United States Isreal Education Foundation and those negotiations. Our second writer is Mujib Mehrdad who is a poet, a playwright, a translator from Afghanistan. And is the author of the poetry collections "Gladiators Are Still Dying" published in 2007. Winner of the Afghan Civil Society's literature contest, "The Fishes Have Fled Our Veins," 2008, and "Audience" 2009, and of the collection of essays "The Rain Passed." He has translated Ginsberg, Plath, Langston Hughes, Miofsky, Mayakovsky, sorry, Mayakovsky, Tagore, and others, into Dari. He is a board member of the literary organization Kashane Nawesendagan House of Authors and teaches Persian literature at Albironi University in Kapisa. His participation is made possible by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. Our third writer is Mamle Kabu, a fiction writer from Ghana. And she is the author of the young adult novel "The Kaya-Girl" published in 2012, and is currently working on her first novel. Her stories, which include "The End of Skill" shortlisted for the 2009 Caine Prize, "Human Mathematics" and "Story of Faith" have been anthologized across Africa, as well the U.S. and the UK. She is the associate director of the Writers Project of Ghana. And also is part, her visit is part of the State Department's Educational and Cultural Affairs initiative. The fourth writer is not as you will see from your program, the writer from Egypt. There has been a change. The writer who has kindly accepted to join us is from Iraq. Sadek Mohammed, a poet, a translator, a scholar. He is the co-editor of Flowers of Flame Unheard Voices of Iraq published in 2008, which received a 2009 Independent Publisher Book Award. His literary work has appeared in "Atlanta Review," "Best American Nonrequired Reading" and elsewhere. He also has a scholarly volume on translation practice and theory. He has translated Maya Angelou's poetry into Arabic and the collection Ishtar's Songs Iraqi Poetry since the 1970s into English. Sadek Mohammed is the Dean of the College of Arts at the University of Imam Jaafar Al-Sadiq in Baghdad. So we will now hear from Boaz first. Boaz? >> Thank you very much. This is an honor. I'm different from some of the writers here by the fact that I'm a playwright so I'm somewhat of a disadvantage without a get out, five, six people following me around who are actors. I'm going to read from a new play. That is about to start rehearsing when I go back to Israel. It's called "Michael and Sol" it's a play about two Israeli fighters who are fighters fighting the British occupation in 1943 in Tel Aviv, and the dynamics of that sort of resistance movement is very different from other resistant movements that we know from today and find sometimes very easy to criticize. I'm going to read it and Hebrew. And sometimes there's going to be like a stage direction in English. Just so you know where you are. So, are there any by the way Hebrew speakers in the audience at all? Now. That's a shame. So the play. The play begins in 1942 in Jaffa. If you can imagine a child to Hebrew child driving around on his bicycle and he singing a song that is a famous children's song that is part of a holiday [foreign word] and after the first verse. He basically reinvents the words and turns it into a song, cursing the English for being in the land of Israel or free Israel Palestine. So I'm going to sing. ^M01:09:43 [ Singing ] ^M01:10:07 A British soldier enters. Good morning. ^M01:10:09 [ Speaking in Foreign Language ] ^M01:11:03 The boy bites the soldier's hand, flees. The British soldier frantically tries to catch him [speaking in foreign language]. Come here you little bastard. ^M01:11:11 [ Speaking in Foreign Language ] ^M01:11:17 The soldier catches the boy. ^M01:11:19 [ Speaking in Foreign Language ] ^M01:11:22 The soldier slaps the boy, who begins to cry. ^M01:11:25 [ Speaking in Foreign Language ] ^M01:11:51 The British soldier apologizes. ^M01:11:54 [ Speaking in Foreign Language ] ^M01:12:17 Thank you. ^M01:12:18 [ Applause ] ^E01:12:24 ^B01:12:30 >> Hello, thank you very much. I'm very happy that all of you are listening to us. ^E01:12:39 ^B01:12:47 I'm coming from Afghanistan. From the north of Afghanistan, and I'm speaking Persian. So I'll read a Persian poem. ^M01:13:04 [ Speaking in Foreign Language ] ^M01:14:47 Thank you very much. ^M01:14:48 [ Applause ] ^E01:14:54 ^B01:15:02 Hello everybody, it's a pleasure to be here. And Ghana we write mostly in English. English is also my first language. That's not very common yet for Ghanan writers to write in the vernacular languages so I'll be reading to in English today. I'm reading from my story "The End of Skill," which is already published as a short story, but I'm also writing a novel out of the same story. The story is about a young man who comes from illustrious kente weaving family and kente is a handwoven Guinean textile. That's quite famous it's very colorful and very traditional. It was good to be weaving again. He had always loved it and had clearly been a born master from the time he began at the age of seven. He started creating new patterns as soon as he had mastered the old ones. By the time he was 14. His father would boast, "Ah Kweku my firstborn I can sell this work to achieve and tell him I will let myself. And all he will say is [speaking in foreign language], "You've done it again." In his loom. Jimmy found an inner peace, which he never found anywhere else. It was another world in which he and his art became one and did not need anyone or anything else. The design flowed out of him and into the cloth. He worked for hours feeling neither hunger nor thirst. The disappointment of not finding a job and the tension over his uncertain future, were allowed to sleep by the rhythm of the loom, as the [inaudible] parted the warped threads, and the shuttles flew through, trailing their colors behind them. He had often secretly watched his father at work. Even before he wove himself. He knew that otherworldly look on his father's face and understood that stopping work and climbing out of the loom was a transition from one world to another. The closest comparison he could think of was waking from sleep. He knew that not all weavers felt this way. Back home in Adweneasa weaving was an occupation which all young boys were expected to follow and many did so simply because it was the family tradition. They learned the technique and produced acceptable pieces of cloth. But they never became masters. True kente masterpieces were made by weavers who entered another world when they climbed into their looms. It was not a topic one ever heard discussed. He always knew which of his father's apprentices for destined to become masters simply by watching their faces as they wove. He knew his father had seen and him too. But they never talked about it until the day of his Thanksgiving ceremony. It was a great day when [inaudible] bursting with pride officially declared his first son a competent weaver. After Kweku had presented the customary drinks and a fat white ram to his father. And the requisite libation had been poured for a prosperous weaving career. They sat down to discuss his future. That was when the old man finally realized that son did not want to be a weaver. He could not take it seriously. "Kweke, I've always been so proud of you. You're my firstborn and the best weaver in the family. Yes, one day you will even be better than me. I know it already and I thank God for. What more could a father ask? Kweku was ready. He had rehearsed the scene thousands of times and has had already. Made a mental catalog of all his father's possible protestations and prepared answers for each one of them. He was deeply sorry to spoil his father's joy on such a day. But he knew this discussion could not be postponed any further. He was certain it would not end acrimoniously for the two of them had an understanding beyond the usual familial relationship which hinged mainly on respect from the son. Although he was not altogether conscious of it, this special understanding was not unrelated to the mutual belonging to the other realm, which they entered through the loom. It was also due to the special understanding that Kweku knew he could no longer keep up the pretense of wanting to be a weaver. If he was dishonest about on such a momentous day, it would be even more difficult for his father to forgive him later on. He had never actually misled the old man on this point. However, the assumption I would become a weaver was so strong that nothing short of a direct refutation would shake it. Kweku's silence on the issue had never been interpreted in any way as ominous. Now, finally it was time to speak. And I shall leave the story. Thank you. ^M01:19:34 [ Applause ] ^E01:19:39 ^B01:19:49 >> Hello everyone. Our honorable moderator said everyone is allotted two minutes and a half, but I see my friends have taken the liberty so I will take my liberty too. So this is a poem that I wrote in 2003, exactly, before the invasion of Iraq. It was a very complicated moment. On the one hand, we are having a chance to get rid of dictatorship. On the other the means was war. And I was left with nothing but assumptions. I called it an assumption. ^M01:20:40 [ Speaking in Foreign Language ] ^M01:23:56 Thank you. ^M01:23:57 [ Applause ] ^M01:24:03 >> Well thank you. I think all your presentations were extremely inspiring. I understood some but not everyone's. But you've all been influenced. You've all been reading. You cannot be a writer without being a reader first. So who are the writers who have influenced you, and how have they influenced you? Will begin with Boaz, but then the next question I will start with Sadeck. But let's begin. That's it. So we won't always have one be the first. >> So I have about a 45-minute lecture that I prepared here. No. So you know I think I'm coming from the theater tradition so were divide it to, you know, theatrical influences and prose influences. In terms of the theater. I mean there's no surprise, there's a long traditional playwrights whose approach to the theatrical you know work is through words and through the play as opposed to you know directors who look at the theatrical extent of the visual experience. So I did a little tree. It's not going to surprise any of you, Shakespeare's on the roof. And then Beckett is on the penthouse, and that you know if you go down the floors, to the basement which is where I am, you have Pinter, Albee, Williams, Miller. And then the generation after that you have people like Edward Bond in London. David Hare, David Mamet in the US, Caryl Churchill, and others. And right now you have younger tradition of writers, two of which I really like her. Martin McDonagh, who's Irish. And David Harrower who is English. And you know it's interesting about this tree, is that if you ask any of them they would paint practically the same tree, excluding myself of course. In terms of prose, you know, sometimes I see this exercise in newspapers build your, the perfect you know soccer team so you would take Maradona and you would take [inaudible] and you would put all of them together. So I tried to build like the perfect writer and if I can imagine a body I would take the heart of David Grossman, who is an Israeli writer, David Grossman and I think he writes with honesty and heart and it's impossible to go through a David Grossman book without you know feeling something very, very deep in your chest. I would take the brain of Nabokov because of his humor and sophistication. I would take the loins, just because he's coming after Nabokov, I would take the loins of Jack Kerouac because of his energy and innocence. I would take the limbs of Norman Mailer, because of his, you know humor and his tendency to make trouble, even when that trouble is unnecessary. And I will take the tongue of Tom Wolfe because of his, you know, language and ambition and speed. When you read him you get a sense of speed. So that would be my answer to your