Today we bring you articles about the death of the poet Inayat Tonki, the Braille books that are being produced in Iran and the 2020 Vision for Scotland exhibition.

Inayat Tonki, Poet, Passes Away

Professor Inayat Ali Khan Tonki, an author and humorous poet has passed away at 85. The poet died on Sunday in Karachi.

Born in Tonk, India in 1935 the poet and his family moved to Pakistan in 1948, where they decided to settle in Hyderabad. Tonki attended schools in the area before securing his place on his master’s programme in 1962.

Tonki was a very versatile poet, writing poems for adults and also for children. He was particularly well known for his humorous poems. He wrote under the pen name Inayat, his first name.

Braille Books For Children Published in Iran

The Institute for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (IIDCYA) which is situated in Tehran has published nine braille versions of children’s books.

The collection of books includes stories and poetry collections written by both Iranian writers and those from other countries all over the world. There are several collections of poetry in the selection of books that they have chosen to translate into braille; one by Akiko Kageyama from Japan and the other by the Iranian poet Khatun Hosseini.

“An Umbrella of Petals” a poetry collection by Afsaneh Shabannejad has also been translated. As well as books aimed at younger children there are also a couple of titles for young adults. Over the past couple of years, the IIDCYA has released a number of audiobooks, following the release of their braille collection they now hope to publish a series of books for those children who have low-hearing ability and low visual acuity.

2020 Vision of Scotland

The Scottish National Portrait Gallery is looking for people from all over Scotland, and beyond, to take part on a new display, You Are Here 2020: Stories, Portraits, Visions.

The public are being asked to submit, stories, ideas about the future and stories which will be featured in a display together with five of the portraits from the gallery’s collection. The idea is that the display will take a look at the issues that Scotland has faced during 2020 and offer everyone a chance to reflect on the year which has seen some truly unprecedented occurrences.

The stories that the gallery are looking for should be written in just 100 words, or less, and can be in the form of prose or poetry looking at the negatives of the year, or the positives.

The pieces of art that have been chosen are contemporary and relevant. They look at the health service, the underrepresented demographics. There is a bronze bust of Jackie Kay the Scots Makar, the national poet of Scotland and another to Dr Elsie Inglis who was a pioneer.

It is hoped that a wide variety of people will join in with the event and send in their contributions to make it a very diverse selection that will really help to document the events that have taken place in the last few months, and also people’s feelings over this time.