Under a title that encapsulates a dream and proclaims a vision, Misr Public Library in Benha is organizing a special cultural seminar, hosted by Mrs. Nahla Musllamm, Director General of Misr Public Library. The event opens windows onto multiple worlds and highlights five recently published global literary works translated by Dr. Ashraf Aboul-Yazid, within the Silk Road Literature series, issued by Al-Nasher Publishing, Distribution, and Advertising House. It is a vibrant celebration of translation as a second language of humanity and a mirror reflecting the diversity of the human spirit.
In a statement imbued with the publisher’s passion and conviction, poet Magdy Abu El-Kheir, Director of Al-Nasher Publishing House, affirmed that the house gives special attention to translation, stemming from a firm belief in its role as a living cultural bridge that connects peoples, brings creators and readers closer together, and grants texts new lives beyond the boundaries of their original languages.
As for the translator, Dr. Ashraf Aboul-Yazid, he speaks of the experience as an extended journey that began ten years ago with the launch of the Silk Road Literature series—a journey that was not merely linguistic transfer, but a human and aesthetic adventure. After a full decade, he looks back with pride at its success in presenting diverse voices and exceptional experiences from India, China, Nigeria, Azerbaijan, Russia, and Serbia. He also expresses his happiness that this experience is being presented within the walls of Misr Public Library, a cultural institution that “opens its arms to creativity and creators,” and provides translated texts with a living space for dialogue and reception.
The evening includes spotlights on works diverse in genre and style, reflecting the richness of the global literary scene. Among them are the short story collection The Sixth Floor by Azerbaijani writer Meyxoş Abdullah; the novella I, Cleopatra by Russian writer Inna Natcharova; and the folk children’s tale The Mermaid of the Lake and the Golden Comb by the great Tatar poet Abdullah Tukay, imbued with the fragrance of storytelling and the wonder of imagination. Also featured is the latest play by Nigerian writer Esther Adelana, The Broken Jar, with its profound human questions, alongside an anticipated work, The Epic of Eurasia by Chinese poet Cao Shui, to be released this month, reconnecting poetry with myth and humanity with vast geography.
These literary works, completed over recent months, will be discussed by Prof. Dr. Ahmed Alwany, Professor of Literary Criticism and Rhetoric and Head of the Arabic Language Department, Faculty of Arts, Benha University; novelist and researcher Fouad Morsi, Editor-in-Chief of Al-Qissa magazine; novelist and critic Mahmoud Kandil; and novelist and critic Eng. Tarek Abdel-Wahab Gado. The event will be moderated by poet and publisher Magdy Abu El-Kheir, supervisor of the library’s literary salon.
World Literature in an Arabic Voice is an evening that goes beyond presenting the aforementioned books; it celebrates translation as a noble cultural act and literature as a shared language, affirming that the world—vast as it is—can be told… in one Arabic voice. The seminar begins at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday, January 21, 2026, at the library’s headquarters in Benha.
