An engaged witness to the Gaza genocide that’s being live-streamed to the world, Samer Abu Hawwash will be in the UK to launch his latest poetry collection, in English translation – FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA and other poems, translated by Robin Moger and published by Banipal Books. On 21 October he will be at the Irish Cultural Centre in conversation with literary critic and writer Lucy Popescu.

Published in their original Arabic in August 2024, these are poems of witness that link with Palestine’s long years of existential trauma and severed identity and “see” anew the unspeakable horrors of the Gaza genocide. Samer Abu Hawwash brings to his poems what one critic has called a “dictionary of war”, a lexicon that expresses a graphic poetic sensibility set in the midst of a war that is exterminating a people. This is a free event, but do book your place via the Eventbrite link. For Banipal Books it was essential to bring this book to English-language readers as soon as possible. ALL WELCOME.