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Selections
Ahmed Rashid Thani (1963-2012)
These Waves
These Waves
THESE WAVES
I mine souls
and light the ashes of books,
spurred on by the pangs of loss
When the orphans come
to me
out of the waves
I spread my eye’s gaze
I have the well sit next to me
I and prepare tea for Time
Move away, desert!
and come forward, O sea!
with the garments of your light waves
The miner of birds’ souls
and the one who wakes the peoples of sand
is asking you for fresh milk
from the depths of your throat
for these orphan waves
hungry at my hand
since the day of creation
For these impoverished waves
they have yet to see any sky
or earth
For these tiny waves
they have never ascended
the mountain of desire
before,
never seen life
on that mountain
For these waves
they did not fall, all of a sudden,
from the mountain
like birds swooping down
to the sandy shore
For these waves
they have yet to break
as they should
Translated by Sinan Antoon and published in Banipal 38 – Arab American Authors in the feature on Four Emirati Poets
The Cinderellas of Muscat by Huda Hamed (Banipal Books, 2025)
The Tent Generations
Things I Left Behind by Shada Mustafa, translated by Nancy Roberts
Shadow of the Sun by Taleb Alrefai
Birds of Nabaa, A Mauritanian Tale by Abdallah Uld Mohamadi Bah
The Stone Serpent, Barates of Palmyra’s Elegy for Regina his Beloved by Nouri Al-Jarrah
Mansi A Rare Man in His Own Way by Tayeb Saleh (Banipal Books, 2020)
Tayeb Salih
Goat Mountain by Habib Selmi
Habib Selmi, author of Goat Mountain and 3 times shortlisted for the IPAF
The Mariner by Taleb Alrefai (Banipal Books, 2020)
Taleb Alrefai, author of Shadow of the Sun and The Mariner
Fadhil Al-Azzawi's Beautiful Creatures by Fadhil al-Azzawi (Banipal Books, 2021)
Fadhil al-Azzawi
Poems of Alexandria and New York by Ahmed Morsi (Banipal Books, 2021)
Saïd Khatibi
Amjad Nasser (1955–2019)
Digital Banipal the full archive
Ahmed Morsi, author of Poems of Alexandria and New York
Sarajevo Firewood
The Madness of Despair
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Link to poems by Mosab Abu Toha, published in Banipal 71 (Summer 2021), available to read online
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Link to poem by Liana Badr published in Banipal 74, now available as an online selection
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GRIFFIN PRIZE SHORTLIST 2023
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Banipal's first audiobook* * *
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Banipal Book Club
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