Say
By Olivia Elias
translated by Jérémy Victor Robert
A poet of the Palestinian diaspora, Olivia Elias writes in French. Born in Haifa in 1944, she lived until the age of sixteen in Lebanon, where her family took refuge in 1948, then in Montreal, before moving to France. Her work, translated into English, Arabic, Spanish, Italian, and Japanese, has appeared in anthologies and numerous journals. In 2022, she published her first book in English translation, Chaos, Crossing (World Poetry), translated by Kareem James Abu-Zeid. In September 2023 a limited illustrated edition of her Your Name, Palestine, a chapbook translated by Sarah Riggs and Jérémy Victor Robert appeared from World Poetry Editions.
Jérémy Victor Robert is a translator between English and French who works and lives in his native Réunion Island.