A citizen of the world but of no one land, Iraqi-born poet Saadi Youssef writes
of cultural dislocation and self-imposed exile, individual memory and
collective history, in tightly-constructed fragments that speak of his
experiences while commemorating larger historical moments.
One of the leading contemporary poets of the Arab world, Youssef draws on traditional
verse forms while challenging the strictures of traditional Arabic verse in order
to craft poems that speak of and to a time but still resonate across generations
and histories. Writes Marilyn Hacker, “Saadi Youssef was born in Iraq,
but he has become, through the vicissitudes of history and the cosmopolitan appetites
of his mind, a poet, not only of the Arab world, but of the human universe.”
Without an Alphabet, Without a Face, which collects more than four decades
of his poetry, is the first significant English translation of Youssef’s
work. Publishers Weekly says of the collection, “The poems work
brilliantly through their differing times and places, pushing unflinching description
through a steady determination to foment a more just world.” Unapologetically
political, Youssef’s poems challenge injustice and confront corruption
wherever they reside.
The author of more than 30 collections of poetry and 7 books of prose, Youssef
has also translated into Arabic major works by such writers as Walt Whitman,
Federico García Lorca, and George Orwell. He has also worked as a journalist,
activist, and publisher. Youssef left Iraq in 1979 and after many detours, has
recently settled in London.