SAQI BOOKS

Victims of a Map

by Adonis, Mahmud Darwish, Samih Al-Qasim

Since pre-Islamic days poetry has been the mass art form of the Arabic language. In modern times poets in the region have had a greater impact on popular culture than novelists, and there can be no doubt that Mahmud Darwish, Samih al-Qasim and Adonis are among the leading poets of the Arab world today. Victims of a Map presents fifteen translated poems by each poet. It includes thirteen poems by Darwish never before published in book form, even in Arabic, and a long work by Adonis written during the 1982 siege of Beirut, also published here for the first time.

REVIEWS:
'... a five-star publication ... I would like to see it widely bought, read, and discussed in the English-speaking world.' Orbis 'A beautifully produced little book.' Middle East International '... an excellent collection of verses from three of the most modern Arab poets.' International Journal of Islamic and Arabic Studies 'A very useful introduction to modern Arabic poetry ... an elegant, precise translation.' Al-Majalla 'A fascinating (and essential) bilingual anthology.' Poetry Wales 'Many poems whose beauty is in their apparent simplicity ...' Poetry London 'A useful introduction to modern Arabic poetry, this is an excellent collection of verses.' The Middle East

AUTHOR BIO:
Mahmud Darwish has become perhaps the best known Palestinian poet in the world. He was born in 1942 in al-Barweh, a village in Palestine, and his first collection of poetry was published in 1960. Samih al-Qasim is a Palestinian born to a Druze family in Galilee in 1939. He grew up in Nazareth and has long been politically active in Israel, suffering imprisonment many times. A prolific writer, he had published six collections of poetry by the age of thirty. Adonis was born in Syria in 1930. He was exiled to Beirut in 1956 and later became a Lebanese citizen. A critic as well as a poet, he founded the prestigious journal Mawaqif, and has exercised an enormous influence on Arabic literature.