I. Rida Mahmood's Blog, page 2

Launch reading for Versus Versus: 100 poems by Deaf, Disabled & Neurodivergent Poets

Join us for the launch of Rachael Boast's international anthology Versus Versus: 100 poems by Deaf, Disabled & Neurodivergent Poets, published on Thursday 22 May. Rachael will be joined by the three poets who helped on the book as its Advocacy and Advisory Panel, Karthika Naïr (India/France), Chisom Okafor (Nigeria) and Daniel Sluman (UK), who also have poems included in the anthology.

The event will also include film clips of twelve other poets reading their poems from Versus Versus: Han Mac Tu (Vietnam), Kathryn Gray (Wales), Andy Jackson (Australia), Kate Davis (England), Riyad al-Saleh al Hussein (Syria), Khairani Barokka (Indonesia/UK), Naomi Ortiz (Mexico), Levent Beskardes (Turkey/LSF), Jack Mapanje (Malawi/UK), Jamie Hale (UK), Lateef McLeod (USA) and Nuala Watt (Scotland).

This free Bloodaxe launch event will be streamed on YouTube Live and will be available below or here: https://youtube.com/live/07usVjBxJo8. Available to watch live or later via YouTube.

Hope to see you all there!

30 Recommended Books on Syria

by: The Markaz Review editors

The Impossible Revolution: Making Sense of the Syrian Tragedy by Yassin al-Haj Saleh, translated by Ibtihal Mahmood (Hurst, 2017)
Under Hafez Assad, Syria’s leading intellectual and revolutionary thinker Yassin al-Haj Saleh was imprisoned from 1980 to 1996. At the start of the Syrian revolution in 2011, he went into hiding moving from city to town, eluding the shabiha, the country’s notorious intelligence services. In 2013, his wife Samira Khalil, a detainee herself and political activist disappeared with the human rights lawyer and civil society activist Razan Zaitouneh, after armed men raided the Violations Document Center, in Douma. In hiding al-Haj Saleh wrote over 380 articles, which provide the basis for this book, which includes a foreword by Robin Yassin Kassab.

Read the full article here: https://themarkaz.org/30-recommended-...

The Impossible Revolution: Making Sense of the Syrian Tragedy

Heart of the Storm: A Sample of Jordanian Writing in English

by: Addie Leak

"In this introduction to our collection of Jordanian writing, guest editor Addie Leak details the country's diverse culture and vital literature."

to read the full article, click here:
https://wordswithoutborders.org/read/...

Snow in Amman: An Anthology of Short Stories from Jordan

ArabLit Quarterly - Spring 2024: GAZA! GAZA! GAZA! issue

I salute all the writers, editors, translators, artists, photographers, and every beautiful creative mind who contributed to the creation of this amazing and timely edition of ArabLit Quarterly, immortalizing the memory of Gaza and its people.

https://substack.com/@ibtihalridamahm...

Order your copy from the ArabLit Bookstore or here.

My Substack - Naked Shadows on a Black Wall

So, I decided to create a little space to share my musings with my fellow netizens. Here, you will find poetry most of the time, with the occasional essay and whatever the muse (and the conscience) demands at the time:

https://iridamahmood.substack.com/

Guest pitches and posts are welcome.

‘The Silent Poets’: Three Poems by Da’ad Haddad

The iconic Syrian poet Da’ad Haddad (1937-1991) was known by fellow Syrian artists in her lifetime, but — as Ibtihal Rida Mahmood wrote in a profile of the poet — her work spread further after her death. “Although Da’ad Haddad published two poetry collections—Correcting Death’s Mistake and A Crumb of Bread is Enough For Me—in the 1980s, the Latakia native’s literary influence and renown were to be posthumous, ushered in by the publication of The Tree Leaning Towards the Ground and There is Light after her passing in 1991 in Damascus, where she died at the age of 54.”

Haddad date and often time-stamped her poems, which were usually written in the small hours of the morning. These three in the mid-1980s, a few years before her premature death.

Read the poems here: https://arablit.org/2024/03/20/the-si...

Poetry in Translation: Riyad al-Saleh al-Hussein’s ‘War. War. War’

Nearly four decades after his death at the age of 28, Riyad al-Saleh al-Hussein’s work remains a vibrant part of the poetic and imaginative landscape of Syria and beyond. This poem is from the collection Daily Legends.

https://arablit.org/2024/03/06/poetry...

Thank you, my Jewish brothers and sisters

Thank you, my Jewish brothers and sisters, for standing up to those trying to appropriate your identity and legacy for their own political ends. I love you all.

A Dangerous Conflation
An open letter from Jewish writers

https://www.nplusonemag.com/online-on...

Writers Against the War on Gaza (WAWOG), Signatories

I'm a proud signatory to the Writers Against the War on Gaza Statement of Solidarity, published on October 26, 2023.

https://www.writersagainstthewarongaz...

IS 53 SECONDS LONG ENOUGH TO GATHER MY SOUL?

26 August 2014

Rana Mourtaja, 17, writes about staying alive in the Gaza Strip on Day 50 of Israel’s offensive.

Translated by Ibtihal Mahmood.

https://newint.org/features/web-exclu...