Poetry for freedom – a reading of work by Adnan Al-Sayegh

Born in 1955 in Al-Kufa, a city on the banks of the Euphrates known for its seventh century mosque, Al-Sayegh is from a generation of poets known as the Eighties Movement. His work addresses the horrors of war and dictatorship, and his courageous struggle against oppression has led to exile and death threats.

In the 1980s Al-Sayegh was conscripted into the Iraqi army to fight in the Iran-Iraq war. In 1993, his uncompromising criticism of oppression and injustice led to exile in Jordan and the Lebanon. In 1996 he published Uruk's Anthem - a book-length poem, one of the longest in Arabic literature - in which he richly articulates deep despair at the Iraqi experience. On its publication he was sentenced to death in Iraq and took refuge in Sweden. Since 2004 he has been living in exile in London.

A major poet in the Arab world, Al-Sayegh has published ten collections. 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). His poetry has been translated into many languages and he is frequently asked to take part in poetry festivals around the world.

As well as reading some of his poems, Al-Sayegh will discuss the role of verse in the struggle for freedom. He will be accompanied by his translator, the poet Stephen Watts who has co-edited a book of poetry by censored and imprisoned poets. Watts is a poet, editor and translator, with roots in the Italian Alps and in Whitechapel, East London. When he left university in the 1970s he went to live on North Uist where he worked as a shepherd.

Watts has twice won second prize in the National Poetry Competition. He has worked as a poet in schools and hospitals, and in 2006 collaborated with HI-Arts in Inverness on the social issues of suicide and well-being. In 2007 he was awarded an Arts Council grant to continue his writing and translation research.

The event has been organised by Trinity undergraduate Edward Lee-Six and by Lucy Hamilton, Cambridge resident and writer, who is working on one of Al-Sayedh’s autobiographical war stories. The Man Who Stayed Awake In His Delerium tells of the defining moment when a horrific experience led to his conscious decision to find a way of writing poems under extremis.

The event will take place in the Old Combination Room, Trinity College, tomorrow at 9pm. Entry for guests £2, all welcome.