I Will Not Fold These Maps
The next publication in our World Poet Series is I Will Not Fold These Maps by Mona Kareem, translated by Sara Elkamel with an afterword by André Naffis-Sahely!
Mona Kareem is a leading literary voice raising awareness of the plight of Kuwait’s Bidoon (stateless) community. Kareem’s poetry has appeared in Poetry London, The Los Angeles Review of Books, Asymptote, Words Without Borders and Modern Poetry in Translation among others. This is the highly anticipated first UK publication for this internationally acclaimed poet.
‘Mona Kareem writes geographies of exile with teeth.’ – Khairani Barokka
‘Mona Kareem’s poems wriggle against the constraints of borders and reductive cartographies.’ – Momtaza Mehri
‘Exacting and luminous’ – Clare Pollard, author of Ovid’s Heroines and Delphi
Publish date: 11th May 2023
Pre-order from the PTC online shop now.
A Friend’s Kitchen
Our second and final publication in our World Poet Series this year is A Friend’s Kitchen by Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi, translated by Bryar Bajalan and Shook with an afterword by Stephen Watts.
Born in Khartoum, Sudan, Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi has lived in exile in London since 2012. Famous in his native Sudan, the vivid imagery of his searing, lyric poems create the world afresh in their yearning for transcendence. The poems in this World Poet Series book emerged in the aftermath of Al-Raddi’s arrival, when he was separated from his wife and children for nearly five years. A Friend’s Kitchen is a profound collection that deals with both the spiritual incomprehensibility and physical reality of exile. It is rendered into English by the translator Bryar Bajalan working with Al-Raddi’s friend and fellow poet Shook.
‘This is the sort of poet for whose work one wants to learn a language.’ – Fiona Moore
‘This is a masterful collection, one that should be returned to again and again even as we toast our deaths and survive.’ — Aaron Kent, author of The Working Classic
‘An outstanding contribution not only to African poetry but to world poetry. An extraordinary achievement.’ — Leo Boix, author of Ballad of a Happy Immigrant
Publish date: 15th June 2023
