The Smederevos Poet Autumn is an annual festival of Serbia, running in its 47th year that brings in poets from across the globe. The festival was held from 11-13th Oct, 2016 in Smederevo, through which the River Danube flows, linking this multicultural city which acts as a cross road between the Eastern and Western outposts of Europe. 

This year, a Bangladeshi poet was featured for the first time at the Smederevos Poet Autumn. Poet, playwright, translator, essayist and social commentator, Anisur Rahman has been based in Sweden and is a member of the Swedish Writers' Union, the Playwrights Union in Sweden and Honourary Member of the Swedish PEN. Reading out his work in Bangla, Rahman's work was then translated on stage, into Serbian. Poets from other countries included UK, Spain, Bulgaria, Iran, Italy, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Turkey, Macedonia, Poland, Argentina, Greece and Bangladesh.

The poetry festival awards the Golden Key, the Little Golden Key and the Golden String. This year the Golden Key was awarded to British poet Sean O Brien. The festival took off with a visit to the royal Palace of Milan Obrenovic, the Serbian king from the 19th century. The city also houses a fortress where the despot ruler Đurađ Branković (reigned from 1427-1456, CE) had installed special Venetian glass for his windows and an acoustic palace, to enjoy music all the better. A wine tasting tour of the famed vineyards of the region was followed by a performance of traditional Serbian dances in traditional gear from the early 20th century. School children have always been a major part of the festival's outreach programs and poets were taken to schools to read out their books. As part of their vision to encourage readers, the festival organisers, Goran Djordjevic and his team including Aleksandra Djokovic, distributed about 10,000 books around local schools in the area.

Rahman presented two of his poems which he felt could speak to an international audience, as the poetry festival invites poets to speak in their own language while a Serbian translates it on stage. 

STORY OF WATER AND STONE 

I split the heart within my heart,

Build a house from stone.

I see my life inside –

A devastating storm within.

 I see the sea in your eyes

Rising above water level.

Water embraces water

Where you see our house.

 High tide strikes high tide,

The sun absorbs water,

Clouds suck clouds,

And life strains to breathe.