Magazine of Modern Arab Literature

Publisher / Editor MARGARET OBANK

Assistant Editor SAMUEL SHIMON

Contributing Editors

KHALED MATTAWA SAADI YOUSSEF A K EL JANABI AMJAD NASSER PETER CLARK FADHIL AL-AZZAWI MONA ZAKI

Consulting Editors

NAGUIB MAHFOUZ

ETEL ADNAN

MOHAMMED BENNIS SARGON BOULUS GAMAL EL-GHITANI HISHAM SHARABI MARILYN HACKER HERBERT MASON ERDMUTE HELLER ROGER ALLEN KHALED AL-KARAKI SAIF AL-RAHBI HILMY SALEM YASIR SULEIMAN MOHAMMAD ALI FARHAT

Editorial Assistant DESSY PONTIKOS

Copy Editor DEBORAH HORTON

Layout BEN BRANAGAN

Covers VLADIMIR TAMARI SAMIRA BADRAN

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ISSN: 1461-5363

Banipal takes its name from Ashurbanipal, last great king of Assyria and patron of the arts, whose outstanding achievement was to assemble in Nineveh, from all over his empire, the first systematically organised library in the ancient Middle East. The thousands of clay tablets of Sumerian, Babylonian and Assyrian writings included the famous Mesopotamian epics of the Creation, the Flood, and Gilgamesh, many folk tales, fables, proverbs, prayers and omen texts.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica

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BANIPAL is published three times a year – Spring, Summer and Autumn. Translators are acknowledged on each piece. The source language of the work is noted only when it is not Arabic.

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CONTENTS No 15/16, Autumn 2002/Spring 2003

2 EDITORIAL 4 Abdel Aziz al-Maqalih: Selected poems from The Book of Sana’a 10 Saadi Youssef: Two poems 12 Hala Mohammad: Poems 14 Jamil Hatmal: Short story The Testimony of a Carpenter called Wahid 16 Samuel Shimon: Poems 18 Zuhair al-Jezairy: The Scream — an excerpt from a novel

21 FEATURE on CONTEMPORARY PALESTINIAN LITERATURE

22 Mahmoud Darwish

28 Aida Bamia

25 Sahar Khalifeh

30 Huzamah Habayeb

34 Samer Abu Hawwash 36 Rasmi Abu Ali 41 Naomi Shihab Nye 42 Seema Atalla 43 Saud al-Asadi 44 Mahmoud Shukair 47 Faisal Darraj 52 Izzidin al-Manasrah 54 Adania Shibli 59 Jihad Hudaib 60 Zakaria Mohammed 62 Ziad Barakat 64 Ghassan Kanafani 66 M Obank on Ghassan Kanafani 70 Sharif S Elmusa 73 Iman Bassir 76 Majed Atef 79 Omar Shabbanah 80 Bassam Frangieh on Emile Habiby 82 Atef Abu Saif 84 Salman Natour 86 Musa Hawamdeh 88 Mahmoud al-Rimawy 92 Nasri Hajjaj 94 Ahmad Dahbour 96 Omar al-Qattan review 98 Samir el-Youssef 101 Mahmoud A Hashhash 102 Anas al-Ayla 103 James Kirkup – review 104 Ziad Khaddash 105 Mohammad Ghanaiem 106 Salman Masalha 107 Hussein al-Barghouthi 111 Nathalie Handal 112 Khaled Abdallah 113 Raba’i Madhoun 118 Ala Hlehel 120 Rashad Abu Shawar 124 Susannah Tarbush on Laila al-Atrash 126 Walid Khazendar 126 Youssef Abdel-Aziz 128 Issa J Boullata 132 Liyana Badr 135 Ghazi el-Theeba 136 Khairi Mansour 137 Riyad Baydas 140 Mourid al-Barghouti 143 Yahya Yakhlif 144 Larissa Bender on Yahya Yakhlif 148 Ghassan Zaqtan 150 A M Qattan Foundation

151

REVIEWS 151 Mona Zaki

They Die Strangers by Mohammad Abdul-Wali

153 James Kirkup A Sky So Close by Betool Khedairi 154 Mona Zaki Yemeni woman writer wins award

155

EVENTS 155 Mainz — World Congress awards Edward W Said 157 Third Casablanca International Poetry Festival 159,160 CONTRIBUTORS and TRANSLATORS

This special issue has been made possible by a grant from the A M Qattan Foundation’s Educational and Scientific Programme.

banipal Autumn 2002 / Spring 2003

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