Description
Translated by Mbarek Sryfi and Eric Sellin. In this brief collection by one of Morocco's most beloved and respected poets, Aicha Bassry, translated and selected by Mbark Sryfi and Eric Sellin, English-speaking readers will find accessible, deceptively simple portraits and snapshots that upon closer reading reveal a depth of emotion and vision that is both psychologically and politically compelling.
"Aicha Bassry takes us on a journey of the heart, mapped in deceptively simple language grounded in elemental imagery and sensuous metaphors. The words on the page are also incantation and exorcism, 'votive offerings on cold nights,' the last rampart against fear and alienation."—Hélène Stafford
"This is a seductively lyrical poetry opening from an atlal, a ruin, of loss, yet always aware of its means, & able to turn these back on the reader, because, as Aicha Bassry knows, seduction is the 'jutting rock [that]/ Gashed the whiteness/ Of the leg that lusted after/ Its own image in the water.'"—Pierre Joris
Poetry. African & African American Studies. Women's Studies. Middle Eastern Studies.
Author Bio
Aicha Bassry's numerous poetry collections include; Masā'āt (2001, Evenings); Araq al-Malā'ikah (2002, Engels' Insomnia), Shurfah Mu?fa'ah (2004, A Dark Balcony), Laylah Sarī'at al-'A?ab (2007, A Frail Night), Sadiqī al-Kharīf (2009, My Friend Fall), Khulwat al-?ayr (2010, The Bird's Seclusion), and Hadīth Midfa'ah (2012, Fireplace Chat). She is also the author of four novels: Layālī al-?arīr (2013, Silk Nights, translated as Noches de seda, 2016), Hafīdāt Greta Garbo (2015, Greta Garbo's Granddaughters), Banāt al-Karaz (2017, The Cherry Tree Girls), al-?ayāt min dūnī (2018, Life Without Me), and Ka Juthah fī Riwāyah Būlīsiah (2020, Like a Corpse in a Detective Story). Bassry was awarded the Kateb Yacine Novel Prize (2016) for Hafīdāt Greta Garbo (2016, Greta Garbo's Granddaughters), the Simone Landry Women's Poetry Prize (2017) and Best Arab Novel award at the 37th edition of the Sharjah International Book Fair (2018) for her novel al-?ayāt min dūnī (2006, Life Without Me). Her work has been translated into English, French, Spanish, Italian, and Turkish.
Author City: RABAT MOR