Constellation of the Lyra

The VII World Festival of Poetry "The emigrated Lyra-2015" is held in Paris, Brussels and Liège. I was invited to read in Liège. Poems in Russian, Oekranian, French, Dutch, English, Portuguese and Arabic. Al the poems of each participant ( we were 20 poets) were translated into French and Russian and published in a book with all the poets in alphabetical order. Of course there is also a real constellation of the Lyra. It can be found  between Hercules and the Swan. So we were all between heaven and earth. People came from far away: from Australia, from the USA... Each read in his/her mother tongue with the projection of the translation in French and Russian on a screen behind the reader. Two friends of mine, members of PEN-Flanders were there. Actually, it was Alhadi who had to flee from Sudan who had proposed me to the organizers and his buddy Kaptue from Cameroon of course was there too. They both are incredible performers. Alhadi reads in long drawn sounds in Arabic,  moving his right arm and hand to stress  the fact that one is reading a story, a poem, and telling it so all can see and hear it. Kaptue reads differently, rawer, he tells the story of what happened in Cameroon and having to flee he reeds as a protest, and seeing the poem one understands his feelings. Fred Schywek took a lot of pictures of the event. Clicking on this link will give you a good idea of the diversity in languages and nationalities. The event brought poets together and any time people are brought together and work together that is a great thing. I want to make a special mention of the interpreter Valéry Dvoinikov for his ease and and pleasant interpretations of the languages needed.