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New Voices of Arabia: The Poetry: An Anthology from Saudi Arabia
Poetry in Saudi Arabia today is a dramatic manifestation of the rapid changes that are sweeping not only through the country's literature and culture, but also through Saudi life as a whole. The unyielding tension between the forces of change and tradition are nowhere more painfully visible than in the poem. Bringing together three generations of poets – a total of forty, each represented by a number of poems – this anthology reflects the broad spectrum of Saudi poetry over the last half century or more. By linking Hussain Sarhan and Hamza Shahata from the 1950s to Hilda Ismail and Ahmad Katoua'h in today's world, and by juxtaposing the traditional rhythms of the classical poem with the diametrically opposite poetics of the prose poem, this anthology offers a balanced picture of how poetry has evolved in Saudi Arabia. The anthology includes translations of works by Mohammad Al-Ali, Fawziah Abu Khalid, Ghazi Al-Qusaibi, Mohammad Al-Thubaiti and Ali AdDomaini.
- GenresPoetry
360 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2012
2 people are currently reading
18 people want to read
About the author
Saad Al-Bazei
2 booksAlbazei was born in Saudi Arabia in 1953. He completed his university education in Riyadh and earned his Ph.D. from Purdue University, in the USA in 1983.
His dissertation dealt with "literary Orientalism" in Western literatures. He is currently a member of the Consultative Assembly of Saudi Arabia. Until recently, he was professor of English and Comparative Literature at the Dept. of English, King Saud University, Riyadh. His former capacities include: editor-in-chief of The Global Arabic Encyclopedia (30 vols.), and editor-in-chief of the Riyadh Daily, an English-speaking newspaper. Dr. Albazei also worked as president of the Riyadh Literary Club, a major cultural institution in the Saudi Capital from 2006 to 2010. He has since then joined the Shura Council (an appointed Saudi parliamentary body)having retired from his post as professor of English and comparative literature at King Saud University.
He has published widely on Arabic literature, including several volumes of literary criticism and analysis. His book Languages of Poetry: Poems and Readings won the Saudi Ministry of Culture's Book of the Year Prize in 2011. He also edited the 30-volume Global Arabic Encyclopedia. He chaired the judging panel for the 2014 Arabic Booker Prize.
His publications in English include:
Tension in the House: the Contemporary Poetry of Arabia," World Literature Today (Spring, 2001), Oklahoma, USA: University of Oklahoma.
"Minority Concerns: Female Scholars at the Cultural Intersection," Neither East Nor West: Postcolonial Essays on Literature, Culture and Religion, (Stockholm, Sweden: Sodertorns Hogskola University College, 2008).
"Enlightened Tensions: Jewish Haskalah and Arab-Muslim Nahda," (Göttingen, Germany: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Simon Dubnow Institute Yearbook, 2008).
Forthcoming: Cultural Encounters: Essays on Literature and Culture (in English).
Over the years, Prof. Albazei has lectured and participated in conferences in several countries including: USA, Japan, Poland, Germany, UK, France, Spain, UAE, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia. Most recently he addressed the UNESCO conference on languages in Paris, March, 2009.
Prof. Albazei publishes articles in Saudi newspapers as well as academic articles in various periodicals. His English publications have appeared in several journals and books in Arab countries, Germany, Sweden, and the USA. His publications in Arabic include:
1. Thaqafat Assahra (Desert Culture), 1991.
2. Dalil Annakid Aladabi (A Guide for the Literary Critic), 2002.
3. Shurufat lialru'yah (Outposts for Vision: on identity, globalization, and cultural interaction), 2004.
4. Almukawin Alyahudi fi Alhadharah Algharbiyyah (the Jewish Component in Western Civilization), 2007. [Reviewed in Foreign Policy journal of the US State Department, Dec. 2008]
5. Alikhtilaf Aththaqafi wa Thaqafat Alikhtilaf (Cultural Difference and the Culture of Difference), 2008.
6. Sard Almudun: fi Alroyah wa Alsinama (Cities Narrative: Fiction and Cinema), 2009.
7. Qalaq al-Ma'rifah (The Anxiety of Knowledge): Thought and Culture Issues (2010).
8. Lughat Ashi'r (Languages of Poetry): Poems and Readings (2011).
9. Mashaghil Annass and Ishtighal Al-Qira'ah (Preoccupations of the Text and the Workings of Reading) (2014)
10. Muajahat Thaqafiyyah/Cultural Encounters (Arabic and English Texts on culture and the Arts) (2014).
Translations into Arabic:
1. Muslims in American History (by Jerald Dirx) (2010)
2. Globalectics (by Ngugi wa Thiong'o) (2014)
His dissertation dealt with "literary Orientalism" in Western literatures. He is currently a member of the Consultative Assembly of Saudi Arabia. Until recently, he was professor of English and Comparative Literature at the Dept. of English, King Saud University, Riyadh. His former capacities include: editor-in-chief of The Global Arabic Encyclopedia (30 vols.), and editor-in-chief of the Riyadh Daily, an English-speaking newspaper. Dr. Albazei also worked as president of the Riyadh Literary Club, a major cultural institution in the Saudi Capital from 2006 to 2010. He has since then joined the Shura Council (an appointed Saudi parliamentary body)having retired from his post as professor of English and comparative literature at King Saud University.
