Ashraf AboArafe
The delegation of Russian writers who participated in the last session of the Cairo International Book Fair visited Cairo’s historical and archaeological landmarks, starting from the Khan Al-Khalili area and Al-Mu’izz Street.
The delegation of writers included Yekaterina Sobol, Marina Moskvina, Afanas Mamedov, Vladimir Belyakov, Dmitry Streshnev, and the poet Kirill Korchagin, accompanied by Yekaterina Chuenkova, head of the delegation, and Sherif Gad, head of cultural activity at the Russian Cultural Center in Cairo and head of the Alumni Association. The delegation stressed that visiting historic Cairo is an imaginary trip. It is as if we are going back in history to the time of One Thousand and One Nights. The delegation was keen to enter mosques and archaeological sites to listen to historical information about each building and take souvenir photos. They drank tea with Al-Fishawy coffee. They were amazed by the history of its founding.
Gad confirmed that the delegation includes a group of Russian creative people who are visiting Cairo for the first time, such as the writer Afanas Mamedov, the poet Kirill Korchagin, the writer Marina Moskvina and the writer Ekaterina Sobol, but Dr. Vladimir Belyakov and Dmitry Streshnev are friends of Cairo, as they were keen to explain historical information to the rest of the delegation during Walking around the Khan Al Khalili area.
It is worth noting that the great Arabist Vladimir Belyakov, doctor of historical sciences, a prominent researcher at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and editor-in-chief of the magazine “Archives of the East,” has many books on the history of Egyptian-Russian relations. Dmitry Streshnev, a writer, member of the Russian Writers Union, specializes in Middle Eastern affairs. Several of his novels were translated into Arabic, the most recent of which was “The Diary of the Grand Priest Ivan Sergeyevich,” translated by Dr. Muhammad Nasr al-Jabali and Adel Muhammad Siddiq. Marina Moskvina, a writer, journalist, and screenwriter, is a television and radio show presenter and has several works, including: “Romance with the Moon,” “The Genius of Unrequited Love,” and “My Dog Loves Jazz.” The writer, journalist, and literary critic Afanas Mamedov is fond of the city of Alexandria, and sees it as the most beautiful city on the Mediterranean. The writer, Ekaterina Sobol, specializes in children’s literature, and most of her writings are directed at teenagers aged 12-17 years. The poet Kirill Korchagin is interested in studying the Arabic language and is currently translating Arabic poetry into the Russian language. He began by translating a poem by the poet Salah Abdel Sabour.
