The first prize is £350, second prize is £200, third prize is £100, and other entries may receive commendations.
New in Translation: ‘Song of Myself’ by Ghareeb Iskander
"There are silent voices inside me. / I will free them now / I will free also / The letters of love words / Suffocated in my mouth."
Friday Finds: Saniya Saleh’s ‘Autumn of Freedom’
"Beirut / I dreamed you were invaded / and awoke to the noise of destruction"
Trading Misery for Death: The Tragic Death of a Sudanese Poet
“Let me hold you to my breast, / I have plenty of room. / Let me wash the dirt of misery off your soul.”
Women Writing in Arabic: 10 Poets to Read Now
"There is very little Arabic poetry by women translated to English; for Women in Translation Month (#WiTMonth), we offer a brief look at ten poets. Of the women writers listed -- an eclectic list of personal favorites and by no means canon -- only one, Iman Mersal, has a collection traditionally published in English translation"
#WiTMonth Friday Finds: Rachida Madani in English and Arabic
"But men / but the wind push her out on the cliff. / She watches the ocean / she would like to hurl herself into the ocean / to drink up the ocean."
New Bilingual ‘Barjeel Poetry Prize’ Launches Today
The Barjeel Art Foundation today launches the Barjeel Poetry Prize, an international two-language ekphrastic poetry competition that invites writers to respond to twenty works of Arab art from the 20th century.
Sunday Classics: Erotic Surrealist Poet Joyce Mansour
"Mansour took much of her inspiration from ancient religions and traditions, including ancient Egypt, where death is not considered to be the end of life, but rather is a transition to another reality."
Mehmet Hakkı Suçin on Translating Mahmoud Darwish into Turkish
"For instance, the Palestinian society is more familiar with references to Christianity than the Turkish society. ... So while translating Darwish's works, I brought the references to verses from the Bible or the Torah to the attention of Turkish readers."
Friday Finds: 8 by Abdul Zahra Zaki, 5 by Riyad al-Salih al-Hussein
Life is beautiful / says the sparrow / and drops dead beside the hunter’s shoe
Summer of Lock-in Lit: Poems from ‘Sparrows Are Not a Breed of Wind’
"Winter yields a Spring / Spring’s dreams are ruined by / Summer. / Summer, without farewell / cedes authority / to Autumn"
Another Road for Syrian Poetry
"The divide among poets has added a diaspora to the spatial diaspora, which scattered Syrians around the world."
