So I find myself alternately intrigued and wary of the work produced by the Poetry Translation Project, which, in their words, “take a translator’s literal translation of a living poet’s work & together we turn it into a good poem in English.”
The Syrian poet Adonis (Ali Ahmad Said Asbar) appeared last night in one of the culminating events of the London Poetry Festival. Adonis read along with translatorStephen Watts and fellow poet Yang Lian.
Which is was why I was particularly grateful that the British-Libyan poet, surgeon, and blogger Ghazi Gheblawi recorded his impressions of last night’s Tamim Barghouti, Mourid Barghouti, Ahdaf Soueif event via Twitter.
Sharjah’s 2010 book fair came to a close last night, with The National suggesting it might be the fair’s biggest year yet for attendance.
Lately, I find the adage “Egypt writes, Lebanon publishes, Iraq reads” gives me a stab in the heart.
The first English-language collection of the work of Palestinian-Dutch poet Ramsey Nasr is now available in English. Heavenly Life is available from Banipal Books.
Among Adonis’ recent appearances at high-profile New York City venues including the 92 Street Y and Poets House was a reading and Q&A at Alwan for the Arts in Lower Manhattan. The evening began with a brief reading from the recently published Adonis: Selected Poems, featuring new translations in English by Khaled Mattawa. The predominantly Arabic-speaking audience responded vocally to Adonis’ dramatic recitations and Mattawa’s skilled translations.
WWB gathers a broad, somewhat odd sweep of “the modern Middle East” in its November issue.
Over at The National today, Zaineb al Hassani has a piece about National Novel Writing Month—typically shortened to NaNoWriMo—the novel-writing month that’s broken its boundaries.
