Today in our poetry-related news round-up we look at an art exhibition in Tehran, the Marlborough LitFest 2020 and the return of Poetry on the Underground.

The Exhibit of Illustrated Poetry

A stunning exhibition was recently unveiled in Tehran which showcases illustrated adaptations of poems written by Hafez, the renowned Iranian poet.

The artwork featured in the exhibition was created by Samira Darya and is a perfect illustration of the sonnets created by Hafez which depict the same key words multiple times whilst telling a different story every time. Words like sheikh, sweetheart, heat, mystic and religion were very popular in his poems.

The art that is on display has a real link with those words and they portray both the concepts of love and mysticism very well. The art that Darya has created is, however, not completely in keeping with the poems created by Hafez but rather her own interpretation. They are full of colour, pattern and offer a real ambience to the audience.

Darya has closely followed the principles associated with Persian painting in her artwork. The brushwork has been created using a fine paintbrush and there are images of birds, flower, clouds and wind – these elements have been brought together to give the perfect example of Persian art. There are clear links in the illustrations between different points in time, a real blend of contemporary life and an ancient ambience.

The exhibition closed on February 14^th but the illustrations can still be viewed online.

Marlborough LitFest 2020

Bernadine Evaristo, who was named as the joint winner of the Booker prize 2019 with Margaret Atwood, has been announced as the headline speaker for this years Marlborough LitFest, which will take place in September

It is a long tradition of the Marlborough LitFest to host an annual Golding Speaker at the event, in order to highlight the town”s connections with the Booker prize winner and Nobel Laureate William Golding who is best known for his novel Lord of the Flies.

The event is now in its 11^th year and will showcase not only well-known names from the world of literature and poetry but also plenty of new names as well. This is not the first time that Evaristo has attended the festival as a guest, she made her first appearance in 2013.

Previous Golding Speakers include Ben Okri, Louis de Berniers and Will Self.

Romanian Poem Displayed on London Underground

A poem penned by Marin Sorescu the Romanian writer will be making its appearance on the trains of the London Underground over the course of the next couple of weeks. The project, which began on 10^th February and is set to run for a total of four weeks, has been planned to boost the popularity of poetry.

Perseverance, which has been translated into English, will be just one of the poems making an appearance as part of the “Poems on the Underground project”. The project which has been running since 1986 was conceived by Judith Chernaik the US writer.

Marin Sorescu was a playwright, poet and novelist was born in 1936 and passed away in 1996. His work has been translated and published in over 20 countries.