Najwan Darwish

Named as "one of Arabic literature’s biggest new stars" Darwish's work has been translated into over 20 languages.

• Name — Najwan Darwish • Born — 8 December 1978 • Birthplace — Jerusalem • Occupation — * Poet • chief cultural editor • Notable Works — * Nothing More to Lose • Exhausted on the Cross • Awards — * Sarah Maguire Award for Poetry (2022) • Nominated as a finalist for IV Premi Mediterrani Albert Camus (2024) • Website — http: www.najwandarwish.com/

Besides being a poet, Darwish is a cultural editor in the Arab world. He has played an important role in developing Arabic cultural journalism by co-founding independent magazines and mainstream daily newspapers, as well as being a sharp critic. He was the chief editor of Min Wa Ila (from/to) Magazine in Palestine, and the cultural critic for Al Akhbar newspaper in Lebanon from 2006 to 2012, amongst other key positions in cultural journalism. In 2014 he became the founding chief editor of the cultural section of Al Araby Al Jadeed (The New Arab), a major pan-Arab daily newspaper based in London. Darwish is active in diverse media, culture and art projects in Palestine and the Arab world. He was the literary advisor of MASARAT Palestine, the Palestinian Cultural and Artistic Year in Belgium (2007–2008) alongside the late Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish who was the head of the committee. He was the literary advisor to the Palestine Festival of Literature (PalFest). In 2025 Darwish's poetry collection No One Will Know You Tomorrow (translated by Kareem James Abu-Zeid) was shortlisted for the PEN Heaney Prize.

• In Ramallah, Running By Guy Mannes-Abbott, Black Dog Publishing, London, 2012.. • Printemps Arabes, Le Souffle et les Mots By Gilles Kraemer & Alain Jauson, Riveneuve Editions, France, 2012.. • Voix Vives de Méditerranée en Méditerranée, Anthologie Sète 2011 Éditions Bruno Doucey, Paris, 2011.. • Revolutionary Poets Brigade Edited by Jack Hirschman, Caza de Poesia, California, 2010 • Beirut39 Bloomsbury Publishing, London, 2010 • Wherever I Lie Is Your Bed (Two Lines World Writing in Translation) Edited by Margaret Jull Costa and Marilyn Hacker, Center for the Art of Translation, San Francisco, 2009.. • Language for A New Century, Contemporary Poetry from the Middle East, Asia, and Beyond By Tina Chang. W. W. Norton & Company, New York, 2008.. • Le Poème Palestinien Contemporain, Le Taillis Pré, Belgium, 2008 • Palabras Por la Lectura Edited by Javier Pérez Iglesias, Castilla-La Mancha, Spain, 2007 • Pères by Taysir Batniji, with texts by Catherine David and Najwan Darwish, Loris Talmart, Paris, 2007.. • En Tous Lieux Nulle Part Ici: Une Anthologie Edited by Henri Deluy, Le Blue Ciel, Coutras, 2006..

Throughout his two decades long literary career Darwish has rarely given interviews. When he was asked by the Polish magazine Katowice about this he responded with, “I say what I want to say in my poems. My true self is in them.” Further interviews include: • Palestinian poet Najwan Darwish: ‘We can’t begin to comprehend the loss of art’. The Guardian. By Alexia Underwood. January 4 2024. • Najwan Darwish interview: ‘In times of genocide, poets find themselves adrift’. The Federal. By Rajeev Ramachandran. February 7 2024. • Nothing more to lose. An Interview with Najwan Darwish. Confronti World. By Francesca Bellino. July 27, 2022. • On poetry, tradition, risk-taking, and colonial barbarians. Al Jazeera. By Manash Firaq Bhattacharjee. March 27 2019. • Poetic justice: The writer Najwan Darwish on PalFest and his first volume of poetry. The National. By Jessica Holland. May 27, 2013. • An Interview with Najwan Darwish and his translator Kareem James Abu-Zeid. Modern Poetry in Translation. By Ali Al-Jamri.

• Poetry reading in English - Nothing More To Lose By Najwan Darwish • Nothing More to Lose | Muzafar Ahammad in conversation with Najwan Darwish | KLF 2019 • NYRB Poets: Najwan Darwish, w/ translator Kareem James Abu-Zeid & Jeffrey Yang • NAJWAN DARWISH. Conversation with the Palestinian poet. (Spanish original: NAJWAN DARWISH. Conversación con el poeta palestino) • Studio discussion - The interest of Western poets in the Palestinian issue (Arabic original: مقابسات | اهتمام الشعراء الغربين بالقضية الفلسطينية) • Poetry reading by the author - Poet Najwan Darwish (Arabic original: الشاعر نجوان درويش)

• Title — Year — Publisher — ISBN • The Closer I Got to the Storm (Arabic original: كُلّما اقتربتُ من عاصِفة) — 2018 — Al-Feel Publications (دار الفيل) & Arab Institute for Research and Publishing (المؤسسة العربية للدراسات والنشر) — 9786144198902 • Exhausted on the Cross (Arabic original: تَعِبَ المُعلَّقون) — 2018 — Al-Feel Publications (دار الفيل) & Arab Institute for Research and Publishing (المؤسسة العربية للدراسات والنشر) — 9786144199053 • Once We Woke Up in Heaven (Arabic original: استيقَظنا مَرَّةً في الجَنَّة) — 2020 — Al-Feel Publications (دار الفيل) & Arab Institute for Research and Publishing (المؤسسة العربية للدراسات والنشر) — 9786144861530 • A Chair on the Wall of Akka (Arabic original: كُرسيّ على سُور عَكّا) — 2021 — Al-Feel Publications (دار الفيل) & Arab Institute for Research and Publishing (المؤسسة العربية للدراسات والنشر) — 9786144861547

• Title — Year — Publisher — ISBN • No One Will Know You Tomorrow: Selected Poems 2014-2024 — 2024 — Yale University Press — 9780300275469 • Nothing More to Lose — 2014 — New York Review Books — 9781590177303 • Embrace — 2020 — The Poetry Translation Centre — 9781916114128 • Exhausted on the Cross — 2021 — New York Review Books — 9781681375526

• Title — Year — Publisher — ISBN • Nada más que perder (English: Nothing more to lose) — 2016 — Valparaíso Ediciones — 9788416560424 • Durmiendo en Gaza (English: Sleeping in Gaza) — 2017 — Valparaíso México — 9786078437108 • No eres poeta en Granada (English: You are not a poet in Granada) — 2018 — Sonámbulos Ediciones — 9788494653483 • Exhausto en la cruz (English: Exhausted on the Cross) — 2022 — Vaso Roto — 9788412519778 • Nada más que perder (English: Nothing More to Lose) — 2024 — Vaso Roto — 9788419693617