Correspondent, Russia:

The First Teleconference of the general meeting of the initiative group of the World Organization of Writers (WOW) took place in the format of a videoconference. 

The event was attended online by world-famous writers and poets from Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Egypt, India, Spain, Kyrgyzstan, Colombia, Nigeria, the Netherlands, Mali, Russia, Tajikistan, Uruguay, South Africa and other countries of the world. 

Such stars of literature as UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Alexandra Ochirova, laureates of the Manhe Prize Konstantin Alexandrovich Kedrov and Ashraf Aboul-Yazid, Secretary General of the Pan–African Writers Association (PAWA) Dr. Wale Okediran, winner of the Puraskar Peece Prize of the Rajasthan Academy Sahiti - Rati Saxena, winner of the Fazil Iskander International Literary Prize - Vladimir Delba and other outstanding writers of our time. 

The speeches of the participants of the international meeting were promptly translated into English and from English by the Chairperson of the Gumilyov Society Olga Medvedko and the Chairperson of the WOW youth literary organization Ilona Ilyasova, and into Spanish from English by the founder and director of the Center for the Comedy of Masks del Arte, poet Juan Carlos Tajes. 

Margarita Al, President of the World Organization of Writers, addressed the audience with a bright welcoming speech thanking all the participants of the meeting, including: Zhanna Sabayeva, Viktor Klykov, Abdukakhhor Kosim, Ruben Dario Flores, Antonio Jose Caralps Sobrera, Ismaël Diadié Haïdara, Ekaterina Volodina, Alexander Ratkevich, Dr. Prithiraj Taur, Jah Rosa Jafta, Olga Levadnaya, Alexey Kovalev and others, including those who, as Sergey Biryukov, he was unable to attend the meeting, but nevertheless contributed to the overall work. 

She added: “Dear Andrey Yurievich, dear Alexandra Vasilyevna, our beloved teacher, Konstantin Alexandrovich. Dear friends, colleagues, I am glad to welcome you and I am proud that what we have planned is coming true. I am sure that our friendship and creativity will become part of a strong foundation of peace for cooperation between countries and peoples. After all, we are people of the same planet, Earth, and we do not have another Homeland. I realize that we, having united, have assumed a huge responsibility. In many ways, we will become an example for those who will turn their eyes and their thoughts to our manifestos and, most importantly, to our deeds. Today we are meeting in a closed format and this is right, we must understand and feel our strengths and capabilities. Today we must become even closer to each other. Our free Union gives us the right to independently determine the path, goals and objectives of the organization. And because of this, the responsibility increases many times. And therefore, today, we will solve those tasks that we are capable of and those where we are confident in our professional activities. Our immediate plans for 2023: the approval of the WOW charter and structure, its registration, the beginning of admission to WOW literary unions, organizations, clubs and writers, holding six teleconferences with broadcast from 6 countries with topics that will be relevant at that time, preparation for the First WOW Congress, which will host the Open Eurasian Literary Forum and the VII Open Eurasian Literary Festival WOW-LIFTA. We will hold the next teleconference at the end of June 2023.”

The moderator of the meeting was the honorary member of the Writers' Union of Azerbaijan, the author of the recently published book "Hari-Bulbul" dedicated to his homeland, the Russian poet Eldar Akhadov.