Syrian Poetry in Exile... Selected Poems and Readings by Ahmad Katlish

The writer Ahmad Katlish, a beneficiary of the third edition of the Laboratory of Arts Programme, is working on a project to collect and prepare an audio anthology of post-asylum Syrian poetry. The project will produce a paper and audio book that monitors some of the changes that continue to modify the course of Syrian poetry after a period of recession (before the revolution) and during a stage of confusion caused by the acceleration of social, political, economic and intellectual changes initiated by the revolution. These events have continued to change poetry from one form to another that parallel the transformations occurring inside Syria and after asylum.

On the idea and context, Katlish says, "During the past years, some poets have become well-known, either because of social media and the increased attention to the Syrian issue, or naturally due to the number of unexpected changes that has affected poetry and increased its momentum and confusion at the same time. Here we can notice disparities and cold wars between different poets. This is a good phenomenon, especially as we reach a stage where we can disagree on poetic visions rather than on poetic form. We also notice that some of the arguments among poets are based on accusations of exploiting the public interest in the Syrian issue. Some people are unaware that the international cultural space is open to experimentation and to introducing new productions regardless of their value, where the public is given the opportunity to have the final say, rather than the cultural authority that we used to fight."

In a short introduction, the book discusses some of these changes and makes certain references to developments that occurred in poetry during previous revolutions in other countries. The book will leave the reader to see for him/herself these changes in twenty different poetic experiences.

On the criteria of selecting the poetic experiences, Katlish says, "The poetic experiences were chosen based on their involvement in the Syrian issue and continued creative work in exile. The book includes twenty poets of different generations and different poetic styles that range between prose poetry, standard poetry, and poetic prose, which has become the most popular genre of work for many poets. The book cannot include all the Syrian poets in exile, and the selection was not made according to personal taste or views on who is the best poet. Rather, different and varied poems were chosen because they have been well-received abroad. Some of these poems were translated and presented in different festivals, however, many poets inside Syria are skeptical about such experiences only because they fall under the category of poets in exile, i.e. those who benefited from the revolution.

In addition to the varied experiences and age groups, we tried to select poets from all countries of exile (Lebanon, Turkey, and European countries... etc.) and from different Syrian contexts: Syrians, Palestinian-Syrians, Kurds, etc. This point may not seem to be of great importance in terms of poetic selection, however, this variation has had an impact on the poetic transformations, which may be evident from the poems."

As for the audio recording poems, Katlish believes that, "The audio texts have the ability to encourage readers to read the text more deeply and help them understand the situation and why this text is different from the others. In addition, of course, the aesthetic element of audio texts could add to the poems’ reception.  Poems will be audio recorded and we will negotiate with the publisher the best way to present the book to the recipients."

At this point in the project's cycle, Katlish has finished the process of selecting the poets and the poems are ready to be recorded in the studio before completing the audio mixing process. Thus, the work on the book is almost complete as only the preface and recording remain..

Ahmad Katlish

Ahmad Katlish is a Syrian writer working on Arabic content on the Internet (written texts and audio recordings). He has written two books dealing with novels and poetry, and has also co-authored a book on heritage stories. At the end of last year, he received the Heinrich Paul Prize in Germany. His audio platform for modern literature received the second prize for Best Project Ideas from the Abdul Hameed Shoman Cultural Foundation in Jordan. The number of channel's visitors has exceeded 3 million, at a rate of 5 thousand listeners per day. The platform consists of recordings that introduce the Arabic recipient to important, though obscure, Arabic and Western writers. There is currently a new plan to develop this platform into an expanded website with different audio recordings.