question. >> Thank you. Okay, Mujib? >> I'm a Persian poet and four Persians poetry is a very ancient tradition. And in America, there is only Rumi known, but the Rumi ancestors like Attar, like Sanai and there are lots of great Persian poet that they are not still translated into other languages. So, traditionally I am coming from this background. In our homes we put Hefez's collection of poetry with our holy book together. And the people, for example, assume that Hafez is someone like a messenger. And of course every poet is like this in my tradition and culture. Poets are like messengers. And I'm very lucky that I'm living in a country that poets are more famous than fiction writers [laughter]. No novelist can compete with us. So, but of course I started studying Persian classic literature because I studied Persian literature and now it's 3 years that I'm teaching Persian literature. But later on I found myself very curious about, to understand what's happening in other corners of the world. For example, what's I like an Israeli poet Alterman. I have translated some of his works in Persian. I'm in love with the Arab poets, like. ^M01:29:55 [ Speaking in Foreign Language ] ^M01:30:01 I have read all of them which has been translated. All their books are translated. And Also I have studied European poets too. I found myself like literature tourist. I really wanted to go to every corner of the world to experience this [inaudible] taste of the literature in, for example China and Japan. I am for example once I was studying haiku, Japanese haiku from the classic to the modern. So, it was, I think for me it's reading of literature was a kind of recovery and a kind of [inaudible] and a kind of entertainment. Because I'm coming from a country that I have lived all of my life in war, of course. I have born in '84 and it was war in Afghanistan and still it is war going on there. So the only thing I found, it means in materialistic aspect is our life is like looking like disaster in these three decades, but it was one of the reasons that I went deep into word literature and to get involved with this literature and be with this literature, in order to find a kind of spiritual, what I can say. So it helps me too much for recovery. And I found myself lucky that I am reading poetry. And in the other hand as a professional poet, I was looking for static possibilities and I want, for example I have been a very restless poet too. Once I start with Persian classic forms. I continued with Persian modern poetry. And I, then after one years ago I published a language poetry book and nowadays I'm returning to another style. I'm trying to find my own style. So, and I think this restlessness comes from the vast involvement of myself in poetry. And I cannot avoid any taste. So I really like all of the tastes of the world literature. And I found myself very lucky. Like Lorca for example, once I was under Lorca's poetry. Influence of Lorca, and for example Ted Huges. I have been, my recent book is called "Soldiers." It's a thematic book and it comes from the thematic book of Ted Hughes [inaudible] and I really like him very much despite this writing thematic books. And there are lots of I think I cannot say, I have been influenced by all of the poets I have read. >> Thank you, thank you Mujib. Now, Mamle? >> I read voraciously as a child. So I think I'll have to mention at least a couple of my favorite childhood authors. I grew up in Ghana. Or at least I spent my childhood in Ghana and moved to the UK at the age of 14, where I spent the next 10 years and so say my youth was kind of split between Ghana in Europe or Africa and Europe. However, when I was a child there wasn't very much African literature for children available in Ghana so we read mostly foreign authors. And one of the authors most readily available in Africa at that time was Enid Blyton, whom we all read voraciously. But I think the writer who lingers most in my mind and perhaps therefore has influenced me the most from my childhood is Lucy Maud Montgomery, a Canadian writer who wrote "Anne of Green Gables" which really was my favorite childhood book. And I think two things stick out for me from that series, especially the first one, which I really think is the best. I think her characterization was very strong. She was able to make the often her and her book so lifelike that I've always thought of her as a real person. And also the description. I love the description in that story. I always remember the ride which brings the orphan Ann home to her new home, in Avonlea, where she sees she keeps asking about the landscape. What is this what is that? And the man who's driving her who is to become her foster father, Matthew or her adoptive father says, "Oh that Barry's pond over there." And she says, "How can you call that Barry's pond? That should be called the lake of shining waters." And I think that capacity to see the beauty in things and to describe things as they appear. You know that something that stayed with me. So I'd say she was definitely a childhood influence. And then as I said my teen years I moved to the UK and I also studied languages and literature for my first degree. So I then read quite a lot of European literature. Some of the ones that perhaps influenced me the most were nineteenth and twentieth century French literature. I would say the nineteenth century Flaubert and [inaudible] I particularly enjoyed. And then in the twentieth century [speaking in foreign language]. I think just the freedom of the postmodern writers, the styles like [foreign word] the new novel, introduced me to the concept that it's really the sky's the limit. Really if you want to be an artist or a writer, a creative artist. You don't need to feel bound by pre-established forms. You can experiment with style. I think that's the lesson that I take away from twentieth century French literature and other readings that I've done subsequently, of course. My other great love in university was Latin American literature. I studied that quite a lot. So yeah so when I named these favorites. This is after reading German, French, Spanish, and Latin America, and of course lots of English literature. Sorry, I've left out yeah, English literature is a great love. Thomas Hardy is a favorite, and Evelyn Waugh is perhaps one of my greatest favorites. But back to Latin American literature. I fell in love with a short story by Julio Cortazar. He made me love short stories and perhaps made me write them. I don't know. But I really, they've always stuck in my mind, Cortazar's short stories are unforgettable to me. And then [inaudible] was also one of my favorite Latin American authors. When I started writing myself I inevitably drifted into the world of African literature, although of course I had read some African literature prior to that [speaking in foreign language] no Ghanaian child can escape in school. Although I didn't read him in school because I was out of Ghana by then, but I let him quite willingly of my own free will. And just loved him from the start. I think "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe is probably the book that I've read the most times of any book in my life. And I think what I love about it. And what most interests me about it is the simplicity, the power and simplicity. I can read that book so many times, not for the plot which of the of course I know after reading about 10 times for the power of the simplicity of his language. This is something I love very much and also I admire the way in which he can present a very complex picture of events and not take sides. He just presents events the way they are and the reader makes their own decisions about them. And I think that has influenced me very much actually. So Achebe was my first big love in African literature and now of course I know many African writers personally now that I'm one myself. I've been to several workshops and festivals on the continent. I've met personally. Many African writers of today that you know are known. I would say that [inaudible] in evitable has also influenced me. I also attended her workshop [inaudible] 2009. And I think Nigeria in particular is perhaps the country in Africa whose literature I read the most and enjoy the most. This is just my personal preference is not to say anything more than that. I also very much admire the strong women writers from Nigeria of today. There are several contemporary once I'm very fortunate that I know several of the myself. Sefi Atta is one that I personally admire whose work I read a lot. As is [inaudible], I could go on. There are many of them. I admire the way in which these women by about social issues, but make it, I mean you don't really realize that your reading about social issues, you're just reading a novel. But I think they are very good at bringing out. Oh, have I gone over Sadek are you the timekeeper? Okay. >> She was expecting me to speak for 45 minutes, I said and it was not me. >> Okay am almost done. So yes. And of course these are strong feminist letters as well. And that is another aspect that perhaps influences me. Okay over to you. >> Okay Sadek, it's up to you now. >> No no. Really. I just to disappoint both. I will be very short. ^M01:40:00 I should say that of course I want to say something you see, because in the previous panel our colleagues were saying that influences coincidence you remember. In my view, influence is like influence as you seen many writers here. So I think it's inevitable that all writers one way or another are influenced by the previous writers. That's why we have people speaking about every text is an inter text everything that was written before it. So in a way, then I was also influenced by many previous writers, but because I am divided by two cultures on the one hand, my own culture Arabic literature that is to say, and on the other hand, I am a professor of English poetry. So you see, I have this [inaudible] divide, so to say. Yeah, I was influenced by many writers from my own tradition from the classical up to the twentieth century. So, to mention just a few of course all the classicals without any exceptions except especially in their ability to you know write musical poetry. And of course in the modern in their ability to do away with all the metrics so to say of traditional Arabic poetry yet were able to you know, create wonderful, wonderful works. So to mention a few names from the twentieth century like my friend mentioned an admirer and I have been influenced by [speaking in foreign language] if I go to the Western tradition you know than I am very much caught between these two moments. The romantic on the one hand; Shelley Wellsworth, Correledge, Blake, Byron. And what I call the [inaudible] moment. And so my love is divided between these two of the European writers of course I am a big admirer of [speaking in foreign language] just to mention a few. And I did this before 45 minutes. >> [Laughter] No actually it's fascinating how many of the writers you all admire. I mean Lorca was mentioned by almost everyone you know it's quite remarkable. But I want to continue the Sadek with question number two. And since you've started with this. Why don't you continue to talk about Iraq or the region the Arab world what is the literary scene right now? And how do you feel that you are a part of it? >> Well you know it's a difficult question. But let me tell you it's very much like a noisy bazaar where everybody full of peddlers. Of course everybody is trying to show we say sell his own worth. We have on one hand you know the classical tradition continuing up to the present moment. Then, on the other the revolutionaries the pioneers we call them. Revolutionist out in 1948 with the four Iraqi poets, Saadi, Nazik, [foreign word]. That changed the face of Arab poetry in general. So these two traditions living side-by-side even today. And then we have you know the development they came as a result of this modernist movement with the prose poems and prose poetry so to say. So you see the three lines are still there very much present and in conflict sometimes. I find myself very much you know at piece. At peace with all the three. I don't have problem with anyone of these. So this is when it comes to poetry. When we talk about the novel, for instance, and my friend Mujib mentioned that in his country. The situation is probably very true of my country too, poets still have you know the site to say the upper hand. But you know I think the last 10 years or so I witnessed a retreat and the let's a status or position of poetry and literature are on the rise of these in the Iraq context. And the rise [cough], I'm sorry, of the novel. Many novelists being famous. Many novelists writing wonderful novel. You know that can be considered in Western terms as the best sellers, winning awards. Which as you know, very strange. When we talk about Iraq. In that world. People say poetry starts in Iraq and ends in Egypt. And the novel starts in Egypt and ends in Iraq. >> Yes, and they always say in Egypt, they write in Lebanon they publish, and in Iraq they read. That's right, but I see now the writers. >> I wonder where Israel is at in the triangle. ^E01:46:05 ^B01:46:10 >> [Laughter] you asking me this question? Yeah. