Poetry

This year, the literature jury was made up of prominent literary artists: Syrian author Khaled Khalifa, Moroccan poet Yassin Adnan, and Algerian novelist Bachir Mefti.

“I didn’t plan to depict “positive” heroes, if we can put it that way, because the era of false heroism has gone.”

Saadallah Wannous, Zakaria Tamer, Adonis, and others are still being called upon in an effort to miniaturize and understand what’s going on in Syria: what’s happened and what will happen.

“It’s not a one-way process. I can’t think of a [British] writer who hasn’t been changed by going to one of the places that we tend to go on visits. Whether it’s a political or a stylistic idea or a general feeling of the country, it changes the writers.”

The giant, half-century-old Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis has named its new director: Palestinian-American Joseph Haj.

The Financial Times and Oppenheimer Funds are launching a new, $40K “FT/OppenheimerFunds Emerging Voices Award” for artists who have a passport from a country with a GNI per capita of less than $12,746.

Valentine’s Day is just two days off. Nothing yet to scribble in your card?

“Meanwhile, we can at the very least draw our attention to Sudanese literature.”

On February 27 in London, poets from around the world will gather in support of imprisoned Qatari poet Mohammad al-Ajami, who is currently serving a 15-year sentence for his work.