Exhausted on the Cross by the Palestinian poet Najwan Darwish (translated from Arabic by Kareem James Abu-Zeid and published by New York Review Books) has won the 2022 Sarah Maguire Prize for Poetry in Translation.
Darwish and Abu-Zeid share prize money of £3,000. The winning title was chosen from a shortlist of six books which also included poets from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Korea, Mauritius, Mexico and Syria.
Rosalind Harvey, Chair of Judges, says of Exhausted on the Cross:
‘In its direct, stripped-back lines, the collection demonstrates both the limits and the necessity of language, inviting us to ask, together, how we can move through and beyond suffering.’
Kareem James Abu-Zeid says:
“Winning the Sarah Maguire Prize is a huge honor, even more so because Sarah Maguire herself was such a champion of international poetry in translation. So I’m particularly grateful to receive this prize that bears her name. Najwan and I both poured an immense amount of time and creative energy into Exhausted on the Cross, as did the whole team at NYRB Poets, and it is very rewarding to be recognized for our work by such an esteemed panel of judges.”