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> So? >> I forgot the question what was the second part? >> You how do you feel. How do you feel as part of it. >> I'm part of it. I can't say that I'm outside what's going on. I'm part of all this competition yeah. You know there are extremists when it comes to some of our colleagues. For example, the modernists think that, some of the modernists some of the radical modernists feel that all classical poetry is nonsensical and we should do away with it. On the other hand you see we have classical writers who feel that all modernist poetry is nonsense, and we should do away with it. And yeah, the battle goes on between these two generations. I'm at peace. So to say with all these people. I don't have any problem with classical poetry and I think as its own beauties. And I don't have problem also with modernist poetry. I've been practicing it. And I feel also has its own beauty. >> Thank you. Thank you okay Mamle? >> Yes I like your imagery of a bizarre yeah, I think, and Ghana also we went through political turmoil in the late seventies and eighties and many things subsided at that time, including the arts. And I think the nineties saw a picking up of that. And the writing scene in Ghana is quite an exciting one. Right now and I'm very much a part of it I feel, yes I do feel a big part of it. There are a number of organizations that are trying to promote voices of very young writers who have never published anything but want to, to enter the writing community. There is The Ghana Association of Writers. There is the [inaudible] Ghana's best-known writers. And then there's also the Writer's Projects of Ghana of which I'm an associate director as you said. And one of the, well a few of the things that we do in the writer's projects is we have a weekly radio show where we host about four writers, three or four writers at once and these can be people who just contact us and say you know I'd like to read a poem, people who have never been published before or never read in public before, have a chance to add their voices and to enter the writing community. Also we originally founded what they call a talk party al la Casa which is I think it's once every two weeks, a spoken word event where anybody can just come and perform. And we also do writer's workshops. There is now another new organization called the [Inaudible] Center that does writing workshops. So I think it's a very bubbling scene. It's very lively. It's fun to be a part of and I enjoy being a part of it. >> Okay. Thank you Mamle, Mujib. >> Afghanistan from the eighties. It was a country of immigrant poets and writers. After the Russian invasion, writers start to leave Afghanistan. They went everywhere. And again, in nineties during the Civil War another wave of emigrant writers start from Afghanistan. They came to neighboring countries like Iran and Pakistan. ^M01:50:02 And they start their writings there. And during the Taliban, actually, no one was inside Afghanistan. But after the fall of Taliban the Kabul is now in one decade is the center of the core of the literature movements the literature activity in Afghanistan. After the fall of the Taliban all the writers are start coming to Afghanistan from other countries with all different experiences. For example, Iran was one of the very famous and active center of the immigrant poets of Afghanistan. They produced very high quality literature stops. They came to Afghanistan. The writers from Europe from America from Pakistan. They returned to the country and they start writing there. And actually, after the social media in Afghanistan after the enlargement of Internet and people's access another revolution, a literature revolution started because we are three countries Persian, like Iran, Tajikistan, and Afghanistan. After enlargement of internet in Afghanistan. Now it is 10 days that we have daily debates with our Persian speakers and poets and writers and Iran and Tajikistan and all of the world. That means now we have the possibility of reading daily each other's poetry. So it cause a very, it caused a vibrant literature product in Afghanistan. It means in this decade, most of the good poems has been written. Most of the good as Sadek Mohammed said and I agree with him that and it is the case in Afghanistan writing novel is now getting famous and most of even poets are starting to write novels. So and I am part of this movement. I'm part of this and I have been as Dr. Mohamed Sadek seven have been linked with many different movements like radicals, classics, because I'm teaching in the University. I cannot reject, and no one can reject the classics there. But also, I've linked with [inaudible], poets, and I have practiced writing [inaudible] poetry so I am part of the scene now. I'm representing that scene. >> Thank you. Boaz? >> The literary community in Israel is in deep crisis. I was part of a group of playwrights and actors and directors who several years back, signed a letter in which we refused that our worked be shown cross the green line in the settlements because of the first ever big theater was open in the settlements at [foreign word], partly government-funded. The reaction was severe. The Minister of Culture called us, said that we are destroying the state of Israel. The Minister of Finance said that whomever will mess with [inaudible] will have him personally sort of find way to retribute the people who signed the letter. And the mayor of the town that I lived said that he will not let the artists who signed that letter enter his town. So right now the community is suffering. The book industry is in deep crisis. And I think that for a literary community to exist there needs to be a linear sort of you know progression of reality. And when a country is in conflict and I'm sure that Mujib and Sadeck can identify with this. When a country is in conflict and security takes priority upon anything else. There is a tendency of human beings and writers are part of that community of human beings. They tend to close in and sort of shut off you know the whole notion of community and just take care of their own kids and their own homes. So in that sort of scenario I feel lonely. Which is why the IWP was a gift. I said this morning that the IWP experience is somewhat like rehab. But it's also like a support group. You know there's soft carpets everywhere and there's a river outside the window and 29 sort of people meet every Wednesday and what we're going through now is basically withdrawal symptoms because we are about to be expelled from the environment. And I hope that things will get better in the future but it's looking pretty complicated right now. >> Thank you Boaz. And since we have a few minutes? No. No more? Okay, we don't have any more so I want to thank you all and it has been fascinating. ^M01:56:01 [ Applause ] ^E01:56:07 ^B01:56:14 >> Good afternoon. My name is Victoria Hill and I'm assistant chief of the Asian division. The Asian division and its reading room cover the areas of the country's from South Asia, Southeast Asia, and China, Japan, Korea, Mongolia, and Tibet. With over 3 million books, periodicals, and newspapers, a large number of manuscripts, and electronic media. The collections of the Asian division are the most comprehensive sources of Asian language materials outside of Asia. Our area specialists, reference librarians, and technicians provide in-depth reference assistance on questions concerning Asia and recommend materials for our collections. So we encourage everybody to write us check out our website and learn more about the Asian countries that we cover. This afternoon I am very pleased to have four writers that will speak with us today and the first writer is Binayak Banerjee fiction writer, poet, playwright. He is from India. And he is the author of the novels "A Year in Sohagini" 2008, "The Winner" in 2009, and "Star Harbor in 2011. The poem collections "You My Life, You Alien" 2008, and "One Hundred Love Poems" 2013. And, in 2013, the play "Rabindranath Public Limited" 2013. He writes for Bengali literary magazines, is engaged with the Shakespeare Society of Eastern India, and teaches English at the Sri Ram Roy School and the Syamaprasad College in Kolkata. Bernice Chauly is a poet, nonfiction and fiction writer, playwright, filmmaker and is from Malaysia. She is the author of the poetry collections "Going There and Coming Back" 1997, "The Book of Sins" 2008, and "Onkalo" 2013. Also the short-fiction book "Lost in KL" 2008 and the memoir "Growing Up With Ghosts" 2011. Which was the winner of the 2012 Reader's Choice Awards for non-fiction. Her award-winning films have screened at international film festivals. Chauly is a co-founder of Rhino Press and of Malaysia's longest-running literary platform "Readings," and the curator of the George Town Literary Festival. She teaches creative writing at Taylor's University. We are a little out of order, let's see, Eun Heekyung, is a fiction writer from South Korea. Is the author of thirteen books of fiction, including the short story collections "To Try Talking with a Stranger" from 1996, "Inheritance" in 2012, "Beauty Looks Down on Me" 2007, "Like No Other" 2014. ^M02:00:06 The novels, "Save the Last Dance for Me" 1998, "Secrets and Lies" 2005, "Let Boys Cry" 2010, and "Gesture Life" 2012, and more. Her work has been translated into seven languages and she has won numerous awards, including the inaugural Munhakdongne Novel Award for her 1995 novel "Gift From a Bird." Chen Li is a poet, essayist, and translator from Taiwan. The author of 14 books of poetry. Among them, "Animal Lullaby" 1980, "Love Song of Buffet the Clown" 1990, "Lightly Slowly" 2009, "Me City" 2011, "Evil Exorcized" 2012, "Dynasty Saint" 2013, and "Island Country" 2014. Together with his wife, translator Chang Fen-ling, he has published some 20 volumes of poetry in translation, including that of Plath, Larkin, Heaney, Neruda, Paz, and Szymborska. He is the recipient of the National Award for Literature and Arts, the China Times Literary Award, and the Taiwan Literature Award. Chen Li has taught creative writing at National Dong Hwa University and is the organizer of the Pacific Poetry Festival. I am happy to have our authors here today and we will ask our first offer to come and read from his work. ^E02:01:59 ^B02:02:11 >> Good evening and thank you everyone. Oh thank you. I come from India, which is a multilingual country. And it has 20 vibrant languages. And I write in a language which is easy to translate into English and difficult that they very rhythmical language in a musical language and it has been awarded the prize of the most musical language by the