Adonis; If Only the Sea Could Sleep: Love Poems

Translated from the Arabic by Kamal Boullata, Susan Einbinder and Mirène Ghossein with an Introduction by Mirène Ghossein

Series No.: 077

ISBN: 978-1-931243-29-2, Pages: 140

Syrian Literature, Poetry

Winner of the America Award for Literature

Adonis has had more influence in terms of innovation and modernity than any other contemporary Arab poet. Twice he has been a finalist for the Nobel Prize.

For Adonis, poetry is a vision (ru’ya) a “leap outside of established concepts, a change in the order of things and in the way we look at them.” His work often centers on the process of poetic creation. Selected from Al-A’mal al Shi’riyya (The Complete Works, 3 volumes), the current book explores the great Syrian poet’s oeuvre more than any other previous collection in English.