Adonis
Adonis, described by Edward Said as “the most eloquent spokesman and explorer of Arabic modernity,” was born Ali Ahmed Said Esber in the Syrian village Al-Qassabin in 1930. A perennial candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature, Adonis initiated a revolution in the structures and themes of Arabic poetry. He has received numerous honors, including the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, the Goethe Prize, and the PEN/Nabokov Award. His book Songs of Mihyar the Damascene was published by New Directions Press in 2019.
Reading List
[The horizon came, carrying in its hands]
Translated from the Arabic by Kareem James Abu-Zeid The horizon came, carrying in its hands a famished gull. The shores shear off their waves while migration’s air collects its leaves and heads back home. Life is metaphor, and morning, like evening, has steam rising from it. The path my footsteps took […]