Baleària promotes Spanish-Moroccan women’s poetry among customers on routes between Spain and North Africa

Esto es un subtítulo

• Each month, booklets of poems by women, alternating between Spanish and Moroccan writers, are made available on the company’s vessels and at its ticket offices to highlight the good-neighbourly relations between the two countries
  
•  The Andalusian-Moroccan Friendship Association – Ibn Rushd Forum (AAAM) coordinates the literary collection, whose booklets are also distributed at the ten Spanish schools in Morocco and at the Spanish Consulate in Nador
•  On 8 March, to mark International Women’s Day, the ‘Matria’ project will be presented at the Instituto Cervantes in Tangier

The Baleària Foundation and the Andalusian-Moroccan Friendship Association – Ibn Rushd Forum (AAAM) have launched a cultural initiative this year under which passengers travelling on Baleària vessels linking Spain and North Africa receive free booklets featuring contemporary poetry by Spanish and Moroccan women. The aim is to showcase the literary work of leading poets from both shores, as a metaphor for the two countries’ increasingly close relationship.

Each month, a new booklet in the collection is published and distributed, alternating between Spanish and Moroccan writers selected by the Andalusian-Moroccan Friendship Association – Ibn Rushd Forum. In January, the booklet featured the Jerez-born poet Raquel Lanseros, while February’s edition features the Moroccan poet Khadija Arouhal, with a print run of approximately 5,000 copies. Through poetry, the initiative seeks to highlight the importance of relations between Spain and Morocco, while also recognising the contribution made by Spanish and Moroccan artists — in this case, poets — to this goal.

The booklet featuring a poet’s work each month is published in her original language, with a Spanish translation for poets who write in Arabic, Amazigh, Darija or French, or an Arabic translation for Spanish poets. It is distributed at Baleària’s ticket offices in the ports of Tangier, Nador, Melilla and Málaga, as well as at the Spanish Consulate in Nador. The translations are produced by Professor Salma Moutaouakkil of the University of Marrakesh. The text is accompanied by a cover image coordinated by the Baleària Foundation and created by Spanish and Moroccan visual artists, who have donated the use of their work to support the initiative. The January booklet was illustrated by Ibiza-born artist Patricia Boned, while this month’s illustration is by Doralice Souza, also from Ibiza. The back cover features an image of the relevant Moroccan or Spanish writer, together with a short biography and a statement in support of good-neighbourly relations between the two countries.

The booklets are also distributed to pupils — the vast majority of whom are Moroccan — at the ten Spanish schools across Morocco, thanks to the collaboration of the Education Office of the Spanish Embassy in Morocco.

To coincide with International Women’s Day, the official presentation of the ‘Matria’ project will take place at the Instituto Cervantes in Tangier on 8 March. It will be attended by the president of the Baleària Foundation, Ricard Pérez, and the president of the Andalusian-Moroccan Friendship Association – Ibn Rushd Forum (AAAM), José Sarria, as well as Moroccan authorities, representatives of Spain’s diplomatic corps and figures from the cultural world.