thesilkroadtoday
The Silk Road Literature Series hosted its Three Continents Creative Meeting on Wednesday, 3 September 2025. In an hour online gathering, six authors from across three continents presented their works translated into Arabic by their host, the Egyptian poet and novelist Ashraf Aboul-Yazid.
From Russia, Inna Natcharova present I, Cleopatra, a richly imagined historical-literary fantasy adorned with her own miniature illustrations of Cleopatra. Due to technical problems, the communication came via a WhatsApp Call. The host also showed the miniature paintings illustrated by the author for Cleopatra.
Inna Vladimirovna Nacharova was born in the city of Ufa in 1966. She worked for a long time in executive and legislative bodies. She has been writing books for twenty-five years. Many of her works have been translated into Bulgarian and Serbian and published in the Russian, European, and American press. She is a laureate of the Ural Prize White Wing and the All-Russian Literary Prize White Tablet. She received a diploma in the category “For Mastery” at the 3rd International Competition in Düsseldorf (Germany). At the World Folkloriada in 2021, her book Diva was presented by the Minister of Culture of the Republic of Bashkortostan to Emir Kusturica.
She was a Dictator of the “Total Dictation” campaign in 2018 at one of its venues, and headliner of the “Kitap-Bayram” Book Fair in 2024.
She was awarded a diploma and commemorative badge of Rossotrudnichestvo in Bulgaria “For Contribution to the Preservation of Russian Literature” and “Literature as a Means of Diplomacy” (2019). She was also honored with the badge of laureate of the annual literary award Heroes of the Great Victory (2020). She holds a diploma of the International Commonwealth of People’s Diplomacy for her significant contribution to the development of literature and strengthening of international creative ties (Kazakhstan, 2022). She is the winner of the international short story competition of the Gomel Plus Radio Prize (Belarus, 2022).
She is the founder of the international charitable creative project Give the World a Fairy Tale, within which several children’s books were published with illustrations by well-known Russian, Bulgarian, and Estonian artists. She is a member of the Writers’ Unions of Serbia and Russia (SKOR). Since 2011, she has been President of the International Association of Writers Sodruzhestvo.
From the book:
“I am Cleopatra—divine Queen of Egypt.
When Caesar was struck down, grief consumed me, yet sorrow swiftly burned into fury. Rage seared my heart, for in his will, Caesar forgot me… and he forgot our son, Ptolemy Caesar. All his power, all his dominions, he bestowed upon Octavian, his cold-blooded nephew.And so, the storm of civil war rose, and I, Cleopatra, stood upon the knife’s edge. Both sides called for my favor, my patronage. Yet how could I choose? To embrace the vanquished would mean Egypt crushed beneath the victor’s heel, and the shadow of Rome falling forever upon my throne.
I resolved then to act swiftly. The legions Caesar left behind were daggers pointed at my breast, ready to turn against me at any moment. So I cast them away—sent them into battle against Dolabella, the so-called Caesarian. He was son-in-law to that viper Cicero, a man I despised, one who wore Caesar’s colors yet betrayed him to a merciless death.
And I, Cleopatra, rejoiced when those legions, once Caesar’s own, faltered before Dolabella and turned to his enemy’s side. For in their defection, I tasted triumph, and in their betrayal, I saw Rome itself tremble.”
The six celebrated authors were Hemant Divate (India), Cao Shui (China), Miao yi- Tu (Taiwan), Esther Adelana (Nigeria), Inna Natcharova (Russia), Mexosh Abdullah (Azerbaijan). The Creative meeting took an hour to host the 6 authors, from 10:00 to 11:00 AM (Egypt local time), corresponding to 9:00–10:00 AM in Nigeria, 11:00 AM–12:00 PM in Russia (Moscow), 12:00–1:00 PM in Azerbaijan (Baku), 1:30–2:30 PM in India (New Delhi), and 4:00–5:00 PM in both China (Beijing) and Taiwan (Taipei).
Together, these voices underscore the Silk Road Literature Series’ mission to bridge cultures through translation and shared creativity.
