In March 2002, a number of writers as also specialists on Dialogue gathered on the island of Kish - Iran - for the first Global Seminar on Fiction and Dialogue Among Cultures, hosted by the Iranian Centre for Dialogue Among Civilizations.

 

In preparation for the seminar, and also during those few days, when we were already “preparing” ourselves for news of an attack on Iraq and therefore the “next war”, some of us came to reflect on the elements that must proceed any fruitful and goal-oriented dialogue, first and foremost knowledge and thought.

 

One could say that what we missed at Kish, for in fact there was little true dialogue and indication of “fore-thought” among the participants, brought about a multitude of feelings and thoughts in each one of those whose papers are represented here, so that in the end, the road not taken, took us further onto new directions!

 

May some of the thoughts reflected here, be of interest to some of you, and give rise to new “conscious dialogues” - both within and without!