As part of the week tribute to Mahmoud Darwich from 10 to 18 October 2018
Mahmoud Darwich has left a profound mark on the history of contemporary Arabic poetry. From his first collection (Feuilles d'olivier, 1964) to the last (La Trace du papillon, 2008), he never stopped renewing himself, keeping both the admiration of connoisseurs and the loyalty of the general public. Palestinian and Arab by his roots, he fed on the reading of the great contemporary poets, from Pablo Neruda to René Char and Yannis Rítsos to Derek Walcott, in search of what he called «the rhythms of the modern world». In this lecture with two voices, his friends Elias Sanbar and Farouk Mardam Bey who have been with him for a long time return to his poetic journey, placing it in its political, social and cultural context.
A translator of Darwich’s work in French, Elias Sanbar is Palestine’s ambassador to UNESCO. Farouk Mardam Bey, former Cultural Advisor at the Arab World Institute, manages the Sindbad collection at Actes Sud.
All the information on the IMA-Tourcoing website