تخلیق کے تیسرے دن
جب خالق نے خشکی کو اپنے لمس سے آشنا کیا
تو اُسی دن میں نے کتابوں سے بھرا ایک فلیٹ چُنا
اور اس سے پہلے کہ دنیا جہان کے آمر
مجھے جلا وطن کرتے
میں نے خود کو جلا وطن کر لیا
Najwan Darwish is a Palestinian poet born in Jerusalem in 1978. He published his first book of poetry in 2000 and has been an important literary figure ever since. His poetry has been translated into over twenty languages and in 2009 he was named one of the thirty-nine best Arab writers under the age of forty by the Hay Festival Beirut 39 Project. His book Nothing More To Lose (NYRB, 2014) was listed as one of NPR’s best books of the year.
Darwish serves as the literary advisor to the Palestine Festival of Literature and has held key positions in cultural journalism, including chief editor of Min Wa Lla Magazine, and cultural critic for Al Akhbar newspaper. The New York Review of Books described him as ‘one of the foremost Arabic-language poets of his generation’.
Hammad Rind is a Welsh-Pakistani writer and translator. His debut novel Four Dervishes (Seren Books, 2021) was longlisted for the British Science Fiction Association Award. He translated Knotted Grief (Zuka Books) by Indian poet, Naveen Kishore, into Urdu under the title Uljha Gham in 2022. Hammad did a BA in English and Persian literature at the Punjab University, Lahore, and an MA in film making at the Kingston University, London. He is currently writing his second novel as well as working along with Welsh poet, Iestyn Tyne, on a Welsh translation of works by Palestinian poet, Najwan Darwish.