Cairo, Egypt / Barcelona, Spain

Celebrated Egyptian poet Abdel Latif Moubarak has announced the global release of his highly anticipated first English-language poetry collection, titled “Probability” Published in collaboration with the Barcelona Adabia (Barcelona Literary Magazine) in Spain.

The collection marks a significant milestone in Moubarak’s career, bridging the gap between Middle Eastern lyrical traditions and a global English-speaking audience.

In “Probability”, Moubarak transcends geographical boundaries, offering poems that pulsate with freedom, dignity, and a relentless search for meaning. Described as writing with the “ink of memory and noble sorrow,” Moubarak transforms the fragments of the human psyche into a sanctuary for those lost in a rapidly changing world. His work is a unique blend of Sufi lyricism and the pulse of resistance, making the poet both a witness to reality and a participant in the dream of survival.

The publication of this collection is the result of a fruitful cultural partnership. Moubarak expressed his immense joy regarding this international debut, extending his deepest gratitude to Mr. Hassan yarti, whose dedicated support and vision were instrumental in bringing this project to fruition.

The back cover of the collection sets a powerful tone: “In this collection, Abdel Latif Moubarak does not merely write words; he pours his soul into molds of sorrow and hope.” The poems are not born in isolation but emerge from the “cracks of the pavement”—a metaphor for the resilience of the human spirit amidst hardship.

About the Author

Abdel Latif Moubarak is a singular Egyptian poetic voice. Known for his ability to intersect the topography of the homeland with the depths of the human soul, his move into the English language is a deliberate effort to engage in a global dialogue about peace, memory, and the “eternal child” that resists within us all.

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Read: Eastern woman – Poetry from Egypt

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• Houssine Yarti’s current work has just been published by Barcelona Literary Publishing as part of a series on cinema by him

From Shadow to Spotlight: The Evolution of Women’s Roles in Cinema Through the Decades, the book becomes the third in a procession which began with the CRAFTING OF THE IMPOSSIBLE: A Journey through Visual Effects, which dealt with the influence of technology on the movie making process, and then VIEWFINDER: In the World of Global Cinema, where Yarti made comparisons of the experiences of cinema in America, Europe, the Arab world, Korea and India. This new version places women in the middle of its attention, and it follows the significant changes which the silver screen has undergone during its existence.

Yarti examines the display of women in early films as limited to the stereotypical or supporting role, in many cases connected to the narrow, traditional or sentimentalism of representation, and the path to more complicated and deep images has taken a long.

The book features classic Hollywood films, the European waves of cinema and even Arab and Asian cinema in that the image of women on the screen was in interaction with the social, political and cultural transformation of each period.

The book does not treat cinema as a separate art but as a living document of the society dealing with women: at other moments a mirror that represents a current reality, at other moments a moving force that creates the existing reality. In this regard, the author offers a critical standpoint which sees cinema as a larger cultural trend that covers more than the screen.

Yarti emphasizes that it is not an individual book, but a part of a bigger project, which attempts to treat the issue of cinema as a form of cultural phenomenon that intersects with technology, politics, identity, and collective memory. He also discloses that a second book is also in the pipeline that will be published in 2026, which once again provides support to the continuation of this grand research project.

Ultimately, the author thanks Barcelona Literaria Publishing that has always supported him, his family, friends, and readers and states that every book he presents to them is not just another printed piece of work but it is the experience of shadows and light, of knowledge and passion, of arts, and life.

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Read: Do you remember? – Poetry by Hassane Yarti, a Moroccan poet and writer

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By Angela Kosta

“Crafting the Impossible: A Journey Through Visual Effects” A new book written by the author Houssine Yarti and published by Barcelona Literary Publishing which was considered as an added value in the global cinema literature.

