For the next few months, ArabLit will be running a series of interviews and essays on Iraqi poetry: with poets, critics, translators, and others.
Basim al-Ansar: ‘Poetry Is the Source of All the Arts’
Poet Basim Alansar was born in Baghdad in 1970. He has been publishing his poetry since the early 1990s and, since 1998, has made his home in Denmark. In 2009, he the only Iraqi poet to be named one the Hay Festival’s “Beirut39,” a list of 39 promising Arab authors under 39. He said:
Poetry is the source of all the arts, and literature and science. It’s the spirit of existence, the meaning of our lives. And I meditate a lot on the essence of existence and the meaning of life. This is perhaps what made me predisposed to poetry.
Read more and explore his poetry.
Khaled al-Maaly: Poetry Worldwide Has No Boundaries
Poet and publisher Khalid al-Maaly was born in as-Samawa, Iraq in 1956; he left Iraq in 1979 and ended up in Cologne, Germany in 1980, where he founded the publishing house Al-Kamel Verlag. He writes poetry in Arabic and German, and has translated works by a number of Arab poets.
Of course there is contemporary Iraqi poetry; residence means nothing within this framework. But what is the state of this poetry or culture in general? In today’s world, Iraqi culture is scattered and torn. There are no serious or oppositional magazines, and there are very few serious publishing houses; the situation is not leading to a firm footing or growth for cultural traditions. You cannot count on the activities of official or semi-official institutions in Iraq; they are, regrettably, almost dead.
Read more and explore his poetry.
