From ‘Your Name, Palestine’ by Olivia Elias
“Eyes fixed on the Mediterranean /
mirage shimmering from afar /
we sail from island to island /
between walls and barbed wire”
Poetry
Hunting Poems by a One-Day Caliph from the Library of Arabic Literature
In early September, the Library of Arabic Literature published a new collection of hunting poems by Abbasid litterateur, poet, and caliph for a day Ibn al-Mu’tazz (247/861–296/908), in James E. […]
Monday Poetry: Two Readings by Mona Kareem and Sara Elkamel
Last May, poet-translator team Mona Kareem and Sara Elkamel launched I Will Not Fold These Maps, a collection of Kareems poems translated to English by Elkamel. Among the launch events was one […]
Sunday Submissions: Modern Poetry in Translation ‘Water’ Focus
Modern Poetry in Translation (MPT) have opened calls for submissions for its forthcoming issue, with ‘water’ as its theme. They write: For our November 2023 issue, we invite new translations […]
Summer Reads: ‘Rice Pudding for Two’
“Take a pinch of cinnamon with one hand and a pinch of vanilla with the other; delicately sprinkle both into the mixture. Now rub your hands together and bring your attention to your neck, patting your palms against it. This detail is essential for a good rice pudding.”
Summer Reads: ‘And We Still Have the Sea’
“yes, the sea changes colors / drinking the yellow of my doubt and distrust / turning as blue as my melody / my songs and ships set sail on its scattered waves”
Summer Reads: ‘The Crime of Translation’
“But in a broader sense, crime as transgression takes in a spate of ideas, images, and conceits from Arabic literature.”
Read the Re-Issue of Sargon Boulus’s 1971 Literary Anthology, ‘Tigris’
In 1971, the great, maverick Iraqi poet Sargon Boulus published a single issue of an English-language literary anthology that he called Tigris.
Summer Reads: Rym Jalil’s ‘My Mother’s Kitchen’
“Every day I lie and say / I know this place. / My mother’s kitchen / brims with afflictions / I must pretend to befriend it / we all know it can have only one master / from its beginning to its end”