Minutes from the General Assembly of the Three Seas Writers’ and Translators’ Council Rhodes 24th-27th October 2002

After 16 years I have decided to resign from my work in TSWTC. The
centre today is mainly run by IWTCR but there is still a need for an
international committee to broaden the perspectives.
But I also think that it important to renew the board and let a new
generation make their voices heard. I think that our centre should
open still more windows and doors to the world. As you know the centre
is operating under the auspieces of UNESCO and that means that it is
open also to countries outside Europe. It is my hope that we soon will
be able to welcome writers and translators from Pakistan. Palestine,
Israel, India and China. Alrwady we have welcomed some writers from
Latin America. Building bridges between cultures was the most vital
idea behind the writers´cruises both in the Baltic Sea in 1992 (that
resulted in the Baltic Centre on the island of Gotland) and in the
Black Sea and the Aegean in 1994 (that resulted in the Centre of Three
Seas in Rhodes). It is also important to remember that Rhodes during
all history has been an important place for multicultural meetings,
starting with the school of Rhetoric in Rhodini where among others
Ceasar and Cicero studied.

The activities of TSWTC has varied during the years. Some years have
been more successful than others. During my period we tried to arrange
a major peace conference with writers from Palestine and Israel. We
also succeeded to make a preparatory meeting in February 2009 with the
chairman of the Palestinian Pen Club, Ms. Hanan Awwad, and the
wellknown Israeli writer Sami Michael. Our plan was to invite a to a
conference with international observers in October 2009 but due to
political and economical problems it was not possible to fullfill this
plan and then came the attack on Gaza. Thoses interested can read some
minutes from this meeting on our homepage. Another important meeting
took place in December 2009 when the board and the director of the
Baltic Centre had a discussion with the President Anastasios Kodakos
about the activities of the two centres. Is was very interesting to
hear about the Rhodian initiatives for the youth of the islandd. I
have also represented TSWTC at a planning session in Cyprus where a
new "home for cooperation" has been inaugurated. We might also have
access to a working room there in the years to come.

When finishing my term in the centre I decided to take the initative
to a future Kasdaglis Prize together with my friend and initiator of
the Centre of Three Seas, Vassilis Minaidis. Together we offer 2000
euros dedicated to a young Rhodian writer. We are quite hopeful that
this modest beginning will be followed up by other literary minded
people who share our admiration for the late Nikos Kasdaglis.

Stockholm, 30 May, 2010
Peter Curman