Najwan Darwish (Arabic: نجوان درويش; born December 8, 1978 in Jerusalem) is a Palestinian poet described by The New York Review of Books as "one of the foremost contemporary Arab poets".[1]
In 2009, Darwish was named as one of the Beirut39, a selection of 39 promising Arab writers.[2] In 2014, NPR included his book Nothing More To Lose as one of the best books of the year.[3] Named as "one of Arabic literature’s biggest new stars" Darwish's work has been translated into over 20 languages.[4] [5] In 2023 he has joined Empathism.[6]
Besides being a prominent poet, Darwish is a leading cultural editor in the Arab world. He has played an important role in developing Arabic cultural journalism by co-founding independent magazines and mainstream daily newspapers, as well as being a sharp critic.[7] He was the chief editor of Min Wa Ila (from/to) Magazine in Palestine,[8] and the cultural critic for Al Akhbar newspaper in Lebanon from 2006 to 2012, amongst other key positions in cultural journalism. In 2014 he became the founding chief editor of the cultural section of Al Araby Al Jadeed (The New Arab), a major pan-Arab daily newspaper based in London.[9]
Darwish is active in diverse media, culture and art projects in Palestine and the Arab world. He was the literary advisor of MASARAT Palestine, the Palestinian Cultural and Artistic Year in Belgium (2007–2008) alongside the late Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish who was the head of the committee.[10] He was the literary advisor to the Palestine Festival of Literature (PalFest).[11]
| Title | Year | Publisher | ISBN | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Closer I Got to the Storm(Arabic original: كُلّما اقتربتُ من عاصِفة) | 2018 | Al-Feel Publications (دار الفيل) & Arab Institute for Research and Publishing (المؤسسة العربية للدراسات والنشر) | 9786144198902 | |
| Exhausted on the Cross(Arabic original: تَعِبَ المُعلَّقون) | 2018 | Al-Feel Publications (دار الفيل) & Arab Institute for Research and Publishing (المؤسسة العربية للدراسات والنشر) | 9786144199053 | |
| Once We Woke Up in Heaven(Arabic original: استيقَظنا مَرَّةً في الجَنَّة) | 2020 | Al-Feel Publications (دار الفيل) & Arab Institute for Research and Publishing (المؤسسة العربية للدراسات والنشر) | 9786144861530 | |
| A Chair on the Wall of Akka(Arabic original: كُرسيّ على سُور عَكّا) | 2021 | Al-Feel Publications (دار الفيل) & Arab Institute for Research and Publishing (المؤسسة العربية للدراسات والنشر) | 9786144861547 |
| Nothing More to Lose | 2014 | New York Review Books | 9781590177303 | |
| Embrace | 2020 | The Poetry Translation Centre | 9781916114128 | |
| Exhausted on the Cross | 2021 | New York Review Books | 9781681375526 |
| Nada más que perder(English: Nothing more to lose) | 2016 | Valparaíso Ediciones | 9788416560424 | |
| Durmiendo en Gaza(English: Sleeping in gaza) | 2017 | Valparaíso México | 9786078437108 | |
| No Eres Poeta en Granada(English: You are not a poet in Granada) | 2018 | Sonámbulos Ediciones | 9788494653483 | |
| Exhausto en la Cruz(English: Exhausted on the Cross) | 2022 | Vaso Roto | 9788412519778 | |
| Nada más que Perder(English: Nothing More to Lose) | 2024 | Vaso Roto | 9788419693617 |
Issa J. Boullata, the acclaimed critic, described Darwish's work as "a welcome change in poetic writing in Arabic".[12]
"...A voice simultaneously so passionate and so matter-of-fact that it stops the breath [...] I should warn you, perhaps, imaginary reader whose life differs so much from mine — whatever your views, politics, past experiences or lack of them — it will be impossible, by the time you have finished reading this collection, to escape a connection to Palestine." -Amal El-Mohtar, Nothing More To Lose' Forges A Connection To Palestine, NPR
"...This wide range of voices is behind much of Darwish's remarkable success as a poet: no Palestinian has ever written poetry quite like this before."-Kareem James Abu-Zeid, translator of Nothing More to Lose, No Palestinian Has Ever Written Poetry Quite Like This Before, ArabLit
"Resistance is constant in the blood and in the memory --- but this poetry, ferocious as it can be, is also a lyrical, human acceptance of the antagonist, of the antagonists -- even those, for evil never sleeps, of the very own party, on the very own Soil. Such poetry does not play games, linguistic, critical, theoretical, does not address itself to the academies, but goes straight to the heart, straight to the point. And, on every page, in every line, the Lyric voice, the moving, self-questioning power, predominates."-Nathaniel Tarn, TO: Najwan Darwish, Lute & Drum
"...One of Arabic literature’s biggest new stars." -Sarah Irving, The edgily modern poetry of Najwan Darwish, Electronic Intifada
“While his poetry is at times political, it embodies a universal message reminiscent of the great mystical poetry like Rumi.” -Emily Dische-Becker, Najwan Darwish, Poetry International
"Unlike Mahmoud Darwish, Najwan Darwish’s poems on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict venture beyond the quiet meditation or elegy [...] Darwish stretches Rimbaud’s idea into ethnic identity. At various times, the speaker identifies as not only Palestinian but Kurd, Amazigh, Armenian, Arab, Sephardic Jew, Syrian, and Ancient Egyptian, to name a few, encompassing diaspora groups across ethnicities, religions, histories, and nationalities." -Eric Dean Wilson, Nothing More to Lose by Najwan Darwish, The Rumpus
"Darwish unfolds his identity—personal and collective, Arab and universal. His poetry, like his city of birth Jerusalem, reveals a composite of histories. The people and places they contain seem to possess undisclosed details, and as readers uncover them piece by piece, they reveal a tapestry only Darwish could have woven." -Nathalie Handal,Kareem James Abu-Zeid: A Search for Justice and Expansive Identities by Nathalie Handal, Guernica Mag
"What Najwan Darwish is giving us here is an attempt at a new definition both of resistance and of what it means to be an Arab. The term Arab here is expanded seemingly indefinitely to include Kurds, Armenians, Iranians, Turks, etc. But this politics of inclusion does not shy away from decrying injustices." -Kareem James Abu-Zeid,Kareem James Abu-Zeid: A Search for Justice and Expansive Identities by Nathalie Handal, Guernica Mag
"The dynamic range of atmospheres, emotions, ideas, and perspectives with which Darwish engages in Nothing More to Lose does much to do justice to the complex, liminal body Palestine."-Adam Day, The Body Palestine: A Review of Najwan Darwish's Nothing More To Lose, Kenyon Review
Throughout his two decades long literary career Darwish has rarely given interviews. When he was asked by the Polish magazine Katowice about this he responded with, “I say what I want to say in my poems. My true self is in them.”[13]
Further interviews include: