Palestinian poet Najwan Darwish, UK poet Paul Batchelor and translator Atef Alshaer read poems in Arabic and English from their dual-language collection Embrace.

Najwan Darwish was one of Hay's Beirut 39 writers in 2010, and the New York Review of Books described him as ‘one of the foremost Arabic-language poets of his generation’. His witty and emotionally truthful poems often speak directly to historical events and respond to political injustices. Poet, critic and teacher, Paul Batchelor is the author of The Sinking Road and has won The Times’ Stephen Spender Prize for Translation. Author and translator, Atef Alshaer’s publications include Poetry and Politics in the Modern Arab World and A Map of Absence: An Anthology of Palestinian Writing on the Nakba.

They will also discuss their experience of the translation process and contemporary Arabic poetry with Martin Kratz, poet and project manager of Manchester Poetry Library.

Presented in partnership with the Manchester Poetry Library.