Yalda: An Afghan Winter Story
MIXED-MEDIA VIDEO BY “TILL WE HAVE FACES
INTRODUCTORY TEXT BY HEATHER M. SURLS
Setara, a 17-year-old from Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan, remembers falling asleep at her grandmother’s house as a girl. Grandma Gul, or Grandma Flower, would sit beside her with a cup of chai and rock-sugar candies and tell her stories. One of these was the story of Yalda, a traditional Afghan tale about a village girl who meets a feared “witch” on the longest night of the year.
ST AIRS
POEM BY VAGRANT MOON
PHOTO BY JC JOHNSON
Spirited Away—Again
TEXT AND POEM BY GABRIEL NOEL
Spirited Away is a feature animated film by Hayao Miyazaki, one of the most acclaimed directors of contemporary cinema. Released in Japan in 2001, it follows 10-year-old Chihiro, an innocent, headstrong, sensitive girl moving with her parents to a new home in a Japanese town where she knows no one. As they are about to arrive in their tiny car to their new life, the father takes a wrong turn, leading them instead to an abandoned theme park where the world of the spirits still exists in a parallel reality. p>
Meet the Dutch Poet Laureate Tsead Bruinja
INTERVIEW AND ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY MIRTHE SMEETS
Mirthe Smeets, our poetry-loving Dutch journalist, spoke with Tsead Bruinja. Their conversation in Dutch was originally published by Meander Magazine (“Tsead Bruinja, de dichter die zich nooit vrij voelt, en telkens weer doorgaat”), and we are honored to publish an English version of the interview.
Introduction to Arabic Poetry: Poet Nizar Qabbani
VIDEO PRODUCTION AND PHOTO BY ZAHER AL ZAHER
POEM RECITED BY ZAHER AL ZAHER
ARTICLE TEXT BY HEATHER M. SURLS
Today’s poem, recited by Syrian photojournalist Zaher Al Zaher, tells of a man’s love for a beautiful woman who is blind. After insisting that she cannot marry without her sight, the man says he will find someone to donate a pair of eyes for her. Then, when she wakes up able to see, the woman realizes her lover is himself blind and refuses to marry him. Saddened, he releases her with a parting request: that she promise to care for his eyes.
Kimbé, an Excerpt From a Story of Disillusionment and Hope
EXCERPT FROM A NOVEL BY BENJAMIN KISONI
PHOTO BY DARIN DUNN
The novel Kimbé is set in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Visit this week’s bonus article to see a photo album of images from “Kimbé’s world”!