Najwan Darwish Libros

Nothing More to Lose is the first collection of poems by Palestinian poet Najwan Darwish to appear in English. Hailed across the Arab world and beyond, Darwish’s poetry walks the razor’s edge between despair and resistance, between dark humor and harsh political realities. With incisive imagery and passionate lyricism, Darwish confronts themes of equality and justice while offering a radical, more inclusive, rewriting of what it means to be both Arab and Palestinian living in Jerusalem, his birthplace.

A much-anticipated follow-up to Nothing More to Lose, this is only the second poetry collection translated into English from a vital voice of Arabic literature. “We drag histories behind us,” the Palestinian poet Najwan Darwish writes in Exhausted on the Cross, “here / where there’s neither land / nor sky.” In pared-down lines, brilliantly translated from the Arabic by Kareem James Abu-Zeid, Darwish records what Raúl Zurita describes as “something immemorial, almost unspeakable”—a poetry driven by a “moral imperative” to be a “colossal record of violence and, at the same time, the no less colossal record of compassion.” Darwish’s poems cross histories, cultures, and geographies, taking us from the grime of modern-day Shatila and the opulence of medieval Baghdad to the gardens of Samarkand and the open-air prison of present-day Gaza. We join the Persian poet Hafez in the conquered city of Shiraz and converse with the Prophet Mohammad in Medina. Poem after poem evokes the humor in the face of despair, the hope in the face of nightmare.

English PEN Award Winner. Najwan Darwish is one of the most significant voices to have emerged in Arabic this century. His poems - often written in response to historical injustices in Palestine and beyond - can be woundingly direct or disconcertingly witty. He published his first book of poetry in 2000 and has been an important literary figure ever since; his work has been translated into over twenty languages. The New York Review Books, which published the English translation of his collection Nothing More to Lose in 2014, describes him as 'one of the foremost Arabic-language poets of his generation'. This selection of his recent work showcases the variety and force of his lyric talent, and includes an afterword by Manash Firaq Bhattacharjee. "Embrace by Najwan Darwish continues the Poetry Translation Centre's amazing project to bring work from all over the world to the attention of English-speaking eyes and ears. Darwish is very much a poet for our fractured times and works hard to make work that is at once approachable but which also sings with great depth of meaning. As he says 'We will keep meeting and bidding farewell/like two lost waves in a vast sea'." - Ian McMillan

The collection features the exquisite and passionate poetry of Palestinian poet Najwan Darwish, showcasing his unique voice and emotional depth. The translations capture the essence of his work, allowing English-speaking readers to experience the rich themes of identity, conflict, and resilience present in his verses. This selection highlights Darwish's ability to convey profound sentiments through vivid imagery and lyrical expression.

Najwan Darwish (1978) je arabský básnik, ktorý vo svojej tvorbe tematizuje traumatizujúcu skúsenosť obyvateľstva Palestíny. Do popredia sa dostáva analýza vlastnej a spoločnej situácie na okupovanom území, ktorá je podnetom na hĺbkové poetické zamyslenia, smerujúce nielen k aktuálnym pomerom krajiny, ale predovšetkým k vystihnutiu nadčasových princípov ľudskej neschopnosti prijať cudzorodé a odlišné od toho svojho. Darwishova poézia pôsobí na európskych čitateľov exoticky a zároveň veľmi blízko, čo je dané autorovým humanistickým postojom a spojením tradičnej arabskej poetiky a súčasných básnických trendov.