{"title":"Adnan Al-Sayegh","description":"\u003cp\u003eExplore the poignant poetry of Adnan Al-Sayegh, an Iraqi voice echoing with resilience and reflection. Discover his evocative verses on exile, memory, and the human condition. A must-read for poetry lovers.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"let-me-tell-you-what-i-saw-book-adnan-al-sayegh-9781781726020","title":"Let Me Tell You What I Saw","description":"Uruk’s Anthem has been described as beautiful, powerful and courageous and at the same time apocalyptic and terrifying in its unwavering scrutiny of, and opposition to, oppression and dictatorship wherever it occurs in the world. Fusing ancient Arabic and Sumerian poetic traditions with many innovative and experimental features of both Arabic and Western literature, Uruk’s Anthem might best be described as a modernist dream poem that frequently strays into nightmare; yet it is also imbued with a unique blend of history, mythology, tenderness, lyricism, humour and surrealism.  It took twelve years to write (1984-1996). During eight years of that time Adnan was forced to fight in the Iran-Iraq War. Many of his friends were killed and he spent eighteen months in an army detention centre, a disused stable and dynamite store, dangerously close to the border with Iran.  A smaller selection of extracts from Uruk’s Anthem (translated by Jenny Lewis and Ruba Abughaida) was published in English for the first time in Singing for Inanna (Mulfran Press, 2014) a first step towards Let Me Tell You What I Saw. This important, more comprehensive translation includes notes to the text and an introduction by Jenny Lewis, and translation notes by Jenny and by Ruba Abughaida.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49506738667793,"sku":"GOR011369955","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49518912176401,"sku":"GOR011680768","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49755010203921,"sku":"NGR9781781726020","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1781726027.jpg?v=1751433467"},{"product_id":"biography-of-an-exile-book-adnan-al-sayegh-9781910345184","title":"Biography of an Exile","description":"A politically charged, hard-hitting and thought-provoking collection by one of Iraq's best-known poets, Adnan al-Sayegh. Throughout this collection, Adnan explores the exhausting struggle for acceptance after being forced into exile. Seemingly innocent and lyrical at first, yet infused with darker undercurrents and nightmarish imagery. A distinct poetic voice; one which refuses to adjust to the expectations of a society, after being humiliated and shamed by its horrifying dictatorship. Passionate, outspoken and incredibly moving, these poems capture the power and resilience which come with mortality.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51055001829649,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51055004123409,"sku":"NIN9781910345184","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51681082966289,"sku":"GOR009193051","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1910345180.jpg?v=1750867011"},{"product_id":"to-cuddle-my-exile-book-adnan-al-sayegh-9781908853998","title":"To Cuddle My Exile","description":"\u003cp\u003eAdnan al-Sayegh was born in Al-Kufa, Iraq, in 1955. Today he is a renowned international award-winning poet.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAt the age of 25, Adnan was forcibly conscripted into the Iraq army. Resistance meant execution. As a result, he faced injury and death on the battlefields of the 1980-1989 Iraq-Iran war. During this cataclysmic conflict, Adnan was detained for reading books forbidden by the Iraqi autocratic authorities. Along with other prisoners, he was confined in an abandoned stable, situated on the Iran-Iraq borders. This encampment was surrounded by hidden land mines and in danger of being obliterated by enemy bombing raids. All this compelled Adnan, albeit surreptitiously and by candlelight, to create poetry in which he fervently denounced the devastation of war and the horror of dictatorships.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eOn his release from confinement in 1986 the war had not abated, but the military seconded him because of his literary skills to work on a newspaper. Whilst there he continued to vehemently denounce the injustice and oppression of the ruling regime. In 1991 Durgham Hashem, the newspaper's editor, was killed on orders from Sadam Hussein. In 1993, when a section of Adnan's 500-page poem \u003cem\u003eUruk's Anthem \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e-\u003c\/strong\u003e a poem which proclaims the profound despair of the Iraqi people \u003cstrong\u003e-\u003c\/strong\u003e was adapted for the theatre and performed in Baghdad, rumours reached him that his life also was in danger. He fled to live in Jordan and once again worked as a journalist. His assistant editor was Nahed Hattar, who in October 2016 was assassinated in Jordan for publishing an incongruous caricature.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWhilst working in Jordan, on receipt of further threats, Adnan fled to Beirut. In 1996 the full-length \u003cem\u003eUruk's Anthem\u003c\/em\u003e was published. This so enraged Sadam Hussein's son Uday that he condemned Adnan to death. To save his life, Adnan left Beirut and found refuge in Sweden, via the UN, in October 1996. Since 2004 he has been living in exile in London.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAdnan has used words as a weapon to decry the devastation of war and the barbarity of dictatorship. However, the 'power of his pen' has also given him poetic permission to 'overcome the power of their bullets', and reach beyond the political and religious extremism that has caused him so much anguish. This allowed him to embrace, with a lighter stroke of his pen, a poetic vision which encompasses the beauty and love in the natural world.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eHe has transported not only the reader but himself, from the darkness into light and from the sinister to smiles. Despite appalling difficulties Adnan upholds the courage of his convictions: that nations and mankind who have been divided through religious extremism, dictatorship and war, will one day be united by a bond of fellowship and freedom. A world filled with peace, where everyone will be free to walk forward into the light.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eA full list of Adnan's awards are listed in this book. His poetry has been translated into many languages and he is frequently invited to take part in poetry festivals around the world.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52486685262097,"sku":"NLS9781908853998","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52933009113361,"sku":"GOR014659968","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781908853998.jpg?v=1759859629"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/collections\/author-books-by-adnan-al-sayegh.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}