Poetry

Cure your slavery with patience

and prayers

or so I was told

There seems to have an general uptick in Arabic poetry forthcoming in English translation. These are the six (correction, SEVEN) on ArabLit’s radar.

Her poetry appeared in the premier magazines of her time, particularly Shi’r and Mawaqif, but remained in the shadow of work by her husband, the poet Muhammad al-Maghout.

And yet now Al-Barghouti — who is something of a poet-celebrity, with a viral poem in 2011 and a major 2007 appearance on the Prince of Poets TV show — has his first collection of work in English.

“In their pictures they draw you drowning.
They put you in their museums and applaud.”

Over at Qantara, there is an interview with Dubai-based Lebanese poet Zeina Hashem Beck. Or, if you prefer a podcast, you can listen to Hashem Beck talk about her most […]

“But there is also a leitmotif of poetry, with Malika Booker hosting a widely varied group of poets: Golan Haji, Mona Kareem, Dunya Mikhail, and al-Saddiq al-Raddi.”

Whether dystopian or utopian, fictional or fact-based, we would like you to answer the following question “how do you see your the Maghreb in the next 30 years?”

” I have done my best to show the uniqueness of Ferchichi’s story and her style, exemplified in her rich diction and the dancing words she uses to evoke joy, something like the children who stamp the ground to express their mirth.”