FAWZI KARIM,The Iraqi poet and writer will read in Arabic and English

 

FAWZI KARIM

 

The Iraqi poet and writer will read in Arabic and English on

Wednesday the 3rd of November 2010 at

8.00pm

 

I shall come back

To say, ‘I’m drunk on the shade

Of the mulberries that overhang our glasses.’

I shall come back

To sing of those who drank with me

And it is enough

To mourn my father’s house;

To mourn for us – who abandoned it…(from ‘The Last Song)

 Born in Baghdad in 1945, now living in London, Fawzi Karim is one of the most compelling voices of the exiled generation of Iraqi writers. In the first collection of his poetry to appear in English, his long sequence ‘Plague Lands’, is an elegy for the life of a lost city, a chronicle of a journey into exile, haunted by the deep history of an ancient civilisation. Memories of Baghdad’s smoke-filled cafés, its alleys and mulberry-shaded squares, ‘the tang of tea, of coffee beans…arak, naphthalene and damp straw mats are recalled with painful intensity. Karim’s defiant humanity, rejecting dogma and polemic, makes him a necessary poet for fractured times.

He is a literary critic, painter and poet. He has published more than fourteen books of poetry in Arabic, most recently: The Last Gypsies (2005), The Night of Abi al Ala (2008) and Poems for Cloudy Day (2010). His nine prose works include literary criticisms, books on music. His poetry has been translated and published in French (2003), and Swedish (2005).

Working closely with the author, the poet Anthony Howell has created versions of ‘Plague Lands’ and a selection of Karim’s shorter poems. Coming soon from Carcanet. Anthony Howell has published eight volums of poetry with Anvil press, and two novels. He trained as a dancer and has worked extensively as a performance artist.

This event is part of an exciting programme of events from the Oriental Cultural Forum, which are held on the first Wednesday of every month. In Café Poetry.

http://www.orientalculturalforum.org/ocf/

Address: Poetry Café (Poetry Society), 22 Betterton Street, London WC2H 9BX

Underground: Covent Garden (Piccadilly Line), Holborn (Piccadilly & Central Line)

الملتقى الثقافي الشرقي

يستضيف الشاعر فوزي كريم في أمسية شعرية باللغة العربية والانجليزية، وذلك في يوم الأربعاء 3-11-2010 الساعة 8.00 في مقهى الشعر،  قلب العاصمة لندن على العنوان أعلاه :

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  Fawzi Karim event