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Strangers in Light Coats

Selected Poems, 2014–2020
Series: The Arab List
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Strangers in Light Coats is a compelling collection of Ghassan Zaqtan's poetry from 2014 to 2020, now available in English for the first time. This volume gathers work from six previous books, showcasing Zaqtan's intricate poetic voice as it navigates themes of observation, experience, and transformation. Through a blend of fable, myth, and elegy, the poems evolve continuously, embodying an invisible network of roots that penetrate deep political and national narratives.
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Format: Paperback / softback
$3999
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Recommended for readers interested in contemporary poetry, Middle Eastern literature, and those seeking profound, contemplative works that explore cultural and political depth through lyrical expression.

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Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

A highly anticipated edition of Zaqtan’s work from 2014 to 2020, all in English for the first time.

Ghassan Zaqtan is not only one of the most significant Palestinian poets at work today, but one of the most important poets writing in Arabic. Since the publication of his first collection in 1980, Zaqtan’s presence as a poet has evolved with the same branching and cumulative complexity as his poems—an invisible system of roots insistently pushing through the impacted soil of political and national narratives.

Strangers in Light Coats is the third collection of Zaqtan’s poetry to appear in English. It brings together poems written between 2014 and 2020, drawn from six volumes of poetry. Catching and holding the smallest particles of observation and experience in their gravity, the poems sprout and grow as though compelled, a trance of process in which fable, myth, and elegy take form only to fall apart and reconfigure, each line picked apart by the next and brought into the new body.

Series: The Arab List

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    A highly anticipated edition of Zaqtan’s work from 2014 to 2020, all in English for the first time. Ghassan Zaqtan is not only one of the most significant Palestinian poets at work today, but one of the most important poets writing in Arabic. Since the publication of his first collection in 1980, Zaqtan’s presence as a poet has evolved with...
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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781803092386

Publisher: Seagull Books London Ltd

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 05 November 2023

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Seagull Books London Ltd

Contributors:

  • Translated by Robin Moger

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 10.0mm

Width: 159.0mm

Height: 235.0mm

Weight: 172g

Pages: 96

About the Author

Ghassan Zaqtan is the author of numerous collections of poetry, a novel, and a play, The Narrow Sea, which was honored at the 1994 Cairo Festival. His verse collection Like a Straw Bird It Follows Me, translated by Fady Joudah, was awarded the Griffin Poetry Prize in 2013, and he was nominated for the Neustadt International Prize for Literature in both 2014 and 2016. Robin Moger is a translator of Arabic prose and poetry based in Cape Town, South Africa.

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