The collection of poems "Gaza, one body" by author Malika Berak has had as many as five editions in France since March of last year. The collection translated from French by Tamara Čukuranović was published by the new publishing house "Plan B izdavaštvo".
Author Malika Berak has a rich diplomatic career. She was a cultural adviser at the Consulate General of France in Jerusalem, Bahrain, Oman and Tanzania. So far, she has published two collections of poems - "Omanski dnevnik" and "Dnevnik iz tuđine", and "Gaza, one body" is her third collection. poetry.
A testimony of human helplessness
As it says for "Bujanovac" Mila Lazić, editor at "Plan B publishing house", through the collection "Gaza, one body" we are engraved with naturalistic and symbolic images, but also a reminder that Gaza it is not exclusively a geographical toponym, but a living organism.
She also states that Malika in art he sees engagement, the meaning of human existence and the possibility of the outpouring of emotions and feelings, which remain suppressed during political dialogues.
The collection "Gaza, One Body" opens with Saint John Perce's line "And to whom then would we leave the honor of our time" which refers to the burden that each individual must carry on his own back.
Portal Bujanovačke also published an interview with Malika Berak, who says that all her songs in this collection seek to express her despair and anger and represent her testimony about the genocide, which she helplessly witnessed from afar.
Photo: Private archiveMalika Berak
Poetry is dedicated to justice.
When asked how her stay in Jerusalem influenced her poetry and what fascinated her the most about the Palestinian people, Malika answered: "Being in the middle of a political storm Middle East, and especially Palestine, I gradually saw that poetry expresses commitment to those moral values that include justice. The ability of the Palestinians to resist is, as history has shown, particularly astonishing."
In this collection, Malika Berak moves away from pathos, from the crude and superficial depiction of emotions and human suffering, writes Mila Lazić. The author of the collection "Gaza, one body" says that art, like any other form of human expression, is necessarily engaged, but that it cannot resolve conflicts and establish order because that is not its role. "It gives meaning to human existence," Malika says.
The collection "Gaza, one body" is the first edition of "Plan B Publishing". This publishing house says that they will publish four to five titles a year, whether they are novels, collections of stories or poetry, by foreign as well as local authors.
Source: Bujanovačke, Nova.rs
Real journalism costs money, and we will not be bought by tycoons and corporations. Support us with a one-time or monthly donation. The time for it is now!
