Sania Saleh
Sania Saleh was a Syrian poet born in 1935 in the city of Musayaf in the province of Hama, author of three collections of poetry and one of short stories, as well as a posthumously published Collected Poems. She studied at Damascus University, and married the poet Mohammed al-Maghout, whom she met through poet Adonis in Beirut, himself married to her sister, Khalida Saïd. They had two daughters. Sania Saleh died of cancer in Paris in 1986. The Egyptian poet Iman Mersal has an essay on her work that can be read online here.
Reading List
The Deluge
Translated from Arabic by Marilyn Hacker You are made of arsenic, Sir. I open my mouth every morning and swallow a piece of you, yet you remain. I said, A day will come when I will be savage and devour you like prey. So inhale, relax— all the world’s remedies will not grant me […]
The War of Memory
Translated from Arabic by Marilyn Hacker Call me, O Unknown, in all your amazing voices. Give me your rescued boats. My heart is their small sea maddened with love for you. If I had lovers, I would call to them in your voice, if I had a homeland, I would make you its […]