UNESCO. So just how things go in my language. I will try to give you an example of my one poem, and I will read another poem in English. I will not necessarily read the translation. This is my Bengali poem. ^M02:02:53 [ Speaking in Foreign Language ] ^M02:03:32 This is the way my language goes so I will read a poem in English. So, since it is so musical and so rhythmical as I was saying in my language. If you say if life gives you another chance you will go and watch a [inaudible] dance. It becomes. ^M02:03:53 [ Speaking in Foreign Language ] ^M02:04:02 Like this. So, when translated into English at times, if not done really carefully. It becomes a bit pro se. But still we have to do that. Straight line. When blood becomes wine and flesh transforms to bread. I gradually start feeling hungry. Without snogging my tongue up on yours. I realize the universe of arrogance dwelling upon it. We need a straight line. Just one. Straight line. Where we would stand on both sides, like to ends. And [inaudible] there will be storms, there will be birds just as love cruising over evenings. I wanted to bring it down with a symphonic cry. But it can't hear. Nor can it see. Albeit it was behind on any door the bloody prints of feet adorn [inaudible]. I have toppled it like an untouchable touching the shrine when barging into a temple of the thousand years of struggle I have touched you. You might kindle the lamp now. Darkness doesn't scare me anymore. Do we have time? Okay, so I will just read that last portion of the poem. "Towards an Ocean." Why make me listen to an ocean song when I haven't heard your voice for so long. As night descends my eyes behold a slipping blanket on my father's shoulder. If like my father ever assume you sit beside me and show me the moon if not myself, I might just lose that thank you that sounds more like abuse. Promise me, persecute me yet to come. [Inaudible] bigger as humble arms. Before my debt when you I will call don't answer my phone. But turn the phone towards the ocean. If you receive it at all. Thank you. ^M02:06:20 [ Applause ] ^E02:06:26 ^B02:06:35 >> Good afternoon. It's an honor to be here. I will be two poems from my third collection of poetry called "Onkalo." This is called "Sometimes." ^M02:06:46 [ Speaking in Foreign Language ] ^M02:07:00 Papa, I repeat the names of common Malayan butterflies from the book that used to be on the long white shelf in our house and Taping, where my memories begin. Papa, I feel I will never recover. I know this kind of love begins and ends with flowers not words, not alcohol, not tears, not even sadness. Papa. I'm tired of the earth. I remember catching butterflies. They lived for a while and tall glass bottles and once a green milo tin. Slowly their wings faded and turned into mellow dust collecting mites like unwelcomed strangers into a dark world. Papa I remember the orange and brown bed cover prickly to the touch. My green pennifore and sunflower curtains. [Inaudible] standing in his white shorts wondering where you are. It has been 40 years since you left me, a child crying by the shattering sea. I fear I have never recovered. I think I've outstayed my time. And like you, there is no more morning, there is no more darkening of the sky, of the liver, throat and spleen, of in between colored boats that fairy nightly metaphors to sweet, darling madness. Papa the birds and cicadas are asleep. The floods are gone. But the butterflies they still lie awake in the garden. I'd like to read a poem in Malay. I don't normally write in Malay, but I sometimes do, and this was an occasion that. ^E02:08:50 ^B02:08:55 That prescribed it. This is a love poem. ^M02:09:00 [ Speaking in Foreign Language ] ^M02:09:33 Thank you. ^M02:09:34 [ Applause ] ^E02:09:38 ^B02:09:46 >> Nice meet you. Yeah. Thank you for being here. I'm going to read a part of my short story in Korean. ^E02:10:00 ^B02:10:08 [ Speaking in Foreign Language ] ^M02:11:18 Should read for me? ^E02:11:21 ^B02:11:29 >> Can you come up? Sonya Lee from the Asian Division will read the story. >> Children born by mistake. Back when I was a kid Bill used to be joked that his birth was accident. I would never have been born if one my dad didn't have 5001 for a motel room or two if he did have 50,0001 for abortion. But the story change each time he told it. Actually, my dad did give my mom money for abortion but on the way to the clinic she was passing in front of shop where a beautiful purse in the window caught her eye. My mom blew all the money for the abortion on the purse. Her motto for everything is I will deal with it later. That was her style. Otherwise I wouldn't be here. Anyway, that's how I was born. How I was born. I competed against a beaded purse and lost. And that's how my life began. Okay? Go on? Go on, got time? Yeah. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. ^M02:12:52 [ Applause ] ^E02:12:58 ^B02:13:06 >> I'm Chen Li. I come from Taiwan and I write in Chinese. I've written and published a book called, "Microcosmos" containing 200, three line poems. Here are 10 of them. I will read the English translation done by my wife first, then read the original Chinese ones. Microcosmos. I wait and I long for you a turning die in the empty bowl of night attempting to create the seventh side. ^M02:13:52 [ Speaking in Foreign Language ] ^M02:14:03 A great event on the desolate winter day. Ear wax drops on the desk. ^M02:14:17 [ Speaking in Foreign Language ] ^M02:14:25 Multiplication table for kids of cloud and fog. Mountains times mountains equals trees, mountains times trees equals me, mountains times me equals nothingness. ^M02:14:49 [ Speaking in Foreign Language ] ^M02:15:05 All the All the sorrow of night will be turned into golden ears of rice by daylight, waiting to be reaped by another sorrowful night. ^M02:15:19 [ Speaking in Foreign Language ] ^M02:15:29 Having constantly broken world records our lonely sharp-putter throw his head out in one put. ^M02:15:41 [ Speaking in Foreign Language ] ^M02:15:51 The white skin turns a mole into an isle: I miss the glistening vast ocean inside your clothes. ^M02:16:05 [ Speaking in Foreign Language ] ^M02:16:15 Amore or la more. I say amore, you say no more. I say no more, no more, no more. You say amore, I'm wrong, no more. ^M02:16:30 [ Speaking in Foreign Language ] ^M02:16:44 The story of marriage a closet of loneliness plus a closet of loneliness equals a closet of loneliness. ^M02:16:58 [ Speaking in Foreign Language ] ^M02:17:07 Chirping competition zero-year-old aged cicadas teach zero-year-old baby cicadas to sing "Happy Birthday." ^M02:17:24 [ Speaking in Foreign Language ] ^M02:17:32 Great fleeting. Let me hid inside you, like water melting in water, seen by the world, found by no one. ^M02:17:47 [ Speaking in Foreign Language ] ^M02:17:58 Thank you. ^M02:17:59 [ Applause ] ^M02:18:05 >> Thank you to our authors for their readings and their rhythm. It was very helpful for me to hear all of that. Thank you. I now have some questions for you all. And some of the questions have been asked before. The first one will be to talk about some of the writers who have influenced you, and how. And then in the second question, it will be to talk about what the literary scene is like in your country, and how are you a part of that? I'll start on the side and then I'll start on the other side so Binayak can you first talk about the writers who have influence you? >> The anxiety of influence. I have thought about it many of times and the fact which I want to state is and just brought me and then [inaudible] that influence cannot be from one side only. When I came to USA before that and I was talking with certain people here. I was asking certain people here. I was asking I was asking. He was asking many of times I had some invitations. I had an invitation from Alabama and I had never heard of that and then I suddenly remember owed. That's the Harper Lee country. Oh "To Kill a Mockingbird" I have to go there. San Francisco, oh. Since I was [inaudible] English literature. I teach an English I teach English in college so I thought oh San Francisco, California ranch, it must be [inaudible] or the "Grapes of Wrath" go there. Chicago, Hemingway, so I have Tennessee Williams must be someone of Tennessee. ^M02:20:00 Eugene O'Neill where was he? [Inaudible] where was he? [Inaudible], Faulkner, the southern part. So in this way. America was living in my mind. Before long before I came to USA, through its literature. But the moment that I go back and I share the experience. What I find is that the influence I went to a college I met some young talented guys who say to me that you know so much. I do not know so much, but to them it seemed. We know at least something of the American literature. People like us. We are studying American literature, not quite a bit. Have been talk like that. But they say that we don't know the approach of how a South Asian or an Indian gets under the skin of his study or his poems or have poems accepted. So I have been influenced by a lot of writers, but I would like to name now the names I just took names of American authors. I will take names of others also. But there are certain names which I believe I have been strongly influenced by. [Speaking in foreign language], whom I am sure one day Chris asking the question, Chris Merrill and I said that I really do believe that it's the duty of the entire world to read in translation. There is something and South Asian parts and South Asian literature, which if it comes to you and proper translation can't sit beside the very best in world literature. And only for the fact that Nobel Prize has certain Eurocentric bias or it seems to be such. But if we can break that jinx that we can have something I have often approached, since I'm a teacher of English. I have often translated American poems long before coming to the USA. But I feel that there is a sense among the young poets and the Indian subcontinent that we are not being great. We are not being recognized. We are not able to make our voices heard. So the influence the anxiety of influence for me lies here. I am influenced by writers Indian writers not only my language but [speaking in foreign language] or Hindi who I think and believe represent Indian literature South Asian literature in the world scene. And just as I am conversant with the American authors. I believe there is a shortfall. I do not know Indian authors of Indian languages that much. And when I get influenced by them I understand that my the circle of influence is complete. So I have been influenced and at the same time while getting influenced. I also want this influence to be a two-way street. How it can happen. I have only a vague idea. There can be translation workshops. There can be lots of things. But I think the proper message of IWP that this reaching out that the entire literary world as a home for all of us can reach all of us when there will be two-way traffic. The writings of India and South Asian literature, particularly can reach the American audience more just as we are, enthralled and kindled by the American literature. The other way should also happen sooner rather than later. Thank you. >> I grew up in a British colony, ex British colony. So I spoke English as my first language. My parents were teachers. My parents had an extensive library so I read everything from Dickins to books about invertebrates and science and geology. My father was interested in both his right brain and his left brain. He was an artist and a scientist. And then slowly when I started becoming very interested in poetry. I took English literature in high school. One of my great influences was an Irish Lasallian brother called Brother Vincent, who introduced me to also the Classics; Dickens, George Eliot, Austin, Shakespeare, of course, Virginia Woolf. So you know and then I studied in Canada and then I started reading Canadian poets. The American's poets [inaudible], the Russian's poets, [foreign word]. So my