The book is devoted to the analysis of Visual effects as one of the most important aspects of the contemporary filmmaking process, how this aspect has developed in the course of the last few decades and how this change has affected the film industries all over the world. Another trivia, Houssine Yarti shares with readers, is the evolution of visual effects in films: from BW films, to the use of CGI and artificial intelligence in films of the present age. The book tells the story of this field and the various technologies that form the basis of such films and the depiction of fantasy on movie screen. Particular attention is paid to the films that have become the milestones in the development of the VFX industry, namely Jurassic Park, the Matrix and Avatar. As it explains in detail, it shows how these films employed technology to bend and break the conventional rules and perform the impossible. It also talks about incidences and struggles that creators had while applying these technologies.

What makes Crafting the Impossible unique is its way of explaining the artistic and technical work of making visuals possible for readers who have no prior knowledge about the concepts involved. Houssine Yarti explores how creative aspect interfaces with the technical apparatus on how visual effects, or even enhancement, is not just about adding life to the cinematic masterpieces but an essential aspect of movie-making.

Another trivia, Houssine Yarti shares with readers, is the evolution of visual effects in films: from BW films, to the use of CGI and artificial intelligence in films of the present age

It also highlights some International movies that have gone the extra mile in utilizing visual effects and makes future projections about the future of film making especially utilization of virtual and augmented reality.

Crafting the Impossible is an important source for everyone who wants to plunge into the sphere of cinematography – more specifically for the film shapers and also the connoisseurs of the film industry, particularly in the spheres of the Visual Effects as well as the Post Production Stage of film making, by the way is available on Amazon.

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Angela Kosta is the Executive Director of MIRIADE Magazine, Academic, journalist, writer, poet, essayist, literary critic, editor, translator, and promoter

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Excerpts from a Research Paper ‘From Traders to Workers: Indian Immigration in Spain’

Ana López-Sala

The history of the Indian community in Spain is fascinating not only for its peculiarity within the general dynamics of immigration to the country, but also because it is one of the least known migration inflows, despite being one of the oldest. Indian immigration to Spain began at the end of the 19th Century as part of a diaspora of Sindhi traders which, like other merchant communities, is dispersed throughout the world.

The first Indians settled in the Canary Islands during the second half of the 19th Century, many arriving from Mediterranean and coastal African cities. The first wave of settlers had a homogenous profile because their international mobility practices were linked to commerce, an activity carried out exclusively by Sindhi men, leading them to expand and settle in free zones and port cities throughout the world. They chose to settle in Spain’s Canary Islands due to business opportunities there, as well as the archipelago’s proximity to other settlement areas, such as Gibraltar and the Maghreb countries.

The community of early settlers numbered just over one hundred people, all male, who made frequent trips to areas near the Mediterranean and Northern Africa where they already had other businesses. The male heads of household, and in some cases eldest sons, also returned regularly to India to visit their families, who remained in Sindh, and for religious and social reasons.

The migratory flow of Sindhis to the Canary Islands increased during the first decades of the 20^th Century, but it reached its highpoint at the end of the 1960s and start of the 1970s. The flow increased because the archipelago’s economy improved, activated by the boom in national and international tourism, and also due to the community’s struggles in other locations, including Sindh itself, which was left under Pakistani rule after the Indian subcontinent was partitioned in 1947. During this period the origins of new arrivals diversified. Sindhi merchants and workers arrived in Spain not only from India, but also from other countries where their trade diaspora had settled, including Hong Kong, Vietnam, Philippines, Curacao or Ghana.

Sindhi immigration in this period was family-based, although in the majority of cases the women came only after their husbands had been settled in the country for a few years. The vibrant economic situation of this period allowed some of the merchants established in the Canaries to expand their businesses to other Spanish provinces, such as Ceuta, Melilla or Malaga, and in Andorra, which also offer advantageous tax regimes. In Ceuta and Melilla their businesses flourished for several decades, employing many local workers, thanks to clientele from military bases and their families, who visited during oath of allegiance to the flag ceremonies. By the middle of the 1970s Indians owned more than 200 businesses in Ceuta and Melilla.

In the 1980s, the liberalization of exports and the loss of business opportunities in the Canaries caused by Spain’s entrance into the European Union led some Sindhi businessmen to move to other parts of Spain, such as Catalonia, Malaga and Andorra, in search of new opportunities.

