By GWL volunteer Gillian.
Following the conversation with author Laura Marney
last week, was one with an increasingly timely theme. Palestinian writer and poet Maya Abu Al-Hayat came into the Glasgow Women’s Library to talk with writer-in-residence Magi Gibson and discuss the newly released “A Bird Is Not A Stone”, an anthology of Palestinian poetry.
The book also has translations of the Palestinian poetry into English, Scots and Shetlandic, which shows just how many of the themes in the poetry can carry across into other languages and countries worldwide.
Readings by Al-Hayat in her native language, along with guest Christine Da Luca in Scots and Shetlandic and by Magi Gibson in English, gave an interesting contrast between the otherwise very different languages and cultural backgrounds, but also showed how easily core themes such as family and basic human emotion can translate.
“A Bird Is Not A Stone” is a unique compilation for this very reason, and will soon be available to borrow from GWL’s collection.
One reply on “A review of Palestinian poet Maya Abu Al-Hayat’s conversation with Magi Gibson”
Thanks for blogging, Gillian. It was such a pleasure to read with Christine and Maya.