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Salim Barakat
is of Kurdish origin, born in 1951 in Qamishli, Syria, where he was brought up and spent most of his adult life. He has explored his own Kurdish culture as well as the Arabic, Assyrian, Armenian, Circassian and Yazidi ones. In 1970 he went to Damascus to study Arabic Literature but after one year he moved to Beirut where he stayed until 1982, publishing five volumes of poetry, two novels, a diary and two volumes of autobiography. In Cyprus, where he worked as an associate editor of the Palestinian quarterly Al-Karmel, he published a further three volumes of poetry and five novels. By 1999, the year he moved to Sweden, he had published his tenth book of poetry and two more novels including Debris of the Second Eternity, which is arguably his best work of fiction. Barakat’s early poetry was revolutionary for its time, both in style and theme, and acquired instant recognition. His work displays unique characteristics and has distinguished him in the scene of Arabic poetry.
Contributor's Issues
Banipal 27 - Autumn/Winter 2006
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
Digital images
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)
Digital Banipal promotion B67
Saïd Khatibi
Amjad Nasser (1955–2019)
Digital Banipal the full archive
Denys Johnson-Davies (1922–2017) 70 years translating Arabic literature
Ahmed Morsi, author of Poems of Alexandria and New York
Sarajevo Firewood
The Madness of Despair
Mahmoud Shukair – see special feature of Banipal 70 (Spring 2021)
LATEST NEWS
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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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