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Emirati Modernist Poetry @ the London Literature Festival


Khalid Albudoor, Khulood al-Mu’alla, Nujoom al-Ghanem

7.45pm Purcell Room, South Bank Centre

Tickets: £9.

SBC Booking fee: £1.45 (Members £0.00) Concessions: 50% off (limited availability)

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Nujoom al-Ghanem, Khulood al-Mu'alla and Khalid Albudoor are three Emirati poets, widely known in the Gulf, who have achieved successful breakthroughs in the Arabic-speaking world despite the radical character of their work. This is a first London reading for the three poets who have collaborated on specially commissioned English translations. The New Poetry movement is the most dynamic in the Arab world, featuring free verse, prose poetry and texts that break boundaries of form and image.

Nujoom Al-Ghanem is recognised as one of the strongest modernist Emirati poets, rising to prominence in the 1980s in the Gulf region. She is a poet, writer and independent filmmaker, born in 1962 in Dubai. Since 1989 she has published seven collections of poetry, and now writes full-time. She has directed four short films, and at the Fifth Dubai International Film Festival was lauded for Best Documentary in the Gulf and named the most promising UAE film-maker.

Khalid Albudoor is at the forefront of the modernist poetry movement in Dubai, where he was born. He won the Al-Khal Prize for Poetry in Lebanon in 1991, and has published five poetry collections. He is a founding member of the Emirati Writers’ Union, and an active participant in readings and festivals in the UAE and abroad. A long-time radio and television scriptwriter, presenter and producer, and former director of Radio Dubai, he is currently researching UAE history and cultural heritage.

Khulood Al Mu’alla won the Buland Al-Haidari Award for Young Arab Poets at the 30th Assilah International Cultural Festival in Morocco in 2008, an event celebrating visionary poets and intellectuals from all over the Arab World. She was the first poet from the Gulf to win this award. Active on the Gulf poetry scene, she was born in Umm Al Quwain, UAE, moving to Ras Al Khaimah as a child. Since 1997 she has published four collections of poetry.

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