Naim Frashëri – the Symbol of a Uniting Bridge

From 19 to 22 October in Tetova, the 10 th Edition of the International Poetry Festival “Ditėt e Naimit” was hold with the participation of poets from different countries of the world, such as: Paraguay, Sweden, Italy, USA, Denmark, Estonia, Lithuania, Greece, Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Kosova, Macedonia etc.
The Festival began with the deposal of flowers in front of the statue of the Albanian national poet Naim Frashėri, which stands in front of the Cultural Centre of Tetova, by the Minister of Culture, Ilirian Beqiri, and the director of the International Poetry Festival “Ditėt e Naimit”, Shaip Emėrllahu. Later, fireworks illuminating the sky and torches hold by the members of the Cultural Association “Shpresa” from Veleshta opened the 10 th Edition of the Festival. In the hall of the Cultural Centre, an exhibition was inaugurated with old photos of our national poet Naim Frashėri, with the title “I am a spark from Heaven”. On this occasion, the participants were each given a catalogue with pictures and poetry of Naim Frashėri (in Albanian and English by R. Elsie), which the Direction of the Festival had prepared for the 160 th anniversary of Naim Frashėri’s birth.
The 10 th Edition was opened by the Minister of Culture of the Republic of Macedonia , Ilirian Beqiri, who said among others that the name of Naim Frashėri had become an inseparable part of us and of the friends who came to us from all over the world. This great name has already been transformed into the symbol of a bridge which unites us and takes us towards love and mutual respect between different cultures and peoples. Therefore it was a great luck for us to have such a name, because it had the power to unite and ennoble not only the Albanians, but also our neighbours as well as all the peoples of the world, which had an ever increasing need for cooperation with one another.
After that, the Director of the Festival, Shaip Emėrllahu, greeted the Festival and said: “You have once more found the time and opportunity to come to the city of Tetova in order to unfold your souls, to ennoble us by means of the beautiful, artistic word and to transmit numerous messages. Of course we cannot change the world with poetry, but through poetry we can influence upon the will of those who change it.

While connecting with the great figure of Naim Frashėri, we connect with one another; on the one hand, we come out of the nutshell of our selves and get connected with the cultures of the world, but also vice-versa, we bring the different cultures here to us in order to make them at once richer and prouder.
During these days in Tetova, you will give out your poetic inspiration, you will turn the word more magical, you will make the sounds of languages heard by the people of this part under the sky.
Thus we continue by means of poetry to build bridges of friendship and cooperation, to confer a larger rationally understandable meaning to our existence.” During the four literary hours of the festival, these poets, who had come from different countries, were presented: Renée Ferrer - Paraguay, Pierfranco Bruni – Italy, Aarne Puu – Poland/Estonia, Kerry Shawn Keys / Lithuania/USA, Lina Ekdahl - Sweden, Craig Czury – USA, Zdravko Kissiov - Bulgaria, Karsten Bjarnholt - Denmark, Aristotelis Frangos - Greece, Marius Chelaru - Rumania, Triin Soomets – Estonia, Kate Xukaro - Italy, Valeria Manta Taicutu - Rumania, Silke Liria Blumbach - Germany, Vesna Presnjak - Croatia, Sadik Bejko, Izet Shehu, Xhelal Toska, and Aleksandėr Ēipa - Albania, Ibrahim Berisha, Sali Bashota, Osman Gashi, and Xhevahire Izmaku - Kosova, Hristo Petrevski, Vasil Tocinovski, Biba Ismail, Vania Steriova, Puntorie Muēa–Ziba, Avni Halimi, Ramadan Sinani, Ejup Ajdini, Salajdin Salihu, Rami Kamberi, and Ekrem Ajruli - Macedonia.
On the second day of the Festival, in the Great Auditorium of the University of Tetova, after a speech of the rector, Dr. Sadi Bexheti, a literary hour was hold and two books of the Rumanian poet and critic Marius Chelaru were presented: one with views about books of Albanian authors translated into Rumanian, and an anthology with poetry of Albanian poets translated by Luan Topēiu and Baki Ymeri. The poet and literary scholar Sali Bashota from Prishtina spoke about these books.
After that, following the programme of the Festival, a debate was hold in the Library of the South-East European University about the relations of the Italian and the Albanian (Arbėresh) literature. On this occasion, the anthology of contemporary Italian poets "... from one shore of this sea to the other ...", compiled by Pierfranco Bruni and translated by Kate Xukaro, was presented. The anthology was published under the patronage of the Committee for the Protection of Linguistic Minorities in Italy as part of the Ministry for Heritage and Cultural Activities. The author of the book, Dr. Pierfranco Bruni, the Arbėresh poet Kate Xukaro, Prof. Dr. Osman Gashi etc. spoke about contemporary Italian poetry.
In the framework of the Festival, the poetry volumes published by the publishing houses “Ditėt e Naimit” and “Ars Poetica” were presented: the poetry book “I’m afraid to say” of the American poet Craig Czury, the poetry book “The Finger of God" by the Croatian poet Drago Stambuk, the book "Heart and earth" of the Arbėresh poet Kate Xukaro and two poetry books of the Albanian poet Sali Bashota, the first one being in Albanian, “Killed nature”, and the other one in Macedonian, published by the publishing house “Feniks” from Skopje. Numerous foreign and Albanian poets spoke about these books.
Within the programme, the poets visited also the Arabati Baba Teqe, the old house of the Pallosh’s and the Coloured Mosque in Tetova.
During the great literary hour “Poetic Meridians”, poems were read, the literary prizes of the Festival were awarded and the Honorary Members were appointed. The jury consisting of Prof. Dr. Sali Bashota, Kate Xukaro and Ahmet Selmani decided to give the literary award ”Naim Frashėri” to the poet Manlio Argueta from far-away El Salvador, who for objective reasons could not participate.   Renée Ferrer, the poet from Paraguay in Latin America, was declared the winner of the literary prize “Menada”, the literary prize “Oeneumi” was given to Aarne Puu, the Estonian poet living in Poland, whereas the prize "Qiriu i Naimit/Naim's Candle" was awarded to the Albanian poet Sadik Bejko. Besides this year’s laureate Manlio Argueta, also the poets Pierfranco Bruni from Italy and Nicole Cage-Florentiny from Martinique were declared Honorary Members of the Festival.
This year, too, the Festival published the anthology of the participating poets, prepared by Ahmet Selmani and Shaip Emėrllahu and translated into Albanian by the poet Silke Liria Blumbach, with the title "Birds who don't die of poison".
As always, the opening and the closing of the International Poetry Festival “Ditet e Naimit” was broadcast live on the national television.

The edition of this year was hold under the patronage of the Ministry of Culture.

The impressive stage was conceived by the painter Savash Veliu, whereas it was realized by the firm “Xheladin Gjurra” from Shipkovica.
A. A.