A Biography of Water by Sinan Antoon

Elegies dominate during times of war, devastation, and their aftermath. When there are occasions and opportunities for praise in narratives about Iraqi culture, the distant and pre-modern past takes its rightful share. However, that often comes at the expense of modern Iraqi culture. This talk is a celebratory return to the springs and tributaries of modern Iraqi creativity — ones which the author and his works draw on.

Sinan Antoon is an Iraqi poet, novelist, scholar, and translator. He has published two collections of poetry, and four novels and works have been translated into fourteen languages. His scholarly works include 'The Poetics of the Obscene: Ibn al-Hajjaj and Sukhf' (2014) and articles on Mahmoud Darwish, Sargon Boulus, and Saadi Youssef. His translation of Mahmoud Darwish’s last prose book, 'In the Presence of Absence', won the 2012 American Literary Translators’ Award.

This talk is part of 'Iraqisms', a series of artistic and cultural events, organised by Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung - Beirut Office in partnership with Dar El-Nimer for Arts and Culture and curated by Rasha Salah.