Jamal Jumá
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jamal Jumá (b. 1956), An Iraqi poet and researcher, born in Baghdad, and since 1984 lived in Denmark. Has Bachelor of Arts in Arabic Literature from University of Basrah and Master degree in Semitic Philology from the University of Copenhagen.
He has published several collections of poetry, including Book of the Book (1990), A Handshake in the Dark (1995), and Diary of the Sleepwalker (1998). His work has been translated to several languages.
He has also edited and published numerous manuscripts of Erotica, including The Perfumed Garden, A Promenade of the Hearts, and The Forbidden Texts. This infuriated some religious and political establishments around the Arab World, resulting in the confiscation and banning of these books in all Arab countries.
Jamal Jumá achieved his first and major cultural breakthrough internationally when famous British composer Michael Nyman set to music a good number of poems from his collection A Handshake in the Dark. The choral work was commissioned by the BBC and premiered by the BBC Symphony Chorus and BBC Symphony Orchestra on 8 March 2007 at the Barbican Hall, London, with John Storgards as conductor.
[edit] Books and anthologies
[edit] Articles
- The Sunday Times:How a family trauma inspired an Iraqi poet
- Michael Nyman: A Handshake in the Dark
- Amir Taheri: An Iraqi Poet Finds a New Language
