[W.F. Lantry]

Hey, folks,

So this is very cool. We appeared in a Language of the Birds anthology in Uzbekistan, and the poem was translated into Uzbek! Thanks to A'zam Obidov for making this happen! Click the image to view the poem in both languages...

It took a couple years, so the bio's old. But it came out in hard copy, and we received ours yesterday. It's beautifully done, with full color photos, etc. And next time you're in Uzbekistan, you can walk into a bookstore and buy a copy...

Of interest: The anthology is dedicated to Ali-Shir Nava'i, the Chaucer of the language (cf. C's Parlement of Fowles). He wrote an answer to Attar's "The Conference of the Birds," on which my text is based. He was also an architect, and designed Attar's memorial...

Thanks,

Bill

[Charlotte Innes]

This is an absolutely beautiful poem, Bill. I'm very moved by it. And congratulations on appearing in Uzbek! I love the way the pages are decorated. There's something amazing about seeing one's work in language one doesn't understand, isn't there--though perhaps you do! I have a poem of mine in Farsi, which looks gorgeous on the page, and an article on Orhan Pamuk in a Turkish anthology, which I'm really proud of. It always makes me think of how beautiful and yet how tenuous language is.

At any rate, yes, next time I'm in Uzbekistan, I'll take a look!

Charlotte

[Tim Murphy]

This is great Bill. I'm a big fan of Conference of the Birds, and I'm glad to see the river reversing its grand circuit.

[Seree Zohar]

Very cool, Bill!

[Adam Elgar]

Cool as an Uzbek winter! - ie. magnificent, Bill.

[Jennifer Reeser]

Bill, as I said on your page at Facebook -- it is beautiful, and a true honor.

[Jennifer Reeser]

As well.



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[Pedro Poitevin]

Congratulations, Bill!

[W.F. Lantry]

Thanks everybody. It really is a joy!

To do a little PR for the group who put this together, they seem to be a translation society linked to the national University there. They even named themselves after the original poet: Navoi's Garden. There's a page about them on the website: http://www.navoigarden.com/about_club.htm

A'zam Obidov seems to have taken up the project they began, and brought it to fruition. He's a young poet who already has several books out, including Island of Anxiety, Tunes of Asia, and A Miracle is on the Way.

Cool factoid: they got people from six continents to participate (I gave up counting the countries), in probably a dozen languages. World poetry is alive and well!

Thanks,

Bill