Three previously unpublished poems by Soheil Najm: “Adam the Neglected,” “Black Paradise,” and “The Bird of Possibility,” which Najm says are “part of a large project, telling aspects of the life we have lived in our region during the last decades.”
Read more...
To mark the one-year anniversary of the start of the Egyptian revolution we publish a story from Egyptian writer Hamdy El-Gazzar’s book Our Revolution: Stories to Fit in the Palm of Your Hand.
Read more...
Israeli-Palestinian actor Juliano Mer-Khamis, killed in April 2011, founded the Freedom Theatre, a theater of resistance that continues to fight for cultural freedom in Palestine.
Read more...
In this interview, poet Hind Shoufani talks about her parents’ roles as Palestinian activists in the 70s and 80s, her new film on the same subject, and the complications (and benefits) of being a poet who doesn’t call herself one.
Read more...
In this interview with Sampsonia Way, Syrian poet Maram al-Massri discusses being a female poet in Syria, censorship, freedom of expression, social media, and the Arab Spring.
Read more...
Ai Weiwei was scheduled to visit Pittsburgh in May. His installation “Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads,” is set to open at The Warhol Museum in 2012. Eric Shiner, The Warhol’s Acting Director, talked to SW about Ai Weiwei, the installation, and the artist’s relationship to Andy Warhol.
Read more...
Tienchi Martin-Liao, Independent Chinese PEN Center President, gave a forceful speech at the opening event of the Passa Porta Literary Festival in Brussels. Read the speech in its entirety in this Sampsonia Way exclusive.
Read more...
In this interview Shahla Talebi discusses her experience as a political prisoner in Iran, the current political landscape in the Middle East, and the role of women in Muslim countries.
Read more...