Azerbaijan joins Int’l Storytelling festival in Turkey
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By Laman Ismayilova
The International Storytelling Festival was held in Turkey’s Istanbul from February 16 to 20. The contest aimed to choose the best story among 2500 submitted works.
The festival was attended by world-famous writers. Azerbaijan was represented at the event by famous writer Afag Masud, the Translation Centre operating under Azerbaijan's Cabinet of Ministers reported.
Addressing the event, Masud stressed the importance of literature in bringing people and countries together. She firmly believes that art has no limits.
During the festival, İhsan Mermerci Anadolu lyceum organized an event entitled “The school of stories". A story called "The Sparrows" written by the Azerbaijani writer in Turkish language was read out at the event.
Further, the students and teachers held discussions on various topics, including " The Storytelling", " The true story starts here " and " The place of stories in the modern world".
Outstanding playwright and novelist Afag Masud, born in Baku in 1957, published her first novel, The Curse, in 1979, and is one of the very few women in Azerbaijan who have succeeded in making a career out of writing.
Afag Masud graduated in Journalism from Baku State University in 1979. She worked as an editor and editorial board member for Azerbaijanfilm Studio in 1979-1986 and joined Azerbaijantelefilm Studio as a director in 1986-1988. She was the Chair of the Centre of Translation for Art Works and Literary Relations in 1989-2014.
Afag Masud is primarily known for her novels and short stories. She writes in Azerbaijani-Turkish, but her fiction is known throughout the world. It has attracted great attention from scholars and students, and has been translated into other languages, including Russian, English, German, French, and Uzbek. She is also an Honoured Art Worker and a full member of the Peter's Academy of Sciences and Arts (PANI).
She is also the author of several plays, including Near Death, He loves Me, Getting to Leave, Woman under a Train, and Kerbala. Two of her plays - Near Death and He loves Me have been staged at the Yuğ National Drama Theatre, while the play Woman under a Train at the Azerbaijan Academic National Drama Theatre (AzDrama). Five films have been made for television based on her scripts: Punishment (Cəza), The Sparrows (Sərçələr), Night (Gecə), The Party (Qonaqlıq), and The Death of the Rabbit (Dovşanın ölümü).
She is a winner of the Humay National Academy Award, and the First International Stage Play Contest Awards announced by the Writers Union of Eurasia. Afag Masud is the Director of the Translation Centre under the Cabinet of Ministers of the Azerbaijan.
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