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Excerpted from the article Arabic Poets
John Asfour is a Lebanese-Canadian poet, writer, and teacher. At the age of 13, a grenade exploded in his face during the Lebanon crisis, leaving him blind. Asfour is the author of four books of poetry in English and two in Arabic. He translated the poetry of Muhammed al-Maghut into English under the title Joy is Not my Profession, and he selected, edited and introduced the landmark anthology When the Words Burn: An Anthology of Modern Arabic Poetry. John Asfour resides in Montreal.
I asked Mr. Asfour if this kind of an event could bridge the gap between East and West, at least in poetry. “One event will not do it. We need to probe more, have more openness. Arabic culture is one which has survived on poetry and literature, on how deep that canon of writing is. My colleagues (Matar and Mattawa) are lucky to have two cultures and multiple translations of poetry of work with. The study of English literature is a fascinating topic for me, but modernism started in the Arab culture in the 9th century. Many of the challenges and questions of modern literature were being addressed then.
“The problem with poetry is that it’s quite regional. Even in this country, what gets published and read in the East is not being read in Western Canada, and vice versa.”
To learn more about Asfour’s latest book Blindfold, or to order online, click here.
To arrange an interview with John Asfour, contact –
Jacqui Davis, MQUP Publicist, jacqueline.davis@mcgill.ca
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