Syrian Poets Today and Elsewhere

Join RAWI for the first gathering of its kind, of Syrian poets writing today and from elsewhere in the diaspora. With a poetry film by Ghayath Almadhoun.

Born in Copenhagen to Syrian-Finnish parents, Nathalie Khankan is the author of QUIET ORIENT RIOT (2020 Omnidawn), recipient of the 2021 California Book Award.

Farid Matuk is the author of the poetry collections This Isa Nice Neighborhood and The Real Horse. Redolent, a book-arts collaboration with Colombian artist Nancy Friedemann-Sánchez, is now available from Singing Saw Press. Social Media: Twitter: @matuk_farid, Instagram: @whaevahuhuh

Khawla Dunia is a Syrian writer and poet – born in Damascus – BA in economics from Damascus University – political and feminist activist – who left Syria in mid-2013 – residing between Germany and Turkey. Khawla is currently working as a gender consultant with the Euro-Mediterranean Feminist Initiative. A poetry book published 2012: Overhasty Poems Before the Missile Falls, a collection of poems published in German, Italian, English and Arabic in books and websites.

Mohja Kahf is a professor of comparative literature and Middle Eastern studies at the University of Arkansas since 1995. She has authored a novel and three books of poetry, including Hagar Poems and My Lover Feeds Me Grapefruit.

Lubna Safi was born in Detroit and grew up in the Midwest. She is currently completing a PhD at the University of California, Berkeley. Along with poetry, Lubna also writes fiction, literary criticism, and lyric essays. Your Blue and the Quiet Lament is her debut poetry collection. Twitter: @lubna_saf

Ghayath Almadhoun is a Palestinian-Syrian-Swedish poet born in Damascus in 1979 and emigrated to Sweden in 2008. He has published four poetry collections in Arabic and his work has been translated into dozens of languages. Right now, he lives in between Berlin & Stockholm. http://www.ghayathalmadhoun.com