Indian migration, with its diversity and evolution, is one of the few historic immigrant communities in Spain, a country that had received little immigration until the 1980s. Over the decades this flow has created a small, distinctive community of common Indian descent that includes very diverse national and legal affiliations (including natural and naturalized Spanish citizens, Indian citizens and citizens of other countries), and also an involvement in business activities (both as workers and owners). The small number of members of this community is in contrast with its economic importance; it was part of the business elite in the Canaries for decades and also played important role in Ceuta’s economy.

The “new Indian immigration”, much more recent and even less known, started in the 1980s and has grown significantly over the past few years, although its volume remains limited. The composition, economic activity and pattern of geographic distribution of this new migration are very different than that of the traditional Sindh immigration. For instance, it has highly varied origins: the majority of the migrants are Sikhs, but they also include Hindus, Muslims and Buddhists from northern India, especially Punjab and Haryana.

Today, Sindhis make up a small, transnational community with multiple national affiliations. Internally, the community is very cohesive due to a multitude of family and economic ties that transcend national borders, forming an intense social network through which goods, services, capital and credit, information and people circulate. Concepts such as nationality and “locality” do not form part of their identity, while economic practices and religious faith permeate and shape the community’s self-identity and sense of belonging. An extensive and multinational family, multilingualism and intense social relationships via the network are other aspects commonly mentioned as articulating their sense of belonging and reproducing their identity.

A long tradition and specialization in commerce, a strong sense of community and trusted networks in different parts of the world have facilitated the development of their businesses in Spain, first in the Canary Islands and later in other cities in Andalusia and Catalonia. The business sphere in the Sindhi world is exclusively masculine, although this situation can change slightly in the context of migrations, as has been observed in other countries in which they have settled. The role of women is limited to the domestic realm. However, they are in charge of maintaining the cultural traditions at the heart of the community’s identity, including matrimonies and religious practice. This is articulated through the temples of diverse branches of Hinduism. Notable branches in this regard are the Geeta Ashrams, Guru Mandir, and other centers in the Satnam Sakhi, Radha Soami or Sai Baba tradition in the Canaries, and the Hare Krishna Temple, the Radhasoami Satsang Beas Hindu Meditation Center and the Sai Baba Center in Catalonia. There are more progressive versions of Hinduism within the community, and others that are stricter and more conservative.

The field work carried out in the Sindhi community between 2006 and 2011 has also allowed us to establish a series of conclusions on the caste system among Indian traders settled in Spain and its links to the creation of identity. In general terms, Sindhis place little importance on the caste system. The majority of people interviewed indicated that they belonged to the Lohana caste, but they usually only referred to themselves as Sindhi Hindus. For example, among groups of traders residing in Spain it’s quite common for members of different castes to get married and to take meals together. The little importance placed on the caste system has also been observed in this community settled in other parts of the world. For instance, Dieter Haller’s study on Sindhi settled in Gibraltar underscores that one of the most noteworthy and distinctive elements of this community is precisely the lack of importance placed on the caste system, in contrast to all other Hindu groups.

However, the weak influence of the caste system on the structure of Sindhi social life was first indicated by Barnouw in the mid-1950s. In his opinion, the minimization of its importance was consistent with the religious and social traditions of Sindh, where the influence of Muslim doctrines of Sufism and Sikhism and of some reform Hindu currents such as Brahmo Samaj and Arya Samaj, which defend the abolition of this system, seem to have somewhat weakened class distinctions, resulting in a more liberal and eclectic religious practice. In addition, contact with different parts of the world, and other cultures have given this community a cosmopolitan attitude, including a great deal of tolerance toward religious and social diversity.

This is not the case with the Punjabis recently settled in Spain; for this group, the caste system is an important factor in the internal structure of the community and it continues to affect their social life.

There is very little integration of Sindhi merchants into Spanish business and social organizations. In the 1950s and 60s they created their own cultural associations, known as Indostanic clubs, which became one of the main meeting places of this community for years. Many economic agreements were carried out in these clubs, since they served as a place where local businessmen could meet with other businessmen who were visiting family or on business trips.

