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Email eden@lapl.org for the link to read the poems online and for the Zoom link to attend.
Description:
Join Dr. Andrea Liss on Zoom for our next Good Trouble Reading Group. We’ll be discussing a selection of poems by two Palestinian poets.
Musab Abu Toha was born in the Al-Shati refugee camp in 1992 and went on to attend the Islamic University of Gaza, where he also founded the Edward Said Library. Abu Toha’s first collection of poetry won the Palestinian Book Award and was nominated for a National Book Critics Circle Award. In October 2023 he and his family evacuated Gaza just before their neighborhood was destroyed; he now writes poetry and journalism covering the conflict from abroad. As Jacob Appel wrote, “What makes Abu Toha’s work resonate so strongly is his gift for the particular. By avoiding panoramic generalizations, he hones in upon evocative images that capture the larger plight of his people.” We’ll be reading a selection of poems from his newest collection, Forest of Noise.
Mahmoud Darwish (1941-2008) is considered the Palestinian national poet, one of the most important voices of his people. Darwish spoke many languages, including Arabic, French, English and Hebrew, and had a long career as a poet, journalist, and the editor of several literary periodicals in Egypt and Lebanon. His work highlighted the plight of refugees and exiles and advocated for a Palestinian state. In 1988 he wrote a manifesto which was adopted as the Palestinian Declaration of Independence. Darwish was good friends with many Israeli poets, and his literary career was dedicated to the hope of someday attaining peace and reconciliation between the two closely linked cultures. When this happens, he wrote, "the Jew will not be ashamed to find an Arab element in himself, and the Arab will not be ashamed to declare that he incorporates Jewish elements." We’ll be reading poems from I Don’t Want This Poem to End, a posthumous anthology that is his first book to be translated into English.
For ADA accommodations, call (213) 228-7430 at least 72 hours prior to the event.
Para ajustes razonables según la ley de ADA, llama al (213) 228-7430 al menos 72 horas antes del evento.