influences are huge. And now that I am working in fiction. It's just becoming more and more diverse, I suppose. But I'm also very influenced by the myths and legends that are so pervasive and Malaysia and in Asian part of the world. I'm half Chinese so my mother forced me to read a lot of Chinese myths and legends when I was a child. This also influenced me. We have a lot of [inaudible] Malay myth and literature and magic also is very, very significant in my work. We have a profound belief in the spirit world. So it's all tradition, it's what happens around you, things you hear every day, and of course what is in the physical in the invisible world. So these are very, very much part of my influences. >> Ok so. >> Sonya, will you read? >> Yeah I need help. >> Why don't you come up here? Go ahead. ^E02:25:46 ^B02:25:54 >> By the way the story she read today she brought extra copy for us. So you can help from the back. It is written in English so you can [laughter]. >> Thank you. >> So admire all writers there wasn't anyone who I particularly wanted to be like. The moment that I read Milan Kundera was the moment I felt like oh so this is how I can write. There was a point that where I realize that my life beginning from my mid-thirties onward was a form of acting. After that point I began writing with the idea that I was interrogating myself. The [inaudible] attitude that I pursue matched up with a penetrating inside in Milan Kundera's worldview as well as the biding prose and humor he used to express the site. After I become a writer myself, I became influenced by a variety of writers. From Julian Burns. I learned that lively imagination can only originate and knowledge. From Patrick Modiano I learned that we can see the velocity of life in a way things disappear into nothingness. But, of course, the writers who have influenced me the most are those who are from the country I live in my contemporaries in Korea. In other words, my colleagues. >> Thank you. >> When I was a college student I started to read works by foreign writers, in the original and translation. Including those of William Barrett, [speaking in foreign language]. Since my graduation from university I, with my wife, have translated into Chinese many poems of foreign poets. Such as [inaudible], Ted Hughes, Phillip Larkin. ^M02:28:18 [ Speaking in Foreign Language ] ^M02:28:27 They all have influence on me. Among them Nadua's [assumed spelling] interest seems the most obvious because I have translated at least four books of his poems into Chinese. Writers in Taiwan have a certain perception of the beauty of the Chinese language different from what writers in mainland China have. Being an island occupied and ruled by different countries and regimes, Taiwan has gradually transformed itself into a land open to a varieties of cultures. The languages used by people in Taiwan content diverse elements. Taiwanese, the Hanukkah dialect, indigenous languages, Japanese, English, etcetera. Diversity of language lifestyles and cultures have resulted in new sensibility, new interest, and a new vitality. For which comes new forms [inaudible] and subject matters in writing. Writing of homosexuality or feminism. Indigenous writers combining their modern terms of the Chinese language. All these are comparatively seldom found in mainland China. ^M02:30:02 Some scholars have regarded me as one of the most innovative and exciting poets writing in Chinese today. I don't know if I am. But I try my best to combine in my poetry the elements of Western modernism and the postmodernism with the merits of a range of poetics in the Chinese language. Thank you. >> Thank you. The next question has to do with what is the literary scene in your country right now and how are you a part of that. Bernice would you like to start? >> Malaysia is that a point of major transition right now. We are dealing with a very corrupt authoritarian government. So I think politics definitely affects the kind of freedom of expression that we have. In spite of all this, it is a very, very exciting time. Publishing is booming. My publishers recently one publisher of the year at the London book fair. So it's very, very vibrant, interesting time and spite of again, you know, this restriction with freedoms. People are writing. And I think it's the best time to be an artist in Malaysia right now. Because we have to keep fighting back. We have to keep making art. In terms of the global literary scene writers like Tash Aw and Twining have also made significant leaps and bounds. Both have been long listed and then Twining was subsequently shortlisted for the Booker Prize and then won the [inaudible] Prize. That is a very, like I said it's a very exciting time for us. Not just in the English language but also, and parts of Malaysia or in Malay. Because there is now new genres that are coming up. Genres that deal with magic, realism, and war. So again, you know, we are dealing with all the restrictions that you know we have a sedition act, and if somebody finds offense with your work. You can be questioned for many hours and subsequently jailed, arrested, blah, blah, blah. So we are being very creative and I think there is a certain kind of bravery that is happening right now. A lot of young people are making very, very interesting art. So, and I hope that continues. >> Very interesting. Are there any questions? Do you have anything else? Oh there you are. ^E02:32:31 ^B02:32:38 >> As everyone knows [inaudible] its respective society. Up until now Korean literature has struggled against the etiology of colonization, war, and dictatorship and in a way that has been the literary material and homework for Korean writers. By following the Democratization in the nineties, literature moved inward and focused on the interior [inaudible] of the individual. That was when I become a writer. Today diversity defines Korean literature. Korea is a country that moves incredibly quickly. So if you want to do a cross-section of the time in Korea you will see that so many different things are cut up together in one massive flow. The Korean generalization characterized by the traditional and confusion worldview and meet twentieth century generation who develop the country economically after war and generation of intellectuals who thought military dictatorship. And the sensitive, yet consumptive young generation faced with unemployment. These different generations are all active underground together. Furthermore, Korea was the first country to develop the [inaudible] movable type system for printing and 1377. World literature was introduced quickly in the country through the development of the printing and the country continue to foster a strong environment for reading. That is also why writers do not confine their identity. According to legion or nation. In reality there are no real trends or commonalities across Korean novels. Even if any of you have read something written by a Korean writer, that doesn't mean that you read a Korean novel. You just read a novel. In Korea they call me a writer who with a cynical smile and spew of venom. That is because, I have to look at her more carefully. She has a cynical smile. That is because I was sick and tired of the etiology that past generations fought so hard for and protected. I broke free of this etiology and grow a novel that said let me become me. Confusion value, nationalism and Korean democracy keeps feelings in boxes. And I wanted to cut myself out. The first line and my first novel was after I was 12 there was no need for me to go any further. However, I simply thought that Korea's society which prides itself on the unity of its people is to exclusivist and far too caught up in the bloodlines and the regionalism. My cold smile and the then venomous words merely makes up the base partition for which I can maintain critical distance. It is not any sort of the pessimism. I actually think that my novels are quite warm. One cannot write a novel without care and affection for other people and from that perspective I think that all novelists are humanists. >> Thank you. Cold smile? Okay [laughter]. >> Maybe I can say something about difference between modern poetry to mainland China and that in Taiwan. Poets of mainland China seems to like using big and heavy words to deal with themes of patriotism, mankind or history. Poets in Taiwan focus more on how to express their feelings and thoughts with variety or originality then too, there are quite profound messages to convey. They write about ordinary people and a simple life but through humor, wit, and exquisite uses of words readers feel their presence and aesthetic wisdom. [Inaudible] exquisiteness means subtle changes of these subtle changes and the [inaudible] songs shared postures. Poetry [inaudible] and serious things in life. But you don't have to use big heavy words to handle serious things. The Polish poet Symborska is a good example of this. She's good at using simple words and ordinary daily instances to present things with profound meaning. Okay. ^E02:38:05 ^B02:38:12 >> There is an Indian poet called [inaudible], who wrote up who had two lines I have always got zero and math. Who told after getting a prize I have always got zero the math and giving exams after exams after exams I have got you. And his wife thought he was talking about her but he was talking about the prize [laughter]. So about the literary scene in India. As much as I know, because India is a continent to quote Milan Kundera, "It's much laughter and less forgetting. And at times it less laughter and much forgetting." Much forgetting because the vernacular market is shrinking. But actual Indian writing is in vernacular languages. Because my problem with Indian English writings except a few exceptions is that they sell India as in exotica. Mostly. India is a tourist spot. A subject. When the country is sold when [inaudible] is sold. It's the pink city is sold but not the desert is sold. So this is the problem with most Indian English writings. And the vernacular writings they don't have a market because there is not very much good translations. And another thing, which is India is a country of huge population. So no matter how little section of the society. How little section of the society buys books. It gets multiplied. But the problem started in India. We had a very free culture in India. We had this chance of this democratic view of presenting whatever we wrote. ^M02:40:06 And it has been going on for almost 100 years. Even when the British ruled us. But the problem started when once, due to some external pressure or due to something the Indian government first did the blunder of banning a book. They banned "The Satanic Verses" by Salman Rushdie. And that opened up Pandora's box. Now anything, any book which comes out with anything controversial. A section of the society jumps up and shows that precedents and asks it to be banned. So this banning culture was never during the Indian literary scene has started 20 years back with the banning of the single book and unless this ban is lifted I think this demands for more and more banning from every section of the society will go on and this is a problem which we have to face them. We are fighting against it. We as part of a member of the Shakespeare Society, and I'm also part of the Indian Literary Society, and so we are trying to translate Indian writing from Indian languages. Otherwise, since English has become the linked language in India. What happens that when it's translated from English to another Indian language the meaning gets somewhat lost. So we are trying that so that Indian writing gets translated into Indian languages directly. And we also consider English as one of the Indian languages. Because Indian and English is very much different from what it should be, but it is in America or the United Kingdom. So it's not all gloom, but it's not also boom also. We are marginalized, but we are not extinct, and in India, audio, visual [inaudible] is at its best, so we hope that it will come down from [inaudible] and even if it doesn't touch it's not dead. Sometimes the print material will reoccupy its position and there are so many languages. I just hope I'm just hoping, but because in India there is also a fight between languages. Bengali is the only Indian language which has received a Nobel Prize. Rabindranath Tagore was the first Asian to receive the Nobel Prize. No other Indian languages have received that. Again, Hendi is the language spoken by most people. But this numerical game plus the superiority. Everyone thinks his or her mother tongue to be superior. It is very natural. So this continues. We have to strike a balance between so many languages and most Indians they know two or three languages. They can speak in that. So by maintaining this critical balance. We are trying to present anthologies. We are trying to bring at least four, five, six Indian languages into the forefront whereby the world knows the Indian literature which is not only the literature of a country but because of so many languages, and publishers are also trying it's to have both versions vernacular version in English version. And we are trying to showcase India, the real Indian literature, whereby the world knows India as it is not just as a country but as a continent of multiple voices. >> I want to thank the authors for coming and sharing their thoughts with us. I think I've, there's some similar themes that run with all of the authors. I think of self-empowerment, individuality, struggle against various systems that exist in their country, but also being open to variety and influence from both sides and not just one side. So thank you all. I appreciate you coming today. >> I would just add one comment [laughter] to this. >> Then I will thank you all. >> Because of systems. I often think we often protest as writers we see it as our [inaudible] right to protest against systems and all this power, but I have often been enchanted by these words of Paul Valery, that "Power without abuse loses its charm." So as writers we have the power. Particularly when I write fictions I have the power to do anything and everything with my characters. So if I can abuse my power as a writer, why not the system. I think at times. But we all protesting system and fight for democracy. Thank you so much. >> Thank you all. Very much. ^M02:44:30 [ Applause ] ^M02:44:36 >> Thank you. >> Good afternoon everybody. I am Taru Spiegel from the European division. It is my pleasure to introduce our distinguished authors today. From left to right. We have Franca Treue. She won the 2010 Selexyz Debut Prize for her novel "Confetti on the Threshing Floor." And by the way I'm going to give all these titles in English, because there's no point in my murdering anybody else's language up here. So her book will be released as a feature length film this fall and her second novel, "The Roommates" came out earlier this year. Franca contributes stories, columns, and essays to a number of newspapers, magazines, and the radio. Laurynas Katus, is the author of the novel "Moving Shadows," the essay collection "The Basement," and the poetry collection, "Voices, Notes," "Diving Lessons," and "Behind 7 Streets." His writing has been widely translated, appearing New European Poets an Anthology, Absinthe, The Drunken Boat, and elsewhere. He translates from the English, German, and Spanish. Gerour Kristny, is the author of five poetry collections, two novels, nine books for children, a travelogue, and one biography. Widely awarded, her work has been translated into 21 languages. In 2011 the musical "The Ball at Bessastadir," based on her fiction, was staged at Iceland's National Theatre. Gerour has worked in broadcasting, and is the former editor-in-chief of a literary monthly. Auguste Corteau, is the author of fourteen novels, among them "Shameless Suicides," "The Obliteration of Nikos," "Sixteen," and "The Book of Katherine," and the short story collection "The Man Who Ate Too Much." He's also won the Greek National Book Award for Children's Literature and an IBBY Prize for Best Children's Novel. Corteau has translated over 30 titles, including the work of Apollinaire, Faulkner, Salinger, Updike, and Banville. He writes primarily in English, and also teaches creative writing, and has taught himself to play that piano, that in his bio. So if I can have you to come in here to read? Franca first. Thank you. ^E02:47:11 ^B02:47:16 You want to come up to the lectern? >> Yep. ^E02:47:18 ^B02:47:24 >> These move. ^E02:47:25 ^B02:47:30 >> Okay I'm reading a part in Dutch. It's about a couple that goes to another couple for a visit because they have just twins. So two little babies and are going to see them. ^M02:47:44 [ Speaking in Foreign Language ] ^M02:48:59 Does anyone understand Dutch actually? Not really. So I will stop here and I will read the same part English then. It's of my second novel. ^E02:49:09 ^B02:49:18 And then behind us in the pale yellow glow of a standard lamp there's Carol sitting in a beige lounge holding a baby. She's radiant, smiling. I would gladly have kept on looking but she gingerly puts the child down next to her on the couch, lays the bib on top and gets up to greet us. She presses Eric to her and kisses him as if he's returned safe and sound from an ocean voyage. Freddie has grown a little pudgy, but Carol is rosy-cheeked the picture of health. She has a strange odor about her, a hit of soreness. Perhaps she's not washing herself too thoroughly these days. Perhaps she's got more on her mind than sponging herself down all day. ^M02:50:05 They inform us that they have two bathrooms, one just upstairs, and one on the second floor. They just moved into a new house. The second floor is still completely empty. They don't even know what they'll do with it yet. A studio for Carol, perhaps, but right now, there simply aren't enough hours in the day. Carol decides it's time for us to devote some attention to the babies. One is upstairs in his cot. The other one sleep. The infant insomniac stared at me blankly. Apart from a tiny outbreak of blackheads. He's a fine specimen. He has Carol's forehead which is fortunate. Freddie's for had doesn't have the customary dome of an awning. His is more of a sloping sunscreen like in those pictures of prehistoric people. This baby is blessed to have an awning. "He looks good." Eric nods, "Well done." "Doesn't he just?" Says Carol. "Is the other one his spitting image?" I ask. "No, that's not the case. They are not identical." Their parents wouldn't have them any other way. You have to see them as two different individuals. Not as more of the same. Thank you. ^M02:51:18 [ Applause ] ^E02:51:24 ^B02:51:29 >> [Foreign word]. Hello everybody. I am excited to read and the largest library of the world. I'm going to read a couple of poems. In the first one I cannot help but starting with the one problem which is about another national library, just in Venice. And it is called I'm not making it up, "On the Sixth Floor." On the sixth floor, Mazvydas Library. An elevator, murmuring quietly, lifts us into a sky of books. Eyes closed, you twist your hair around your finger. Slumber is a soft and warm cocoon. It will tear, when you step into the labyrinth of shelves. When you hang your I.D. around your neck. In the nearby prison's yellow cages, they read the script another way, with the whole body. On Iron Wolf Street The cars race, competing toward success. But here only twilight, hours on end, twilight. At lunch you'll drink juice from the wine glass. The pungence sticking to the corner of your lips. You'll wander down the aisles, not even searching for the beginning or end of the letters. As if saying goodbye, you'll touch the spines of the books. For you know, how one waits for a sign. Just a stirring. How on understanding, everything shines. How the shelves are endless. The door opens onto the dim corridor. But my electricity has grazed your hair. Not moving, not paying any attention, you stand and drink your image, which duplicates itself in the elevator's mirrors. Now just to give you the impression of what we were doing and Iowa, among other things, I will read poem which I gave to translate for a translation workshop at the University. And there were like eight students doing different versions so I just picked one. I will first read it in Lithuanian and then the translation. It's about a Skype talk. Does anybody understand Lithuanian here? Now. Well so I can now just say anything. I mean [laughter]. Just swear the whole time. >> It's being taped. >> Oh okay no no. So then, yeah. Right. Offline. ^M02:54:50 [ Speaking in Foreign Language ] ^M02:56:03 I recognize you everywhere, in the shadows of the Metro tunnel and the whiteness of tourist losses in the farewell kiss in the slope of pharaohs neck on a bicycle. The tear what you have been trying to suppress this tenderness. I cannot do anything with myself runs down my elbow. A strange feeling. As it falls to my lap to land on the highway map and the paper planes shiver until I doze on the hard seat of the bus. Moss of the trunk of the tree, I feel I've grown on you for ages in only seven years. And in that time I looked up more and more briefly. My thoughts whittled down to white. But when I hear the computer the swish of your low voice and my overstretched back the juices start circulating again. This rambling talk year after year in which pauses silences shout even larger than the crammed stadiums of this country. Dial-up spark and distant darkness when woken by the droning chime I blindly grope around me. Year after year your breasts grow sweeter right enough to off. And the last thing. It's about life. And so I live with cobwebs and ficuses, dictionaries, comic strips, and a heart which taps at the outskirts of night. I live with parcels and emails, Prussia and Zverynas, moonshine and wine. When the air gets colder, the breathing slower. In dreams I talk with statues and poets whom I like and whom I cannot stand clearly pronouncing the consonants. I cut my nails, repair the shower, confess and overlook in silence, drive the car because, because nobody suggested I do so. Outside in patches of melting snow I observe a hare sitting in a copse and let him into my consciousness. I jump I jump, strike something, I freeze. How humid it is all around. How steamy above the earth. Covered with space, rarely seen, listening to the ever-stronger beat of my heart. Thank you. ^M02:59:05 [ Applause ] ^E02:59:10 ^B02:59:15 >> Hello. ^E02:59:16 ^B02:59:22 Crime fiction has been very popular in Scandinavia and northern Europe for years and of course here in America. You might've heard of Scandinavian fiction writers like Hanning Mankell, [inaudible], and our most famous writer [inaudible], which can be bought here in America and all around the world. I thought it was time to write a Scandinavian crime poem. It's my sixth poetry book just published a few weeks ago when I was still in Iowa. I was a journalist for years. I met a murderer who happened to have killed his wife. ^M03:00:04 And I interviewed him and I couldn't forget his story. So I decided to [inaudible]. I'm going to read the beginning of it so you can hear my language. It's called "Icelandic." There are 300,000 Icelanders that live in this isolated island in the Atlantic Ocean and this is what our language sounds like. ^M03:00:29 [ Speaking in Foreign Language ] ^M03:01:15 And since [inaudible] has not been translated yet I'm going to read a few poems in English translated by [inaudible]. The cold makes me a lair from fear places a pillow of downy drift under my head a blanket of snow to swaddle me in. I'd lay ear to the cranking of the ice in hopes of hearing it retreat. If I didn't know I'd be frozen fast the ice lets no one go. My country a spread deathbed. My initials stitched in the icy linen. New Year's morning. The only ones to have survived the night are a Japanese family who have switched