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On Iraqi Poetry
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’...
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Between Iraqi and Scottish Poetries: The Closest Thing to Magic One Could...
Scottish poet Ryan Van Winkle stresses that he is not an expert on Iraqi poetry. However, as a core part of the Reel Iraq team, he has been key in bridging the work of Scottish and Iraqi poets. He and...
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Watch Iraqi Poet Sabreen Kadhim Read at Word Power
Sarah Irving has taken her first shot at videotaping a live event: As Irving notes over at her blog, “It features [Sabreen] Kadhim reading Why Write This Poem and Water My Heart With A Jonquil in their...
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A Damaged Soul
“A Damaged Soul” is a new poem by Iraqi poet Sabreen Kadhim, translated by Ghareeb Iskander, who answered questions this week about Iraqi poetry. A Damaged Soul By Sabreen Kadhim Deeply, my soul was...
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Ghareeb Iskander on Iraqi Poetries and the ‘Third Language’ of Translation
Ghareeb Iskander is an Iraqi poet living in London. He has published collections of his own work (Sawad Basiq, Mahafat Alwahm, Af’a Gilgamesh), criticism on Arabic poetry, and translations of poets...
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AZ Abushady: Revolutionary Egyptian Poet, Feminist, Beekeeper, and More
Artist and writer Joy Garnett (@joygarnett) is working on a book about her grandfather, Ahmed Zaki Abushady, the Egyptian poet and bee scientist. She answered a few questions about AZ Abushady, his...
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Dunya Mikhail: Writing Without Falling Into Narrow ‘Political Poetry’
Dunya Mikhail, former literary editor at The Baghdad Observer is the author of the Griffin-shortlisted collection The War Works Hard, trans. Elizabeth Winslow, as well as the Arab American Book...
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On Nazik al-Mala’ika’s Revolutionary Romantic Poetry
Iraqi poet Nazik al-Mala’ika is best known for the important role she played in the development and popularization of Arabic “free verse” (or taf’ila poetry) in the 1950s. But while she is well known...
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Ahmed Fouad Negm Wins 2013 Prince Claus Award for ‘Unwavering Integrity’
On Friday, Prince Claus Fund organizers announced the winners of the 2013 awards. The “Principal Prince Claus Award went to Egypt’s “poet of the people,” Ahmed Fouad Negm: Image from Prince Claus...
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Nujoom al-Ghanem on the Intersection of Poetry and Film
Emirati poet and filmmaker Nujoom al-Ghanem (@NujoomAlghanem) has published seven poetry collections and directed and produced four films. She has toured the UK with her poetry and has won several...
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If You’re in NYC: Music and the Verse of Abul ‘Ala Al-Ma’ari
This Friday, September 13, NYC’s Alwan for the Arts will host a salon, led by Mohamed Alwan, on Abul ‘Ala Al-Ma’ari. There will also be music by the Alwan Ensemble in celebration of the classical...
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Fadhil al-Azzawi: A Poetry Not in Service of Dictators or Despots
Although Iraqi writer Fadhil al-Azzawi is more widely known in English as a novelist (his The Last of the Angels, Cell Block Five, and The Traveler and the Innkeeper have been met with acclaim),...
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A Conversation Between Syrian Poet Golan Haji and Actor Ammar Haj Ahmad
For Italian readers, Golan Haji’s new book of poems, Autumn, Here, is Magical & Vast was published in Rome on the 21st of September in a bilingual Arabic-Italian edition; the Italian was trans....
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Sinan Antoon: Poetry Still Has a Home in Baghdad
It’s Thursday, and thus time for a wrestling-with Iraqi poetry. This week, Sinan Antoon writes on Al Jazeera about how “Baghdad’s appearance has changed dramatically over 10 years – but its love of...
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Workshop on Translation of Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi’s Poetry — with the Poet
It’s not often that a major poet will attend a workshop on translating his poetry, but, next month, the Poetry Translation Centre (PTC) will have al-Saddiq al-Raddi on hand to discuss translations of...
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‘Baghdad: The City in Verse’ Is ‘The Fruit of Pure Love’
Yesterday, I received my long-awaited copy of Baghdad: The City in Verse, trans. and ed. Reuven Snir. The small volume attempts to capture and reflect the history of one of the world’s great cities...
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Qatar Upholds 15-year Sentence for Poet Muhammad al-Ajami
Bad news Monday from Qatar’s Court of Cassation: Poet Mohamed al-Ajami’s 15-year prison term was upheld as final. Al-Ajami’s lawyer, Najib al-Naimi, told media outlets that al-Ajami’s only remaining...
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Two Newly Translated Poems by Sargon Boulus
There can be no series on Iraqi poetry without an engagement with Sargon Boulos. It’s coming. In the meantime, poet-novelist-translator Sinan Antoon has published two newly translated Boulus poems in...
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Saif Alsaegh: A Young Iraqi Poet Searching for His Voice
Young Iraqi poet Saif Alsaegh was born and raised in the Risafa neighborhood of Baghdad. He was born during the first Gulf War, in 1991, and studied one year at the University of Baghdad — majoring in...
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Ferial Ghazoul and John Verlenden Win the 2013 University of Arkansas Arabic...
Ferial Ghazoul and John Verlenden — both at the American University in Cairo — have won this year’s University of Arkansas Arabic Translation Award for their collection Chronicles of Majnun Layla and...
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