BOA's new translation, Lighthouse for the Drowning (June 2017), is on Words Without Borders's April 2017 Watchlist! Every month, WWB reviews editor M. Bartley Seigel "shares a handful of recently released or forthcoming titles he’s excited about, books he hopes you’ll agree are worth all our good attentions." Lighthouse for the Drowning carries poems by Jawdat Fakhreddine, translated from the Arabic by Huda Fakhreddine and Jayson Iwen.
Presented bilingually, this first US publication of Jawdat Fakhreddine—one of the major Lebanese names in modern Arabic poetry—establishes a revolutionary dialogue between international, modernist values and the Arabic tradition. Fakhreddine’s unique voice is a breakthrough for the poetic language of his generation—an approach that presents poetry as a beacon, a lighthouse that both opposes and penetrates all forms of darkness.
Siegel says, "As a poet, teacher, and editor, I feel deeply and personally the daily weight of telling people who won’t pick up their own poets that they should pick up the poets of other cultures and languages. It’s Sisyphean, to say the least. Yet bloodied and battle weary, I’m here again to say it loud and clear, this time read Fakhreddine, put another piece of the puzzle into place. It’s not like, as Americans (or wherever you’re reading this from), you don’t have a relationship with the place. So how about reading one of their best, assuming you haven’t already done so (and let’s be honest, you probably haven’t). Simple and intimate, these poems breathe a nuanced humanity into a place and time we seldom see outside of a news reel, which itself is seldom the bearer of good tidings. Not that Fakhreddine is going to cheer you up, though he will round you out whole."
Click here to see the full WWB April 2017 Watchlist.
To learn more about Lighthouse for the Drowning, visit the BOA Bookstore.
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