He has published widely on Arabic literature, including several volumes of literary criticism and analysis. His book Languages of Poetry: Poems and Readings won the Saudi Ministry of Culture's Book of the Year Prize in 2011. He also edited the 30-volume Global Arabic Encyclopedia. He chaired the judging panel for the 2014 Arabic Booker Prize.
His publications in English include:
Tension in the House: the Contemporary Poetry of Arabia," World Literature Today (Spring, 2001), Oklahoma, USA: University of Oklahoma.
"Minority Concerns: Female Scholars at the Cultural Intersection," Neither East Nor West: Postcolonial Essays on Literature, Culture and Religion, (Stockholm, Sweden: Sodertorns Hogskola University College, 2008).
"Enlightened Tensions: Jewish Haskalah and Arab-Muslim Nahda," (Göttingen, Germany: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Simon Dubnow Institute Yearbook, 2008).
Forthcoming: Cultural Encounters: Essays on Literature and Culture (in English).
Over the years, Prof. Albazei has lectured and participated in conferences in several countries including: USA, Japan, Poland, Germany, UK, France, Spain, UAE, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia. Most recently he addressed the UNESCO conference on languages in Paris, March, 2009.
Prof. Albazei publishes articles in Saudi newspapers as well as academic articles in various periodicals. His English publications have appeared in several journals and books in Arab countries, Germany, Sweden, and the USA. His publications in Arabic include:
1. Thaqafat Assahra (Desert Culture), 1991.
2. Dalil Annakid Aladabi (A Guide for the Literary Critic), 2002.
3. Shurufat lialru'yah (Outposts for Vision: on identity, globalization, and cultural interaction), 2004.
4. Almukawin Alyahudi fi Alhadharah Algharbiyyah (the Jewish Component in Western Civilization), 2007. [Reviewed in Foreign Policy journal of the US State Department, Dec. 2008]
5. Alikhtilaf Aththaqafi wa Thaqafat Alikhtilaf (Cultural Difference and the Culture of Difference), 2008.
6. Sard Almudun: fi Alroyah wa Alsinama (Cities Narrative: Fiction and Cinema), 2009.
7. Qalaq al-Ma'rifah (The Anxiety of Knowledge): Thought and Culture Issues (2010).
8. Lughat Ashi'r (Languages of Poetry): Poems and Readings (2011).
9. Mashaghil Annass and Ishtighal Al-Qira'ah (Preoccupations of the Text and the Workings of Reading) (2014)
10. Muajahat Thaqafiyyah/Cultural Encounters (Arabic and English Texts on culture and the Arts) (2014).
Translations into Arabic:
1. Muslims in American History (by Jerald Dirx) (2010)
2. Globalectics (by Ngugi wa Thiong'o) (2014)
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February 15, 2026Sit between us, absence
And abandoned stories
A mist precedes my rain
So touch its beginning now.
— Abdullah Al-Saikhan
*
The streets:
Are they trying to study the details,
Read all the worries in the feet of passers-by?
Tickle their dreams,
then leave them to tears?
— Abdullah Al-Washmi
And abandoned stories
A mist precedes my rain
So touch its beginning now.
— Abdullah Al-Saikhan
*
The streets:
Are they trying to study the details,
Read all the worries in the feet of passers-by?
Tickle their dreams,
then leave them to tears?
— Abdullah Al-Washmi
February 8, 2014
تخوض هذه الأنطلوجيا تجربة التعريف بالأدب السعودي و تقديمه إلى العالم من خلال أشهر لغاته, لكي تزيد من التقارب و التعارف و اللقاء الحضاري و الإنساني و الإبداعي مع شعوب العالم, من منطلق أن الإبداع هو أحد أفضل السبل لتعزيز التواصل البشريّ.*
و ملحق بالكتاب السير الذاتية للشعراء و الشاعرات, و ممن ذُكروا:
الشاعر إبراهيم الحسين و إبراهيم الوافي و إبراهيم زولي و أحمد البوق و أحمد الملا و أحمد الصالح و أحمد كتوعة و أحمد الواصل و أشجان الهندي و ثريا العريض و جاسم الصحيح و حامد بن عقيل و حسن السبع و و حسين سرحان و زياد السالم و خديجة العمري و سعد الحميدين و سعود السويدا و الزيد و الوشمي و الحازمي و الصيخان و الدميني و الخميسي و القصيبي و الخنيزي و فوزية أبو خالد و محمد الثبيتي و محمد العلي و محمد حبيبي و محمد خضر و غيرهم.
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