Today, we take a brief look at the Black Ink Book Festival. We have the celebrations for Rumi day too, as well as the world’s first crime book written in verse and the tree being planted in memory of Nasimi.
Nikki Giovanni Headlines 2019 Black Ink Book Festival
This year’s Black Ink book festival is taking place in Charleston at the Memminger Auditorium on 5th October. The poet and activist Nikki Giovanni has been confirmed as the keynote speaker.
There will be over 60 writers in attendance at the festival which will celebrate African American writers and their work.
A veteran of the civil rights movement, Giovanni has penned many books over the years including illustrated children’s books, several collections of essays and multiple volumes of poetry. She is also a professor working at Virginia Tech.
She has been the recipient of a host of awards including receiving 21 honorary doctorates and the Governors’ Awards in the Arts from both Virginia and Tennessee. She is also a three-time winner of the NAACP Image Award in 1998, 2000 and 2003.
In addition to the keynote speech, there will be also a number of other authors featuring their work during the festival. These will include romance writers, poets and children’s authors.
Rumi Day Celebrated with Rare Book Showcase
The Niavaran Cultural Historical Complex which is located in Tehran celebrated Rumi Day yesterday with a display containing two rare books about the poet Jalal ad-Din Rumi.
The books were removed from the archives at the complex and prepared for showcasing in the museum library. Molavinameh (Book of Rumi) was written in 1973 by the renowned Rumi expert Jalaleddin Homai and Character of Rumi which was penned in 1937 by Hossein Shajareh.
The books will be displayed for 10 days before being returned to the archives again.
Rumi Day is celebrated every year on the poets birthday.
Poetry Crime Book
The Dumbarton poet Stephen Watt has recently completed his fourth poetry book and it’s somewhat different to the previous three.
Watt, who is a former intelligence analyst has written a crime book entirely in verse, a world first. The book, Fairy Rock was launched at the Stirling crime writing festival “Bloody Scotland” over the weekend.
The publishing house Red Squirrel Press asked writers at the end of 2017 to give them their pitches for new ideas of books. Watt’s idea for a collection of crime poetry inspired by the Glasgow underbelly won much to his surprise and so Fairy Rock was born.
The book is currently being published and will be available to buy shortly.
Planting 650,000 Trees
In preparation for the 650h birthday anniversary of the poet Imadeddin Nasimi, the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources in Azerbaijan is preparing to plant 650,000 trees in just one day.
The initiative which will be carried out in the poet’s name aims to promote the legacy that he left all over the world. Different trees will be planted all over the country depending on the climate and relief and it is hoped that this will help to boost the forest areas and ecology of the country.
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