Jul 2

Asmahan: The Druze Diva

Asmahan was a rebel in a world of expectations. From a Druze Princess to exalted singer in 1930s and 40s Egypt – she lived in extremes and did exactly what she wanted. Asmahan also moonlighted as a messenger during the Second World War and when she was killed under mysterious cir ... Show More

43m 28s

Jun 18

Faisal I of Iraq: The Making of a King

King Faisal I of Iraq was born in the age of the Ottoman Empire. A key figure in the Arab revolt, his patience, curiosity and diplomacy endeared him to many, including the man who would come to be known as Lawrence of Arabia. But in hindsight, did Faisal drive Arab nationalism or ... Show More

36m 32s

Jun 4

Shajarat al Durr: From Slave to Sultana of Egypt

Shajarat al Durr was born in the golden age of Islam. Despite her beginnings as a child slave, she went on to become the first woman to sit on the throne of Egypt since Cleopatra nearly 13-hundred years before. But in hindsight, Shajarat al Durr’s life is a Cinderella story witho ... Show More

44m 34s

May 2021

Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi, "The Translator of Desires: Poems" (Princeton UP, 2021)

In this ground-breaking work, Michael Sells (the Barrows Professor Emeritus of the History and Literature of Islam and Professor emeritus of comparative literature at the University of Chicago) translates sixty-one poems that form the Tarjuman al-ashwaq or The Translator of Desir ... Show More

1h 6m

Aug 2020

Lal Ded, mystical Kashmiri poet

There is a great deal of mystery surrounding the poems attributed to the female Kashmiri poet, mystic and sage known as Lal Ded or Lalla. There are no records of her life but what is beyond doubt is the vitality, wisdom and endurance of her work. Her poems, usually just four line ... Show More

39m 29s

Jul 2023

ليلى العفيفة والبَرّاق.. قصّة الحبّ والحرب

قصّة من أساطير الحبّ والحرب عند العرب في الجاهليّة، بطلتها فتاة عربية اتّصفت بالحُسن والجمال والعِفّة، لُقّبت بالعفيفة لأنها صانت نفسها تعفّفاً، ولم تعْص أمر أبيها، أمّا البطل فهو ابن عمّها الذي أحبّها وأحبّته، فذاع نبأ حبّهما وانتشر بين القبائل، لكنّ قصّة الحبّ لا تكون قصّة إن ل ... Show More

15m 36s

Oct 2022

Ep 5 - Narrating the Middle East

Can we understand a culture and a region when we don’t read its authors? And what nuances do we miss when we read them in translation? How are authors and poets from the Middle East reaching new audiences? I speak to poet Zeina Hashem Beck, from Lebanon, living in California, abo ... Show More

40m 28s

Mar 2019

Sappho

Sappho is described as the greatest female poet of ancient Greece. Or, the greatest Greek lyric poet, period. Her reputation as one of the world’s finest poets has persisted for more than 2500 years, but the overwhelming majority of her work has not. Learn more about your ad-choi ... Show More

35m 9s

Sep 2023

Salar Abdoh, "Out of Mesopotamia" (Akashic Books, 2020)

Saleh, the narrator of Out of Mesopotamia (Akashic Books, 2020), is a middle-aged Iranian journalist who moonlights as a writer for one of Iran's most popular TV shows but cannot keep himself away from the front lines in neighboring Iraq and Syria. There, the fight against the Is ... Show More

1h 15m

Jun 2021

ديك الجن... أسطورة الحبّ المأساوي العربية

تداولت الكتب قصة الشاعر ديك الجن، فقيل إنه أحب جاريته حباً جماً، وتزوجها، ثم قتلها ورثاها في قصائده. كان لتلك المأساة الرومانسية نصيب كبير من الأقاويل التي جعلت منها قصصاً لا قصة واحدة، فتناولتها الألسن لتكون أسطورة الحب الدرامي المأساوي العربية. الراوية: هزار الحرك الممثلون: محم ... Show More

16m 25s

Apr 2024

Qutbuddin Mubarak Shah

"If you have to take an beautiful enslaved convert boy from another province to become your lover, and then you fall hopelessly in love with him, and then promote him and he attains great power, do be aware than he might actually want to take your throne." Somehow, this extremely ... Show More

48m 25s

Oct 2023

حَفصة الرّكونيّة.. شاعرة غَرناطة الفاتنة

شاعرة الأندلس وفاتنتها، أحبّها حاكم وقُتل من أجلها وزير. كانت تملأ غرناطة بالجمال والحيويّة إذا ما نزلت إلى شوارعها، تمنّاها الرّجال كلُّهم، أما النّساء جميعهنّ فتمنّين أن يكنّ مثلها، اهتمّ والدها بتأديبها منذ الصّغر، ونشأت على لقاء الشّعراء ومُحاورة الأمراء والأدباء، فأخذت مكانة ... Show More

21m 27s

Mar 2023

493 Catullus - The Poet of Love and Hate

He loved and he hated. Other than that, not much is known about the life of Catullus, who scandalized the late Roman Republic with his bawdy poems, his aching love for the upper-class married woman he called "Lesbia," and his invective against Julius Caesar and other Roman notabl ... Show More

54m 13s

Forough Farrokhzad: The Rebel Poet