Translations of Ashraf Fayadh’s ‘Instructions Within’ Forthcoming in French, English

Palestinian poet Ashraf Fayadh, whose death sentence was reduced earlier this month to eight years and 800 lashes, will see French and English editions of his work 

Les éditions Le Temps des cerises will publish Instructions, à l’intérieur, translated from the Arabic by the towering Moroccan poet Abdellatif Laâbi. As well as being a winner of the Prix Goncourt de la Poésie and an accomplished memoirist, Laâbi is also the French translator of the poets Mahmoud Darwish, Abdallah Zrika, and Abdelawahab Al Bayati, and the novelist Hanna Minna.

Meanwhile, Brooklyn’s Operating System Press will bring out a collection of Fayadh’s work from Instructions Within assembled by poet and translator Mona Kareem. Kareem, who has been a core organizer in the campaign to free Fayadh, says that her translation should be out this summer.

Also: Monday, March 21 will be World Poetry Day. To mark this day, PEN International plans to campaign on behalf of Fayadh, in addition to Qatari poet Muhammad al-Ajami, serving 15 years in Doha, Liu Xia (China), Aron Atabek (Kazakhstan), and Amanuel Asrat (Eritrea). More information and campaigning materials will be out on Feb. 22.