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Paul Chaoul
born in Beirut in 1942, is a poet, playwright, literary critic and foremost translator of French poetry and plays. One of the country’s most prominent social critics and champion of freedom of expression, he co-founded the transient party “the Lebanese Movement of the Conscience”.
At the heart of his poetry is his claim never to speak in the name of all, that a poet is his own manifesto. In 1984 he published two works quite opposed in form: Hawa’ Shaghir [Vacant Air] and Mita Tidhkariya [Commemorative Death]. In fact, like these works, Chaoul’s poetry characteristically alternates between the bareness of the word and its symbolic content.
He published his first collection of poetry in 1974, also publishing works on modern culture of the Maghreb, on Arab drama, and a major anthology of C20th French poetry. Some of his poetry is published in French, German and English translation. He is editor-in-chief of Al-Mustaqbal newspaper’s arts supplement.
Contributor's Issues
The Tent Generations
Things I Left Behind by Shada Mustafa, translated by Nancy Roberts
Shadow of the Sun by Taleb Alrefai
Birds of Nabaa, A Mauritanian Tale by Abdallah Uld Mohamadi Bah
The Stone Serpent, Barates of Palmyra’s Elegy for Regina his Beloved by Nouri Al-Jarrah
Mansi A Rare Man in His Own Way by Tayeb Saleh (Banipal Books, 2020)
Tayeb Salih
Goat Mountain by Habib Selmi
Habib Selmi, author of Goat Mountain and 3 times shortlisted for the IPAF
The Mariner by Taleb Alrefai (Banipal Books, 2020)
Taleb Alrefai, author of Shadow of the Sun and The Mariner
Digital images
Fadhil Al-Azzawi's Beautiful Creatures by Fadhil al-Azzawi (Banipal Books, 2021)
Fadhil al-Azzawi
Poems of Alexandria and New York by Ahmed Morsi (Banipal Books, 2021)
Digital Banipal promotion B67
Saïd Khatibi
Amjad Nasser (1955–2019)
Digital Banipal the full archive
Denys Johnson-Davies (1922–2017) 70 years translating Arabic literature
Ahmed Morsi, author of Poems of Alexandria and New York
Sarajevo Firewood
The Madness of Despair
Mahmoud Shukair – see special feature of Banipal 70 (Spring 2021)
LATEST NEWS
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Link to poems by Mosab Abu Toha, published in Banipal 71 (Summer 2021), available to read online
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Link to poem by Liana Badr published in Banipal 74, now available as an online selection
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GRIFFIN PRIZE SHORTLIST 2023
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Banipal's first audiobook* * *
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Banipal Book Club
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