15.04.02
A new Web site for the project launched today - Bio info and the names of everyone taking part is the main feature. It gives an idea about the diversity of the people taking part. There will be an event to celebrate the publication of the books in NYC, May 18th.

15. 01.02
The date for the publication has been changed. It will be May 11th 2002. We got Poetry from the House of Poetry in Morocco. We got 2 poems by Rita Dove.

10. 01.02
We are working on getting in touch with all the poets and artists that have submitted work. Got amazing essay by the Sufi Master Muhammad Zuhri from Indonesia. Also an incredible poem by Lawrence Ferlinghetti and 50 artworks made specially for this project by students at the University of the Philippines in Digital media under the guidance of Fatima Lasay their teacher.

We will put the names of everyone taking part online with their bio and link to their site if they have any. It is beyond words to describe the joy of reading through the submissions - as everyday goes by these books seem to have taken on a life on their own as the need for hope and healing in our world grows.

28. 11.01
So far we got more then 300 submissions, from poets and artists around the world.

Deadline has been extended until 15.01.02.

Ram Devineni has offered to host the event to celebrate the publication of the books in New York. It will be held in February 2002 at the St. Agnes Library. We will send you further details as soon as possible. Ram has also offered to publish the books in an e-book format through his cutting edge press Rattapallax, http://www.rattapallax.com. All profits will go to UNICEF earmarked for aid for the children of Afghanistan.

Larry Jaffe has agreed to be a honorary editor or as we like to see it a spiritual guide for the project. Both him and Ram are working for the UN Dialogue among Nations through Poetry projects. http://www.dialoguepoetry.org. Wonderful stuff and very much in the spirit of these books.

Michael Lohr is our co-editor, he was the one that planted the seeds for these books by suggesting that Beyond Borders should do something shortly after the 911 tragedy, to help bring about healing and hope in our world.

Daniel Johnson has agreed to handle the PR matters.

Galen Strazza is making the cover for the Book of Hope she submitted wonderful images early on and has been a great help.

The members of The House of Poetry Morocco will be having a meeting this week to work out how they will submit to the project.

So much material of beauty has been submitted, it is very inspiring to see the same sort of hope and joy shining through the grief from so many different corners of the world.



12.10.01
It has been 10 days since the call for submission was first sent out. 2 weeks since the we decided to do it. 65 submissions so far. Thank you all. We are still sending out call for submissions and it would be wonderful if we would get this message around the world.
We have heard that the call for submissions is spreading fast in the Internet community. Next steps is look up manually writers, poets, artists in all the different corners of the world and contact them. News releases will be going out in 2 weeks. The most powerful way of spreading the message is that each and every one of us see this a collective process. It is not just a book, it is a tool to bring awareness and understanding to our fellow human beings.

Most of the submissions are so filled with beauty and hope that at this end healing and hope is strong.

The Poet Larry Jaffe has agreed to be an honorary editor - In other words, we see him as a spiritual guide for the project.