Department of English

• Monday, April 15, 2024 - 4:00pm to 5:30pm

Fisher-Bennett Hall, Faculty Lounge (room 135)

Please join us for a poetry reading and discussion of translation with Franco-Egyptian poet, Safaa Fathy, and NELC doctoral candidate, Rawad Wehbe, who has just published his Arabic-to-English translation of Fathy’s Where Not To Be Born.

*Monday, April 15, 4:00pm to 5:30pm, Fisher-Bennett Hall's Faculty Lounge (room 135)*

Safaa Fathy is a major contemporary Arabic poet, documentary filmmaker, playwright, and essayist. Fathy is the author of seven books of poetry, including another recently translated volume, Revolution Goes Through Walls (translated by Pierre Joris). Fathy has also directed dozens of feature and short films in both French and Arabic, including Mohammad sauvé des eaux (Mohammad Saved by the Waters), Nom à la mer (Name To the Sea), and (best known in the U.S.) the documentary film D’ailleurs, Derrida (Derrida’s Elsewhere). Fathy and Derrida are also the co-authors of the book Tourner les mots: Au bords d’un film (Shooting Words: At a Film’s Edge). 

Rawad Z. Wehbe is a Ph.D. candidate in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Pennsylvania, specializing in early Islamic poetry. His translation of Safaa Fathy's Where Not to Be Born was published earlier this year by Litmus Press. His translations have also appeared in Home: New Arabic Poems (Two Lines Press, 2020), Michigan Quarterly Review, Doublespeak, and Words without Borders.

Hosted by Max Cavitch, Associate Professor of English.

The generous sponsors of this event include Litmus Press and the University of Pennsylvania's Department of English.