Conclusions

The Indian community currently residing in Spain is the result of various differentiated migration currents. The first flow, which occurred throughout the 20th Century, was characterized by Sindhi merchants and workers who settled in prosperous areas of Spain in order to take advantage of the business opportunities offered by the free zones and the boom in mass tourism. Although small in volume, this immigration has a long, well-established history in Spain and has had a great deal of economic success and obtained legal status. This community is highly visible in the business sectors of the locations in which it settled and enjoys a good reputation and strong institutional relations, despite maintaining weak social ties with the host society. The Sindhi community is articulated around Indostanic clubs, business activity and the practice of Hinduism, elements that are all more important to their self-identity than nationality and place of residence, as can be observed in other trade Diasporas. However, this group has gradually lost predominance within Indian immigration to Spain. At the end of the 1980s a new flow began to arrive from northern India, especially Punjab and Haryana. This new, far more diverse, medium to low-skilled and masculinized flow has settled in Mediterranean provinces to find work, particularly Catalonia and the Valencia Community, and has higher levels of irregularity.

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Ana López-Sala, From Traders to Workers: Indian Immigration in Spain, CARIM-India RR 2013/02, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, San Domenico di Fiesole (FI): European University Institute, 2013.

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“Success is not final; failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.”

By Asif Ali

Every one of us has a story to tell, a story to hide and a story to publish. I am here to fulfill the later part of the above statement. My parents kept my name Asif, an Arabic word that means forgiveness, kindness, and strong too. My friends and colleagues have confirmed the effects of my name on my personality. And why would it not be? I am a son of the farmer who spends most of his time in the fields, working hard and teaching me the lessons of brevity, courage, and struggles. Mitho Bhoot (Khoski), a village in Badin, a district in the south-eastern part of Sindh province is my birthplace where I spent my childhood and got early education.

Education was merely a name in the area I grew-up. As usual for a boy born in the least developed area, I helped my father in cultivating lands from the beginning but also kept on my education. And the time came when my father, a person with strong character, compassionate, diligent, and ambitious for his son (me) realized that I wasn’t born for working in the fields like him for life. I could see the desire in his eyes of making me an educated and successful person despite of not having the same privilege for himself.

He called me a day and said, “My son, you are not born for this work. Now you have to study with full focus.” These words motivated me a lot and I was admitted in a private school for middle education. Although it was quite hard to support my education in private schools, but my father would sell the milk, my sister would save the money from her earnings as ladies tailor in the village, just to fund my education and make my dreams come true.

I can remember even today, the number of times I was not allowed to sit in the class for not having the school fee. But I continued, didn’t lose hope, never thought to quit, and crossed the line of matriculation. And now it was time to enter HSC education and prepare for entrance test exam for university admission. It is quite hard to prepare by yourself if you haven’t been to coaching centers and private college during intermediate as the situation in government colleges is known to everyone. The situation in this part was not much different from the previous one – But God has always been sending angles in the face of humans who always supported me apart from family. I must recognize my cousin who supported me during these days of difficulties. He was the one who funded my intermediate education and allowed me to move on for higher education after clearing the entry test exams of Mehran University of Engineering and Technology Jamshoro.

Let us begin with the second part of the story, I got admission in Mehran UET on merit basis and paid the fee by selling our cattle and adding some part from savings. It was the time to prove myself as a hard-working student, because getting into the engineering university from a village is a big achievement. I got telecommunication engineering technology and a department with beautiful building with wonderful views. But for me, starting with computers and programming in the first semester was a nightmare. And why would it not be for a boy coming from villages with no access to computer and have never ever seen or even heard about programming language. Not only for me, but for majority of the class it was very difficult to understand what was being taught.  I could recall a friend who couldn’t find the curly braces on keyboard during initial days. Yes! It was that funny and difficult at the same time. But we had no option without the hard work and that too was my goal as well. Hence, with the guidance and support from friends I cleared the first semester. I was always with good with mathematics and calculations and that has never taunted me, so I did very well in all other subjects.

