Events

Iraqi poet visits Arabic language students at MSU

On Tuesday, October 14, the Arabic Language Instruction Flagship (ALIF) Program at MSU hosted the internationally acclaimed Iraqi poet, Adnan al-Sayegh, to give a poetry reading to Arabic language students in Wells Hall.

al-Sayegh was born in Al-Kufa (Iraq) in 1955, and comes from a generation of Iraqi poets known as the Eighties Movement. His poetry is both elegant and sharp, and he says that he uses his words like weapons to denounce war and the horrors of dictatorship. His poems have brought him death threats on several occasions in Iraq. In 2006, at the third Al-Marbed Poetry Festival in Basra, Iraq, his poems upset the armed militia and al-Sayegh was threatened with having his tongue cut out. He was forced to quickly leave Basra and return through Kuwait to his exile in London. He has received several international awards, including the Hellman - Hammet International Poetry Award (New York 1996), the Rotterdam International Poetry Award (1997) and the Swedish Writers Association Award (2005), and has given poetry readings in many festivals across the world. More information about Adnan al-Sayegh and his publications can be found on his website: http://www.adnanalsayegh.com