A New Divan

15/08/2019 Edinburgh International Book Festival

The West-Eastern Divan was Goethe’s last major body of poetry, a tribute to Persian verse. To celebrate its bicentenary, A New Divan brings together 24 poets from West and East in a dialogue exploring otherness. This major international event brought together a brilliant array of acclaimed poets from East and West, including Don… Read More

14/08/2019 Edinburgh International Book Festival

Goethe’s West-Eastern Divan, the poet’s personal attempt to broaden European horizons by exploring the concept of the Other and creating a poetic dialogue between East and West, marks its 200th anniversary this year. For this event, Persian academic Narguess Farzad, poet Robin Robertson and Goethe expert Jan Wagner were joined by… Read More

02/07/2019 John Sandoe Books, London

As his contribution to A New Divan, the Palestinian poet Mourid Barghouti responded to the challenge of ‘The Tyrant’ with a powerful poem called ‘The Obedience of Water’, while George Szirtes produced an English version that matches the subtle irony of the original. At this evening of poetry and discusson, Barghouti… Read More

29/06/2019 Bradford Cathedral

At this Bradford Literature Festival event in the beautiful Bradford Cathedral, Professor Eric Ormsby introduced the Divans of Hafiz and Goethe, and then a number of the contemporary poets contributing to Gingko’s A New Divan, including Fatemeh Shams and Mourid Barghouti, read their original compositions. The English-language versions of these new poems were… Read More