Main content
Sorry, this episode is not currently available

I Come From There: The Poetry of Mahmoud Darwish

Harriett Gilbert explores the life and work of the late Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, who was regarded by many as the poet laureate of the Arab world.

For many, Mahmoud Darwish was the poet laureate of the Arab world, until he died in August 2008. This programme tells the story of his life and work.

Harriett Gilbert explores the poet who performed his work to crowds of 25,000 and who wrote speeches for Yasser Arafat. At six, after an Israeli attack on Darwish's village in Upper Galilee, his family became refugees in Lebanon, and from then on he lived throughout the Middle East, until his return to Ramallah in 1995. Inter-cut with poetry read by Samuel West, voices from Ramallah, Tel Aviv, Cairo and London discuss this "saviour of the Arab language".

With Adhaf Soueif (novelist), Ruth Padel (poet), Sarah Maguire (translator), Raja Shehadeh (writer and human rights lawyer), Khaled Hroub (journalist and poet), Avirama Golan (writer) and Jeremy Bowen (Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Middle East editor).

Producer: Rebecca Stratford.

45 minutes

Last on

Tue 9 Aug 2011 21:15

Broadcasts

  • Sun 23 May 2010 21:30
  • Tue 9 Aug 2011 21:15

What was really wrong with Beethoven?

What was really wrong with Beethoven?

Georgia Mann and neurosurgeon Henry Marsh explore the puzzle of Beethoven’s poor health.

Classical music in a strongman's Russia – has anything changed since Stalin's day?

What composer Gabriel Prokofiev and I found in Putin's Moscow...

Six Secret Smuggled Books

Six classic works of literature we wouldn't have read if they hadn't been smuggled...

Grid

Seven images inspired by the grid

World Music collector, Sir David Attenborough

The field recordings Attenborough of music performances around the world.