Amir Darwish's guest appearances

Amir Darwish

Lunar Poetry Podcasts

Wander

Mary Jean Chan

Matt Abbott

Travis Alabanza

Janine Booth

Kayo Chingonyi

Sarah Callaghan

Raymond Antrobus

Andrew McMillan

Anthony Anaxagorou

Salena Godden

Ross Sutherland

Helen Mort

Caroline Bird

James Massiah

Kim Moore

OwlTail

Welcome back to Wander! And the second season with poets from Afghanistan,  the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Yemen. A Rohingya poet, a Yazidi writer, and this episode’s guest, a Syrian British poet of Kurdish origin. Amir Darwish has published two collections of poetry  - ‘Don’t Forget The Couscous’ and ‘Dear Refugee’, and the first part of his autobiography, ‘From Aleppo Without Love’. We’ve a great conversation about love and solidarity, the poets Rumi, Saleem Barakat and Adunis, the challenges of writing about trauma and injustice - and what he calls his efforts to humanise attitudes towards refugees. He also talks about his approach to writing and why he keeps the spirit of Aleppo alive in his poetry. It’s interesting that Amir came to Britain on the underside of a lorry in 2003 - and his writing about the refugee experience is grounded in a personal awareness, understanding and empathy. And he’s a beautiful writer - you’ll hear this in the poems he reads. Including: ‘Where I Come From’, ‘We Want To Live’, ‘If I Ever See Love’ and ‘I Feel I Should Speak of The City’. His book, ‘Dear Refugee’  is published by Smokestack Books and if you’re in Ireland you can order from Kenny’s Bookshop, or direct from the publisher. This, and his other poetry book - ‘Don’t Forget the Couscous’ are beautiful collections which really delve into his experiences, and explore the many different aspects of love, exile and seeking refuge. The magazine we talk about at the start of the interview - ‘The Other Side of Hope’ (which Amir is the books editor of) is a UK-based literary magazine edited by refugees and immigrants. They also put out regular calls for submissions so follow them @OtherSideofHope And you can follow Amir at @darwish_amir __ This series is funded by The Arts Council of Ireland and produced by Bairbre Flood.

Welcome back to Wander! And the second season with poets from Afghanistan,  the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Yemen. A Rohingya poet, a Yazidi writer, and this episode’s guest, a Syrian British poet of Kurdish origin. Amir Darwish has published two collections of poetry  - ‘Don’t Forget The Couscous’ and ‘Dear Refugee’, and the first part of his autobiography, ‘From Aleppo Without Love’. We’ve a great conversation about love and solidarity, the poets Rumi, Saleem Barakat and Adunis, the challenges of writing about trauma and injustice - and what he calls his efforts to humanise attitudes towards refugees. He also talks about his approach to writing and why he keeps the spirit of Aleppo alive in his poetry. It’s interesting that Amir came to Britain on the underside of a lorry in 2003 - and his writing about the refugee experience is grounded in a personal awareness, understanding and empathy. And he’s a beautiful writer - you’ll hear this in the poems he reads. Including: ‘Where I Come From’, ‘We Want To Live’, ‘If I Ever See Love’ and ‘I Feel I Should Speak of The City’. His book, ‘Dear Refugee’  is published by Smokestack Books and if you’re in Ireland you can order from <a href="https://www.kennys.ie/shop/dear-refugee" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Kenny’s Bookshop</a>, or direct from the <a href="https://smokestack-books.co.uk/book.php?book=163" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">publisher</a>. This, and his other poetry book - ‘Don’t Forget the Couscous’ are beautiful collections which really delve into his experiences, and explore the many different aspects of love, exile and seeking refuge. The magazine we talk about at the start of the interview -<a href="https://othersideofhope.com/index.html" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow" target="_blank"> ‘The Other Side of Hope’ </a>(which Amir is the books editor of) is a UK-based literary magazine edited by refugees and immigrants. They also put out regular calls for submissions so follow them <a href="https://twitter.com/OtherSideofHope" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@OtherSideofHope</a> And you can follow Amir at <a href="https://twitter.com/darwish_amir" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow" target="_blank">@darwish_amir</a> __ This series is funded by The Arts Council of Ireland and produced by <a href="https://twitter.com/bairbreflood" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Bairbre Flood</a>.

February 2016. A transcript of this conversation is available here: https://lunarpoetrypodcasts.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/ep-58-amir-darwish-lpp-transcript.pdf Lizzy Palmer talks to Syrian-Kurdish poet, Amir Darwish about the influences over his writing style and his own attempts to answer whether he performs or reads poetry at live events. Amir's collection Don't Forget the Couscous is available from Smokestack Books. Amir reads three poems:(00:00:21) - 'Stand up and walk'(00:04:00) - 'The Brain'(00:09:14) - 'Dream'www.twitter.com/Silent_Tongue www.twitter.com/darwish_amir www.smokestack-books.co.uk

February 2016. A transcript of this conversation is available here: <a href="https://lunarpoetrypodcasts.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/ep-58-amir-darwish-lpp-transcript.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://lunarpoetrypodcasts.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/ep-58-amir-darwish-lpp-transcript.pdf</a> Lizzy Palmer talks to Syrian-Kurdish poet, Amir Darwish about the influences over his writing style and his own attempts to answer whether he performs or reads poetry at live events. Amir's collection Don't Forget the Couscous is available from Smokestack Books. Amir reads three poems: (00:00:21) - 'Stand up and walk' (00:04:00) - 'The Brain' (00:09:14) - 'Dream' <a href="http://www.twitter.com/Silent_Tongue" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.twitter.com/Silent_Tongue</a> <a href="http://www.twitter.com/darwish_amir" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.twitter.com/darwish_amir</a> <a href="http://www.smokestack-books.co.uk" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.smokestack-books.co.uk</a>

Ep. 58 - Amir Darwish(transcript available)