Friday Finds: ‘A Contemporary Novel’ by Maya Abu al-Hayat & Five More
“The female protagonist visits him in the mornings, / taps shyly on the window, sweeps the street with a glance. / (Did anyone see her?).”
Fady Joudah
Two Laughter Poems & a Cover Reveal from Maya Abu al-Hayyat’s ‘You Can Be the Last Leaf’
“You will hear and taste her laughter and also yours. Because laughter is ‘the excess knowledge no one takes seriously,’ the cherished identity smuggled out of psychology and surveilled consciousness.”
Lit & Found: Lyric Dispatches from Palestine
In case you have missed it, the special Baffler magazine section on poetry from Palestine, curated by Fady Joudah, continues to unspool.
Friday Finds: ‘Palestine Twenty Times in a Sentence’
The three translated poems are “We,” “Massacres,” and “I Don’t Ask Anymore.”
The Flying Flesh of Amjad Nasser’s ‘Adam’s Kingdom’
“The ugliness of reality has surpassed the imagination of our ancient poets, and where modes of torture and killing machines have overshadowed the most creative minds of filmmakers, it is futile to invoke the ancient muses.”
Online, Free: 5 by Ghassan Zaqtan, Including Novella ‘Describing the Past’
“To write a memory I gathered a memory / and to green the marshes I sprinkled friends/ over the salt marshes, and was at a loss/ with myself”
Palestinian Poetry for Youm al-Ard, Day of the Land
Today on Jadaliyya, Sinan Antoon published translations of two Rashid Hussein poems to mark Youm al-Ard, or Palestinian Land Day.
Judges Deliberating on Saif Ghobash Prize for Arabic Literary Translation
Banipal has apparently been saving up their news, as a whole bunch of it appeared in my inbox this morning. Among the news items: judges will be deliberating on the Saif Ghobash – Banipal prize-winners later this month.
Where to Find the Best Arab American Poets…
If you’re looking for it, there are a number of places to seek out excellent Arab American poets. They are celebrated individually (Khaled Mattawa just won a major poetry award) and as a group, as in the most recent Banipal (38).