Al-mutanabbi Street Starts Here

(Paperback)

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Description

On March 5th 2007, a car bomb exploded on al-Mutanabbi Street in Baghdad. More than 30 people were killed and more than 100 were wounded. This is the historic centre of Baghdad bookselling, a winding street filled with bookstores and outdoor stalls. Named after the famed 10th century classical Arab poet al-Mutanabbi, it had been the heart and soul of the Baghdad literary and intellectual community. Begins with a historical introduction to al-Mutanabbi Street and includes the writing of Iraqis and international poets and writers.

Reviews

"This anthology celebrates the exquisite relationship between the book and the reader, humanity and culture, writing and life and love. It is a tribute to a street that grows into a large and archetypal symbol and spatial metaphor for books."
--Muhsin al-Musawi, professor of Arabic and Comparative Studies at Columbia University and editor of the Journal of Arabic Literature

"The collection of materials in this anthology is astounding and harrowing. Beausoleil and Shehabi have put together a book that will be adored by lovers of poetry, essays, journalism, and testimony. It will also be required reading for anyone interested in social justice."
--Steven Salaita, associate professor of English, Virginia Tech University

"Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here has brought together a stellar group of authors to write about a time and place: the destruction of Baghdad's famed al-Mutanabbi Street, when on March 5, 2007, the cultural spaces of bookstores, libraries, and cafes frequented for centuries by the Iraqi literary community were bombed. This is a wonderful and exceptionally moving anthology and a compelling collection of poetic and historical merit."
--Susan Slyomovics, professor of anthropology and Near Eastern languages, UCLA

"Propaganda reigns when there are no natural alliances of self-defense, when image-makers -- poets, novelists, journalists, filmmakers, photographers, and artists--have no personal relationships with their counterparts across zones of conflict. Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here steps directly into this vacuum, holding the mirror of resistance directly to our acquiescent eyes, reminding us that before the invasion of Iraq there were sanctions, that before the sanctions there was Saddam Hussein, part of an elaborate web of U.S. supported and inspired totalitarianism that has kept the peoples of the Middle East in a stranglehold for a good part of the 20th century. This extraordinary collection asks us to account for our lack of resistance, and to begin learning just what it might mean to resist."
--Ammiel Alcalay, chair of Classical, Middle Eastern and Asian Languages and Cultures at Queens College

Author Bio

Beau Beausoleil is the founder of the Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition and the author of Concealed in Language. Deema Shehabi is a Pushcart Prize-nominated writer who has contributed to numerous journals, including the Kenyon Review, Literary Imagination, and Poetry Review (London). She is the author of Thirteen Departures from the Moon. They both live in San Francisco.