off the neon signs in their hats and made due with the light over the mountains. When the boy breaks the ice film on the lake with his toe, a low crack sounds, like the snap of a wing. He catches up with his parents on the bridge where they quicken their pace. They mean to be safe indoors before darkness re-imposes its curfew. I once had a rather difficult neighbor. He was living under my apartment and he threw parties, noisy parties and he was selling drugs. I did not like him. He did not like me. And I started thinking about my favorite neighbor in the whole wide world. Who on earth that would be. And I decided to write a poem about that person. Anne Frank. By day, there is not a peep from Ann, who lives in [inaudible] except when she dozes off over her diary, drops it on the floor. Otherwise, not a peep. It's not a matter of night when there is all hell of a hop up Ann's friends pound up the stairs, hollering their hellos and crack open the feast. Will some with a bottle of buttermilk others nursing [inaudible] towards around the neighbors [inaudible] of fiddles and folksongs. The guests depart and hist melting into the walls. When the police force the door, Ann sits at the kitchen table. Writing. My husband's family comes from the countryside and my last poem is about true events from that farm. Triumph. The farmer drives gloating through the district, vixen dead on the hoot. He laid cheese to her layer in his jeep so the animal smelt the stench of petro, not man. No one mentions [inaudible] or Hector. And I know how to hold my tongue. ^M03:04:30 [ Applause ] ^E03:04:40 ^B03:04:47 >> Hello. I'm Auguste Corteau and the possibility of someone actually speaking Greek here, other than me being equal to someone having [inaudible] I will spare you the sound of my mother tongue. Now while in Iowa, while receiving the blessing of the IWP, I wrote a short novel called "My Best Friend Can't See Me." It tells a story of puppy, seeing eye-dog, who's best friend, Harry, the blind 8-year-old Harry was killed in a hit and run a few years ago. It's a first-person narrative. I'm going to read you the start of, the first 2 pages of this new novel. Today I brought my favorite toy with me. It actually used to belong to Harry, but it got passed down to me when he outgrew it. Sort of like an older brother's hand-me-down. It's a Donald Duck squeaky doll and though I've been gnawing at it for so long, it has been suffused with my own doggy smell. If I keep my snout pressed against it long enough and really concentrate, I think I can still detect a whiff of Harry's scent. A mixture of fruity bubble bath and freshly laundered clothes, cinnamon chewing gum and a sweat milky sweat, which to this day remains my favorite smell in the whole wide world. I'm not really allowed in this place and I honestly think people would be better off not coming here either. All this place does is make them sad. From where I'm standing I can hear 8 different men and women crying. Some of them so hard, they're gasping for breath. I feel sorry for them, though no one's pain affects me as deeply and as upsettingly as mother's. She might not be crying or even breathing heavily. But still her pain is like a wall, through which I can barely see or feel her. We come here every week. And on a few occasions people have objected to my presence, but then father explained to them my role in Harry's life, and how I'm actually the first to run to the car when I sense that one of the these outings is imminent. And after that they looked at me in a different way and their coldness melted in a silent apologetic awkwardness. And there's a priest who definitely owns a dog himself. He smells of it intensely and his black [inaudible] is speckled with short white hairs, who always stops to pet me and have a quiet word with father, though not with mother. Never with mother. She stopped talking to pretty much anyone for awhile now and even when she does, her voice has a flat, distant sound to it. As if it's an old recording of a person speaking, who is no longer alive. While father and I stand a few feet back, he having a [inaudible] smoke. I with Donald firmly clutched in my jaws, she's kneeling on the small patch of grass, around the base of a stone, and pulling out the weeks. Looking at her, I remember the time when she'd stoop down like this to pick up a stick and throw it for me to fetch. Often, especially when we were out at a big park or other outdoorsy place, where there was no danger of speeding cars, with Harry following laughing at my heels, guided by the sound of my joyful barking. Those were the days. I wish someone would play fetch with me, but I know better than to get my hopes up that it will ever happen again. I mean father still talks to me every now and then and takes me out for my 3 daily walks. And on occasion while watching one of his favorite shows on TV, he may stroke my head in an absent-minded sort of way, but that's as far as his involvement with me goes. Not that I begrudge him. The poor man does the best he can with his depleted life force. You can't get blood from a stone humans say. Look at what happened to poor mother, you can't get anything from her anymore. It's like she's turned to stone altogether. When she's done with her weeding, and step back to assess the result, I make my slow, timid way to the spot where the flag stone ends and drop squeaky old Donald on the grass. I don't really know why I just did this. Certainly Harry doesn't know it's there, the same way he can't feel anything at all. But it felt like the proper thing to do. I've seen people leave small items, gifts like this in front of their loved one's stones. Sometimes it's a photo, sometimes an object that used to belong to the person resting forever under the ground. One time I even saw an old Mexican woman leave a plate of chili [inaudible] in front of a grave, decorated with a statue of an angel. And as mouth-wateringly tempting though it looked and smelled, I knew I shouldn't touch it for Even though no one was going to eat it. It wasn't meant for me. So now I've brought a doll that used to belong to the both of us. One of the few remaining connections with my beloved Harry. Through whose faint smell of earlier, happier times I can almost delude myself into believing I can pick up his smell even after all this time, through the marble, and the soil, and the wood, and over the smell of all the rest of the bodies slowly turning into [inaudible] formless mulch in their burial spots. ^M03:10:07 Two things happen at once, the moment Donald touches the grass. Father takes a short sharp breath and quickly covers his mouth with his hand to hide the sound of his suddenly clogged nose. And mother says you are such a good dog, "Puppy." In a voice so shaky and strange. It's nearly unrecognizable. Similar to the croak of her own grandmother as she lay fragile and wasted away on her deathbed a few years back. I remember thinking at the time so that's how being filled with death makes you sound. And tearing now the same hoarseness and mother's voice scares and saddens me. But I cannot enjoy the compliment and be filled by pride as I used to back when kind words still mattered. I will always be grateful to mother and father for giving me life. But nowadays it's almost as hard for me to feel actual joy as it is for them. Because my sole purpose in life. My one true source of happiness were taken from me never to return. Yet this is not a story of loss. It is a tale of love for my precious one and only Harry. The best friend a dog could ever have. ^M03:11:22 [ Applause ] ^M03:11:27 >> Well that was some powerful reading here. I think we should have a moment of silence now. We are going to move on to the question that has been asked here before today, which is who are some of the writers who influenced you, and how? And are you ready to go ahead? >> Yes. There is a host of names I could think of, but I'm going to take three of them. [Inaudible], Vladimir Navakoff, and JD Salinger. And the thing that has been so influential and their writing to me. Is there fearlessness and stretching the medium of writing, of novel writing, of never being afraid of sounding too robust or too complicated. Or too demanding. And the facts of not just being terrific storytellers, but through their works approaching the essence of humanity with a great deal of love, be it through the narrator's mother in [inaudible]. Or [Inaudible] that monster whom we get to love so deeply and feel for and sympathize with. Or of course the Glass family Franny and Sumi all those wonderful neurotics of Salinger's. Yes, these three have been the greatest yielded the greatest influence of my writing because I feel it. >> Thank you Auguste. Geraur? >> I fell in love with books because I read wonderful children's literature. For example books by Astrid Lindgren, who was from Sweden and wrote the book "Pippi Longstocking" that might have been translated into English. >> Yes wonderful. >> Absolutely. >> Yes it is. >> Yes oh I really admire children's books offers. And when I become a teenager I become a snob and I decided to read authors that had gotten the Nobel Prize, just so I could learn something from them. So Halldor Laxness, and Icelandic Nobel Prizer who got the prize in 1955. He was my first choice and I read him and Selma Lagerlof who came from Sweeden. And I just wanted, was more interested in people that came from northern Europe. And yes if there is snow, a lot of snow in books I prefer them better than, prefer them more than other kind of literature. So [inaudible] was yeah she's good, she's okay there's some snow and cold in her books. And Bukowski because he's so unhappy, coming from Scandanvia, you can't be too happy you know it's that's not how life is up there. So yeah. And yes that might be pretty much it. And the old nautical mythology. You might have heard about [inaudible] for example who has made it big in Hollywood now, we are very proud of him. Yes and I keep using those old nautical mythology as a well that I can always dig into in my prize-winning poetry book "Blood" who got the Icelandic Literary Prize in 2010 is retelling of one of those mythologies. [Inaudible] those mythologies and there's a lot of snow in them so it's okay, they qualify. >> Okay thank you, Laurynas well for me it's very difficult to talk about influences because I think I'm a person who gets influenced all the time. And every book I agreed, or even you know a noticed on a milk thing you know milk carton. Or graffiti in the street that can be of influence to and sometimes I am also myself surprised. I am surprised to see how it reflects and reverberates in my writing and things which I may be I thought I'd forgotten. But suddenly they come up when I am writing. But there is one figure which I think influenced me deeply Lithuanian poet [inaudible].I have worked on him a lot and he actually lives nearby and Baltimore. And he is considered to be one of the greatest twentieth century Lithuanian poets. And he worked all his time in a library is so he is, you could call him kind of Lithuanian [inaudible] you know he is very learned person and in and credible horizons, intellectual horizons, but at the same time very sensual and very full of images. So the other, I think for Lithuanians this century has been a century of exiles, both physical and mental. And that's why his poetry resonate so powerfully, not only with me but with Lithuanian poets and writers. And it's just maybe now we are returning back from this exile. And the last thing I wanted to tell about him is that the library where he worked all the time is the Congress library. He worked here for I don't know 40 or 50 years. >> Thank you for sharing that. All right, Franca. >> Yeah for me the same is for Laurynas. Many writers inspire me. I have of course my favorite which are for example Margaret Edwards from Canada and also Alice Munro also from Canada. As for the second novel I read from the second novel in the