On Saturday July 7 the launch of the poetry collection of my friend Qader Shafiq took place in a church in Nijmegen. I arrived late, but not too late to heap praise on Qader.
A few days before a publisher told me that sometimes you didn't sell more than 30 copies of a poetry collection, but the line to buy Qader's poetry was huge. The art of writing poetry and the art of mobilizing friends and acquaintances, they cannot be separated anymore. Fortunately Qader is not only a fine poet, but the most charming mobilizer since Casanova.