Celebrating World Poetry Day with ArabLit

This year, World Poetry Day (March 21) fell on the same day as Nowruz, Holi, Purim, poet Nizar Qabbani’s birthday, and, rumor has it, the day when Twitter was founded. ArabLit (Arabic Literature and Translation) shares a few translations of verse by poets including Dakhtanus bint Laqit, Inan, Daughter of Abdallah, and Āʾisha bint Aḥmad al-Qurṭubiyya. "Last year, we shared an eclectic list of 21 Arabic poems, translated to English, composed between the sixth century and the 2010s," ArabLit writes. "That list was noticeably short on women, particularly women who wrote poetry in the sixth through nineteenth centuries." From there: 

Not much classical Arabic poetry by women has been translated as poetry; we’re thus particularly grateful to efforts by Yasmine Seale.

By the time we reach the twenty-first century, it becomes easier to find the work of women poets translated from Arabic, although women’s poetry is still under-translated vs. men’s. No Asmaa Yasin, only one poem by Fatima Qandil on the whole wide internet (?), just a whisper of Saniya Saleh, a single published collection of work by Iman Mersal, and the only Rasha Omran collection was published open-source online, not that I’m complaining.

Deceased poets are in a chronological order. Living poets are a jumble.

This list is not, in any sense, canonical. Nor is it complete.

That said, read ArabLit's complete celebratory list here.