São Paulo – The Iraqi poet Khalid al-Maaly will be in Brazil next week to participate in the Eastern Poetry Journey, on Monday (12th) and Tuesday (13th) at the University of São Paulo (USP). In an exclusive telephone interview, he told ANBA a bit of what he will bring to the meeting, which will feature seven poets from the East in presentations translated into Portuguese.
“In my poetry I discuss my life experiences,” says Maaly. “I was born in the desert and left Iraq very young to go to France and then Germany,” says the poet. Maaly’s presentation will be translated by professor and writer Mamed Jarouche. “It is a great experience, and a much needed one. It is important to have this exchange between different languages,” says Maaly of his presentation at the USP.
This is Maaly’s second time in Brazil. The first was in 2006, when he attended a cultural forum in Fortaleza, Ceará. When asked what he knows about Brazilian literature, he mentions names from the Arab colony, such as Raduan Nassar and Milton Hatoum, and famous Brazilians such as Andrade, Jorge Amado and Machado de Assis, from whom he said he has read four books.
Now, at 56 years of age, Maaly lives between Beirut, in Lebanon, and Baghdad, in Iraq. “I write continuously and frequently,” says the poet of his working routine. The owner of publishing company Al-Kamel Verlag, he has translated four German poetry books into Arabic. His own body of work is lengthier, comprising ten poetry and three prose books, all in Arabic.
Khalid al-Maaly will give his presentation on the 12th (Monday). On the same day, the Israeli Ronny Someck, the Russian Viatcheslav Kupriyanov, and the Chinese Yao Feng will also be featured. On the 13th, the audience will hear poems from Korea’s Know Tae Joung, Japan’s Ikuko Onotera, and Armenia’s Nahapet Kutchak.
Read below one of Maaly’s poems, translated into English.
DEATH BY THIRST
The well had dried
the bucket came up empty
and we had travelled far
meeting neither beast
nor fowl on our way
but we heard time
whining. Its clock turned
like a millstone as we waited
for a sign.
There we stopped,
our horses had died –
they were a burden.
The dog whimpered for a while,
then he was gone.
We raised a small barrier of sand
over a pile of bones.
Service
Eastern Poetry Journey
November 12th and 13th
10:00 am to 12:30 pm (each presentation will last 30 minutes)
Place: USP’s House of Arab Culture Auditorium
Av. Prof. Lineu Prestes, nº 159 – Cidade Universitária – São Paulo
Admittance is free
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
