A collection of contemporary Crimean Tatar poetry Qırım öz tüsüni alır / Crimea will regain its colour was presented in Ukraine. It was published by the NGO Kitap Qalesi, which promotes Crimean Tatar literature. This was reported by the NGO on its Facebook page.
‘The title of the collection ‘Qırım öz tüsüni alır / Crimea will regain its colour’ is a word of hope, and the mood that the poets laid when they worked on the collection. We were incredibly lucky to meet and collaborate with many wonderful people while working on this book,’ the organisation’s representatives wrote on the social network.
The NGO noted that the main goal of this collection is to provide an opportunity for Crimean Tatar writers to express their personal thoughts and experiences that have resulted from 10 years of censorship.
‘When we started working on Kitap Qalesi as an initiative, we had different ideas about the books we planned to publish. At the time of registration, we applied for the Let’s NGO programme, which helps young social and cultural initiatives with registration and the first issues of organisational development. The programme provides support to promising ideas. Our idea was initially to enable poets who returned to Crimea after the eviction to spread their work outside of Crimea. However, unfortunately, it is not safe for many of them in the current conditions, so the collection has become more about the absolutely contemporary experiences of the authors,’ Dzhemile Ablyakimova said in a comment to Suspilne Krym.
The author added that this collection will be useful for those who can read Crimean Tatar Latin, or will be a help for those who are learning the language.
At the moment, the book is available online, but the team aims to raise funds for a printed edition. The organisation calls on all those who care to contribute financially to speed up the production of the paper format of the book.