Last Friday 17th Nov. I was invited to take part in the African Writers’ Evening, that is hosted by poet Nii Ayikwei Parkes part of the annual program of the poetry cafe.
The evening is a reading event for poets and writers that are originally from Africa and either reside in Britain or are invited from their countries for the event, it is a bimonthly event, and has featured many writers.
I was Invited to read some of my poetry that I write in English, and also an Arabic translation of a poem written by Nii Ayikwei Parkes.
The Evening also featured Zimbabwean writer Brian Chikwava who won the 2004 Caine Prize for African Writing.
It was a wonderful experience, the audience enjoyed listening to the Arabic translation, and there was also an interest from them to know more about Arabic culture and poetry, I even managed to read some verses for the great Arabic poet Al Mutanabi, and they liked it so much.
Anyhoo I thought that I share my part of the evening with you. You will find a recording for my reading, sorry for the low quality of the sound, but this is the best that I managed to get. And by the way the next Imtidad podcast episode will be next week, it will be the English version and the Arabic will be the week after that. Salamat
African Writers’ Evening.mp3 (4.3mb)
