Argentina’s capital appreciates Moroccan literature

The Legislative Council of Buenos Aires has declared the third anthology of writers and poets, Friends of Morocco, recently published in the Argentine capital, a work of “cultural importance.”

The official ceremony for this announcement was held on Monday at the Legislative Assembly in Buenos Aires, in the presence of representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Chamber of Deputies, the Senate, ambassadors accredited to Argentina, diplomats, writers who participated in the completion of this collective work, and journalists.

This ceremony, which was organized as part of the celebrations of the 25th anniversary of the Throne Day, was an opportunity to celebrate Moroccan culture and praise the creativity of about 50 Argentine writers and poets, who contributed to the completion of the book “Dialogues between Morocco and Argentina”, which aims to strengthen the bonds of friendship between the two countries.

The anthology, written by members of the association “Argentine Poets Friends of Morocco,” is “a testimony to the brotherhood between our two countries that must be further consolidated and transcend time through art,” said regional MP Cecilia Ferrero.

She pointed out that this anthology combines poetic and prose texts that “take us on a journey through geographical and cultural sites from the depths of Morocco: large and small markets, tea and henna rituals, ancient crafts, and the ancient inhabitants of the desert and the Atlas Mountains.”

For her part, academic and poet Mariela Palermo, who coordinated and reviewed this collective work, explained that all regions of Argentina are represented in this anthology, noting that the 50 authors belong to almost the entire geography of Argentina.

Palermo continued that it is about “writers with distinct paths, different ages and from all over Argentina,” each one of whom tells a story that brings the reader closer to the culture of Morocco, its people, its landscapes and its traditions.

For his part, Yasser Fares, Morocco’s ambassador to Argentina, praised this announcement of a new book on Morocco, after the first and second anthologies that received this distinction in June 2023.

The Moroccan diplomat expressed his thanks to the Legislative Council in Buenos Aires, which, through this initiative, honored the ninety members of the “Argentine Poets, Friends of Morocco” Association, about forty of whom participated in preparing the first and second anthologies on the Kingdom of Morocco.

Fares stressed the role of “cultural diplomacy” in building bridges between the two shores of the Atlantic and strengthening relations between the Moroccan and Argentine peoples.

The third anthology of the Association of Argentine Poets, Friends of Morocco, a literary project supervised by the Moroccan Embassy in Argentina, offers readers texts and poems inspired by dozens of paintings by Moroccan artists, with the aim of “reducing the distances” between two countries and cultures separated by an ocean.

In the introduction to the book, the Moroccan ambassador described it as a kind of “conversation” between two cultures that “not only breaks down barriers of language and nationality, but also brings together two peoples who are different in terms of geography, culture and traditions (…). It is an invitation to strengthen the mutual understanding that already exists between Morocco and Argentina.”