By Heidi Trautmann
The voice of a writer, poet…
artist in the broad sense will always be heard; what he has said in the course
of his life, will be part of the future generations.
Now Eralp Adanir, writer and
journalist, has published his new book ‘ALI NESIM’ with the texts of his
interviews with Ali Nesim, that also exist in an abbreviated form as a video.
On May 09, Şevket Öznur of
Cyprus Research Centre and also Chairman of the TC Writers Union, had organised
a commemoration event for Ali Nesim in the Library of the Near East University;
Tulay his wife and son Tayfun were present, also many of Ali Nesim’s colleagues
who paid their respect with some thoughtful words of recollection; it was the
second event of commemoration after his death. Six students read some passages
of his work, especially Ali’s poem ‘The Cry of an Olive Tree’ was heard with
great emotion. Find the poem in English under
the link…
http://www.heiditrautmann.com/category.aspx?CID=3162148573#.Vzb47VR96Uk
Ali Nesim often came to his
house in Zeytinlik, his parents’ house, and there we had been sitting for many
hours talking about his life and life in general. My interview with him is
contained in my book ‘Art and Creativity in North Cyprus, Volume II’ which came
out last year in October 2015. In the link above is a short version of my
interview with him.
The Writers’ Union had
decided to create a literature award in the name of Ali Nesim and this year the
first one was given out to the writers …Ahmet Tolgay, Hikmet Afif Mapolar, Tuncer Bağışkan and…Heidi Trautmann. I am feeling very honoured to be alongside
such highly respected writers.
The award ceremony took
place at the site of the TC Journalists’ Union, which is next to the SOS
Children Village. It was a very touching evening opened by the chairman Şevket
Öznur followed by touching speeches of HE
Mustafa Akıncı and Dr. Sibel Siber, the Speaker of Parliament, and also by his
son Tayfun Nesimoğlu, on the achievements of Ali Nesim, on his efforts for
social and environmental improvements and awareness. We then received the award
by HE Mustafa Akıncı and for a final shot, a sort of family photo, we all stood
together under the stars of the Cypriot sky, somehow recognising that our feet
are planted on the efforts of the people before us. Thank you.