Manchester Metropolitan University is delighted to welcome the award-winning Arabic language poet Najwan Darwish and translator Kareem James Abu-Zeid to Manchester Poetry Library for the inaugural Manchester Translation Series. The event will include a poetry reading, along with a discussion on topics related to translation, multilingualism and the roles of literature in our current geopolitical moment.

Described by the New York Review of Boks as “one of the foremost Arabic language poets of his generation”, Darwish is the author of eight collections of poetry, and his work has been published in over twenty different languages. His collection Exhausted on the Cross (NYRB, 2021), translated by Abu-Zeid, was recently awarded the 2022 Sarah Maguire Prize by the Poetry Translation Centre.

The event will be hosted by Dr Brian Sneeden.

There will be a catered reception in the lobby outside of the Poetry Library starting at 6pm. The event will begin at 6.30pm.