{
  "id": 6101533,
  "title": "Eleven new poetry books by Arab writers to read in English",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/07/eleven-new-poetry-books-by-arab-writers-to-read-in-english-6101533",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-09-07T04:56:47.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The National Business",
    "slug": "the-national-business",
    "url": "https://www.thenationalnews.com/arts-culture/books/2026/09/07/eleven-new-poetry-books-by-arab-writers-to-read-in-english/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The Boston Public Library will host an event on September 16 to launch a new series of poetry books by contemporary Arab women poets. This collection, called Songs for Fairuz: New Arab Women's Poetry, will feature the work of 10 Arab women poets over five years. The series is named after the popular Lebanese singer Fairuz and will be published by Black Ocean.\n\nThe first volume in the series, I Drag My Sorrow by His Collar, is an English translation of Iraqi poet Hanaa Ahmad Jabr's latest collection. Translated by Jennifer Jean and Wadaq Qais, the book features prose poems that draw on Jabr's personal experiences living in Iraq and the violence she witnessed.\n\nOther titles in the series include Shamma Al Bastaki's House to House, an Emirati poet's collection of interviews with people who grew up around Dubai Creek, detailing the city's history and changes from the 1940s to the 1980s. Lenna Jawdat's 70,000 takes its title from the approximately 70,000 books removed from Palestinian homes and private libraries before and during 1948, and responds to this loss by writing out every number from 1 to 70,000 by hand. The collection includes archival documents and images that connect the personal act of counting to the wider loss experienced by Palestinians.",
  "summary": "A new publishing series that brings contemporary Arab women poets into English will launch at the Boston Public Library’s Central Library on September 16. The event will mark the arrival of Iraqi poet Hanaa Ahmad Jabr’s I Drag My Sorrow by His Collar , the first volume in Songs for Fairuz: New Arab Women’s Poetry . Published by Black Ocean, the series takes its name from Lebanese singer Fairuz…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "The National UAE",
        "title": "Eleven new poetry books by Arab writers to read in English",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/07/eleven-new-poetry-books-by-arab-writers-to-read-in-english",
        "published": "2026-09-07T04:56:47.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}