beginning. A short part, [inaudible] was actually my inspiration there. Because [inaudible] is one of my favorites and it is because it is about a person who wants to well actually to persons who want to escape from the banality of everyday life. And they don't have much success. And I think novels are always about not always but mostly about people that are exceptions. They managed to escape from something. They are the heroes they are the ones that are the individuals. I think the novel is the [inaudible] of the individual. And I was interested in not in the [inaudible] another exception, but a rule and the question of my second novel was how can you escape from the banality of the life if you don't have a talent to escape it. Because when you have a talent it's easier to deal with that. And I was thinking how do people do that in general and then I find out that if you ask people about this. They are always answering and turns of their jobs. They identify themselves or define themselves mostly with their jobs. So I think my life is useful because I am a teacher. ^M03:20:00 Or my parents. For example, they are farmers so they think they feed the world so they are useful. And while you can find other examples. But then I was thinking about all these people that having jobs that are not really creative or inspiring. In the Netherlands you have them. And of course you have them in America as well. Many people that work for different companies. They are freelancers. They do some tasks and they are not creative at all. At least people work at home. So I gave my character. This kind of job super the home and nobody sees her and she has to put information on the website of companies. And she doesn't write this information herself. She just gets her and she has to put in the right place so it's not creative at all. And that I was thinking okay if you had this kind of job and you cannot really identify yourself. It's a challenge to define yourself with your job. What else can you use? And then of course I was thinking if you have kids, you have a baby [inaudible] I read this from the beginning. Is to make you feel very important. Because you are important, at least for this person so makes your life meaningful. So I gave my character a history that she doesn't really like family life if you could hear it's I did it not very well because I've never read in English before, so I apologize for that. And then I was thinking okay not, if you have the babies what then? What are the other possibilities? And then I was thinking about all these leftovers. We have from the seventies like commune life people start to live in communes because they didn't want to live together just because they are family but they live together because they share ideas and ideals about making the world a better place. And I was thinking okay how about these commands in 2010, and people are really disappointed and well least in Western Europe about the possibilities to make the world a better place. How can they still try to do it so that set of my second novel is about and I think this shall be already far from the first question, so I'll stop here. >>[Laughter] Thank you. Okay. And the second question is, and Geraur. I think maybe it is your turn now. And your country. What is the literary scene like right now and how are you a part of that? >> At this very moment. The literature while the publication is blooming because we are used to talk about the publication before Christmas as the Christmas books. Between the wars when there was not much to find in Icelandic shops. We started giving each other books. As Christmas presents. So mostly all of the literature, the novels and poems and short stories are published in October and November. It means that the literary life becomes a big circus. We're all fighting for attention in the media. And there are a lot of readings all over the country and it is a whole lot of fun. And it's good to be a writer and Iceland because as other artists we get support from the Ministry of Culture and Education. We can apply every year. Hoping for getting paid every month. Some people get six months. Some people get 9 month, 12, or even two or three years. So we always hope for the best and that's it. We can be also about. Which means that not everybody are good friends but that's how it goes. And the artists; sculptures, musicians, and designers, and musicians get funded too. We are only like I said 300,000 so without this we may have begun writing in English when the market is small. But it means also that this language of ours is writing in Icelandic means that the language lives. That we use it. We read it and we teach in Icelandic schools. And that's how it to be an Icelandic author. But now we have a government that is to write. They desperately want to put a horrible tax on books. So that is what we are fighting against now and let's see what happens. >> Okay thank you. Laurynas. >> Well you know the story about the optimist in the pessimist. The optimist says the glass is half-full. The pessimist says is half empty. And I think talking about Lithuanian literature life you cannot escape contradictions and paradoxes. Because on the one hand literature and language is what makes the modern Lithuanian identity. And anybody who considers himself Lithuanian part of this culture part of the language is very closely connected with literature of past and present. On the other hand, we've gone through the turmoil of the nineties of the post-communist era where everything with changing, you know, socially, economically, politically, mentally, too. And that wasn't you know a very good time to for literature. There is a Chinese saying I think which is a kind of curse you know I wish you would live in times of turmoil or something like that. And that was also interesting, but at the same time difficult, difficult for literary institutions and literary community. Now the things are much better and there is quite a bit of state support and also public attention again for modern literature. It's also very dynamic. The literary fields are really changing and in a couple of years there's been so much change. And I think in general, there is a generation change happening in Lithuania and the generation of you know, 30 or 40 years old is taking over, so to say. And since I incidentally happen to belong to the same generation. I'm quite happy about that. But there is you have always two things just to sum it up. You have this very cozy atmosphere when you go to the festival. You know, everybody knows you and you know everybody and you feel really part of the family of Lithuanian writers. At the same time you have the kind of atmosphere of the small pond. You know where you know there's not so much space and there are frictions and then there are personal interests and envies and so on and so forth. So I think now the question was also about my role and Lithuanian literature life and so what I get from the public from friends and also from not friends. I guess the picture would be that they envy me for this opportunity of getting residencies abroad like this one. And getting published in other countries. I think they admire me for the humor. Maybe I think they think I'm not so much Bohemian as it should be as a real Lithuanian poet should be. I'm too may be too intellectual. And yes, so it's a position of a bit of the outsider, I think, but I really enjoyed this position. I have good friends, dear friends, which I share with whom I share the kind of ideals and the aesthetics and the kind of sort of with whom I feel solitary a lot. And also the ones I don't like like in the poem I read, you know, I talked about some I like and who I cannot stand. But that's life. I mean that's how it should be. I mean without animosities and without conflicts. Nothing good can be written I believe. ^M03:30:05 >> Thank you. >> I wasn't pointing to anything kind of conflict [inaudible] but well I have to. >> Positive I mean you are the Lotus from the mock. And okay Franca the literary scene in the Netherlands and your part in it. >> Yeah. Yeah, actually I don't really know what to say about literacy in the Netherlands. You obviously always it's a small world everybody knows each other. Everybody lives in Amsterdam and you have to actually there is kind of a division between the old writers and the young writers, or the prize-winning writers and the young writers are complaining about it. And young writers are also complaining about the critics because the critics are also like 50 plus and white and male. And yeah, actually the young writers at happens that people always tried to speak, and also critics to try to speak about them as a group. And I feel I was that about that because I don't think I'm part of this group. I think the other well for me being an artist as being an individual. So being one of the young writers, I don't see the point that much because what has age to do with you know work. Of course it may be the topics but. And then very recently there was a discussion about what parts you do what writings you do does that have to comfort you as a reader doesn't have to make you learn something? Because life is already so difficult and full of challenges does literature have kind of has to be like supporting or can you find in literature, a way of living that you may be can use. And I think that's a stupid way about literature, but yeah and is more or less the discussions of the last weeks. And maybe I'm not seeing it well because I'm now here and I'm not reading everything too well, but yeah, that's it, more or less. >> Well thank you. And before we go to Auguste, let me just say I'm from Northern Europe and from what I hear is there's a saying that the color of northern Europe is green, i.e. envy. So I don't know how it is in Greece, so. >> I'm sure there are many very interesting or exceptional writers writing in Greek right now. There are also some pretty horrible writers writing Greek. The problem is that some of them have been around forever, so no one really comes out to say how horrible they are. The thing about it though is to be perfectly honest if it had been more exciting, you would know much more about it. And the fact that not virtually anything is known about. I think quite befits its value. It's worth right now. We don't have [inaudible] right now I wish we had because he was a terrific storyteller. The language itself was God awful, but he was a great storyteller. [Inaudible] well see I'm not very nice person what it is called in German. I don't know the German term it's been used to describe Thomas Bernhardt, the one who [inaudible] his own nest who yeah who follows up his own nest. It's one of those scary German words that long and very forbidding. No, I don't think of myself as part of this literary scene. The best thing that can be said about me or that is said or written about me is that I'm the [inaudible] of modern Greek literature, which is the nice way to say the freak. I mean, I've been publishing for 15 years. It's ridiculous. I'm not [inaudible] any longer. I'm 35. I'm not [inaudible]. Anyway. Yes. But honestly, I've read very decent novels and short stories. But it's been hard. The best Greek writers writing right now if they we got 1000 of them. And like that hypotheses with the monkeys whom I end up writing Shakespeare. If we had 1000 Greek writers from current Greek literature writing on 1000 typewriters typing away, not one of them would end up with something as wonderful as the corrections by Jonathan Franzen. So I won't bore you with this. Honestly. >> Well thank you very much. I guess this is time to wrap up in for that specific German word. Be sure to contact the library of Congress and ask a librarian will have the answer for you. And thank you Franca Treur, Laurynas Katkus, Gerour Kristny, and Auguste Corteau. Thank you ^M03:35:39 [ Applause ] ^M03:35:44 >> This is that a presentation of the Library of Congress. Visit us at loc.gov.