University is a different environment, you got to meet with new people coming from every corner of province and make new friends and create memories. I got into the electronic circuits which fascinated me always and I wouldn’t stop working in the labs for even after the official timing and at some point, it became my hobby as well – That was amazing, as you dig-into the circuits and make connections and debug problems and so on. But the real game of research started for me during 6th semester, when I was assigned a task by Sir Hyder Mangrio to review the papers and write a literature on the topic of interest. I can call it the beginning of interest in research and a goal of pursuing a research career.

Moving on, I worked on antenna as research project in the final year of our degree under supervision of Dr. Sajjad Ali Memon. Dr. Sajjad is my research mentor, a guide and such a great person. He has taught me about reading a research paper, extracting the needed information and problem formulation, and writing a good research paper. I had published three research papers under his guidance including the research from our undergrad thesis. The undergraduate journey was beautiful as I met some amazing friends who became the great companions for life. But at the same time, the financial crisis has always been a part of my education journey. I would say, it became even more difficult to live at hostel away from the home and pay high fees of university. Although, I used to get merit scholarship once a year but that was equal to monthly expense. But as they say, the best thing about time is that it never stops. So, it passed, and I was more motivated to move ahead with my education.

In 2018, I got admission in my M.E degree at MUET. In the start of 2nd semester, I applied in Erasmus semester exchange program at University of Malaga Spain. I was in the waiting list but was not selected for it.

That rejection taught me lot of things and I improved my profile. In the end of 2nd semester, I applied for the Erasmus semester exchange program at University of Politecnico de-Milano Italy. I got interview call and cleared the interview. I spent one semester at world’s top 50th ranked university and performed my master research work. I got good exposure during my stay in Milan and made an international many friends and worked with international researchers and professors.

I am very thankful to Dr. Kapal Dev Langhani and Professor Maurizio Magarini as they helped me a lot during my Erasmus exchange stay in Milan. I produced one research paper from my master thesis and published in a reputable journal, also completed my master’s degree with decent CGPA.

Winning a very prestigious and dream scholarship is not easy. It needs some courage, consistency, commitments, hard work and dedication to fulfil the demand of that scholarship – On the other hand, to face the rejections and to handle the situation after being rejected. Multiple rejections hurt and divert you from your goals. It is very difficult to move on in that situation and tackle the pressure of failure. We always criticize on failures and do not give them space and courage to get rid from it. But this is the truth that without failure we cannot achieve the desired goals in our life. Failure is the training towards the success. Failure is the part of struggle and after failure if someone gains a success it becomes an experience.

In the end of my master’s degree, I applied for some the scholarships but did not get any response for the full scholarship. Then I decided to complete my master’s degree first and then I applied for PhD scholarships. I applied in more than 10 scholarships where 6 were the Marie Curie Scholarship. From three of them I got the response and was selected in one of them. Initially when I was not getting any response then I sent my profile and motivation to my mentor, he reviewed and did some comments and gave the suggestions. I worked accordingly and improved my profile. I did many revisions before I want to submit my application for the scholarship, this way improved lot of things and polished my skills.

At the end of my story, I give you a suggestion to select one mentor who is currently having the same scholarship, follow his guidance. Within six months you will win a scholarship. In my case I just followed my best friend’s guidance, he suggested to do not go for every scholarship, just target few selected and give them proper time, make suitable application through your hard work, commitments and give your full energy to it, hopefully you will grab it. Allah helps those who have strong belief along with continuous hard work.

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Asif Ali is PhD (Marie Curie scholarship) – Electronic Engineering – University of Politecnico de-Catalunya Spain. He has done M.E (PM Scheme, Erasmus semester Exchange (research)) – Telecommunication engineering and management – MUET, Sindh Pakistan and University of Politecnico de-Milano, Italy, and B.E in Telecommunication Engineering, MUET, Sindh, Pakistan.

Courtesy: Humans of Scholarship Network

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