Syrian poet Nouri Al-Jarrah reads A Boat to Lesbos in USA

A Boat to Lesbos

Syrian poet Nouri Al-Jarrah

reads from his first book in English translation

at Brown University, Rhode Island tonight, and at the Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies, New York University tomorrow evening. Both are free events and open to the public.

An influential poetic voice on the Arab literary scene, Nouri Al-Jarrah has lived in exile and been publishing his poetry for nearly 40 years. A Boat to Lesbos is a powerful and compelling epic poem, written while thousands of Syrian refugees were enduring frightening journeys across the Mediterranean before arriving on the small island.

at Brown University, Rhode Island tonight, 17th April

and at the Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies,

New York University tomorrow evening, 18th April.

Both are free events and open to the public

An influential poetic voice on the Arab literary scene, Nouri Al-Jarrah has lived in exile and been publishing his poetry for nearly 40 years. His poetry draws on diverse cultural sources, and is marked by a special focus on mythology, folk tales and legends.

A Boat to Lesbos is a powerful and compelling epic poem, written while thousands of Syrian refugees were enduring frightening journeys across the Mediterranean before arriving on the small island. Set out like a Greek tragedy, it is passionate and dramatic witness to the horrors and ravages suffered by Syrian families forced to flee their destroyed country, seen through the eye of history, the poetry of Sappho and the travels of Odysseus. It also has editions in French translation, in Italian, in Turkish, in Spanish, in Persian, and forthcoming in Greek – a truly international response to the torment of the Syrian people during these last few years.