A LAUNCH IS SCHEDULED tomorrow, 14 April 2011, for Fawzi Karim’s Plague Lands at the Mosaic Rooms, 226 Cromwell Road, London SW5 at 6:30pm.
Karim is an Iraqi poet, writer, and painter, born in Baghdad in 1945. He was educated at Baghdad University before embarking on a career as a freelance writer. He lived in Lebanon from 1969-1972 and has lived in London since 1978. The Ivory Tower, his column on poetry and European classical music has appeared in a number of influential Arabic newspapers and is respected for its emphasis on the transcendent value of art and culture. He has published more than fourteen books of poetry, including a two volume Collected Poems (2000).
Plague Lands is the first collection of his poetry to appear in English. Karim will read from his work. Poet Anthony Howell, a frequent contributor to The Fortnightly Review and other publications, will present Karim’s poems in translation.
A sample, from ‘The Last Song’:
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
Admission is free, but places are limited: RSVP on 020 7370 9990. There will be copies of the book available for purchase and signings by the author. Plague Lands is a Poetry Book Society Spring choice for translation and published by Carcanet.
Order the book from Carcanet | More Chronicle & Notices.
