This book is the first comprehensive account of global Shakespeare commemoration in the period between 1916 and 2016. Combining historical analysis with insights into current practice, Memorialising Shakespeare covers Shakespeare commemoration in China, Ukraine, Egypt, and France, as well as Great Britain and the United States. Chapter authors discuss a broad range of commemorative activities—from pageants, dance, dramatic performances, and sculpture, to conferences, exhibitions, and more private acts of engagement, such as reading and diary writing. Themes covered include Shakespeare’s role in the formation of cultural memory and national and global identities, as well as Shakespeare’s relationship to decolonisation and race. A significant feature of the book is the inclusion of chapters from organisers of recent Shakespeare commemoration events, reflecting on their own practice. Together, the chapters in Memorialising Shakespeare show what has been at stake when communities, identity groups, and institutions have come together to commemorate Shakespeare.

This volume provides an authoritative survey of creative writing in Arabic from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day.

QASIDAH BURDAH THE THREE POEMS OF THE PROPHET'S MANTLE Translations & Introduction by Paul Smith Ka'b ibn Zuhair (died 7th century A.D.) was a famous poet who at first opposed Prophet Muhammad. Finally, he secretly went to Medina and approached the Prophet to ask if one who repented and embraced the faith would be forgiven. Mohammed answered yes and the poet asked, "Even Ka'b ibn Zuhair?" When he affirmed this, Ka'b revealed his identity and read a poem, his Banat Suad (of 55 couplets), which would become his most famous poem. As a reward Prophet Mohammed took off his mantle (cloak) and put it on Ka'b's shoulders. The second for Mohammed was composed by the eminent Sufi, Imam al-Busiri (1210-1297). The poem (161 couplets) is famous mainly in the Sunni Muslim world. It is entirely in praise of Prophet Mohammed, who is said to have cured the poet of paralysis by appearing to him in a dream and wrapping him in a mantle. The third poet of the 'Mantle' was Ahmed Shawqi (1869 - 1932) the great Arabic Poet-Laureate, an Egyptian poet and dramatist who pioneered the modern Egyptian literary movement, introducing poetic epics to the Arabic literary tradition. His 'Mantle' qasida is 190 couplets. The correct rhyme-structure has been kept and the meaning of these beautiful, powerful, spiritual poems. Pages 116 COMMENTS ON PAUL SMITH'S TRANSLATION OF HAFIZ'S 'DIVAN'."It is not a joke... the English version of ALL the ghazals of Hafiz is a great feat and of paramount importance. I am astonished. If he comes to Iran I will kiss the fingertips that wrote such a masterpiece inspired by the Creator of all." Dr. Mir Mohammad Taghavi (Dr. of Literature) Tehran. "Superb translations. 99% Hafiz 1% Paul Smith." Ali Akbar Shapurzman, translator into Persian and knower of Hafiz's Divan off by heart. "Smith has probably put together the greatest collection of literary facts and history concerning Hafiz." Daniel Ladinsky (Penguin Books author). Paul Smith (b. 1945) is a poet, author and translator of many books of Sufi poets of the Persian, Arabic, Urdu, Turkish, Pashtu and other languages including Hafiz, Sadi, Nizami, Rumi, 'Attar, Sana'i, Jahan Khatun, Obeyd Zakani, Nesimi, Kabir, Mu'in, Anvari, Ansari, Jami, Khayyam, Rudaki, Yunus Emre, Bulleh Shah and others, and poetry, fiction, plays, biographies, children's books and screenplays. New Humanity Books amazon.com/author/smithpa

This book identifies the key transformations that have occurred in Arabic literature, in form and content, in the era of social media. Younis investigates the wide range of texts and media that constitute Arabic literature in social media, detailing emerging genres and linguistic features.

Includes passages translated into English.

This is a letter from Imam Ahmad i (may Allah have mercy on him). The treatise by Imam ibn Hanbal, the Imam of the Hanbali school of juristic reasoning, renowned for his steep knowledge, was written several hundred years ago to the inhabitants of a town where the Imam stayed for a period of time. It contains a full and clear description of the prayer and includes detailed observations of the mistakes, which Imam Ahmad observed during his time in that town. It was and remains an invaluable work for all Muslims. Detailing as it does many common errors made during prayers, some of which are serious enough to invalidate the act of worship.

How poetic modernism shaped Arabic intellectual debates in the twentieth century and beyond City of Beginnings is an exploration of modernism in Arabic poetry, a movement that emerged in Beirut during the 1950s and became the most influential and controversial Arabic literary development of the twentieth century. Robyn Creswell introduces English-language readers to a poetic movement that will be uncannily familiar—and unsettlingly strange. He also provides an intellectual history of Lebanon during the early Cold War, when Beirut became both a battleground for rival ideologies and the most vital artistic site in the Middle East. Arabic modernism was centered on the legendary magazine Shi‘r (“Poetry”), which sought to put Arabic verse on “the map of world literature.” The Beiruti poets—Adonis, Yusuf al-Khal, and Unsi al-Hajj chief among them—translated modernism into Arabic, redefining the very idea of poetry in that literary tradition. City of Beginnings includes analyses of the Arab modernists’ creative encounters with Ezra Pound, Saint-John Perse, and Antonin Artaud, as well as their adaptations of classical literary forms. The book also reveals how the modernists translated concepts of liberal individualism, autonomy, and political freedom into a radical poetics that has shaped Arabic literary and intellectual debate to this day.

"The purpose of this book is to trace the development of the differing forms employed in various liteary movements in modern Arabic poetry. This development seems to me the most important elemment in the understanding of the contemporary revolution in Arabic poetry. Moreover, this revolution is considered to be the first in the history of Arabic poetry in which the influence of foreign literature has been such that it las almost completely cut off modervn Arabic poetry from its classical heritage." from Introduction.

AHMED SHAWQI: LIFE & POEMS Translation & Introduction by Paul Smith Ahmed Shawqi (1869 - 1932) was the great Arabic Poet-Laureate: an Egyptian and at times a Sufi poet and dramatist who pioneered the modern Egyptian literary movement, most notably introducing the genre of poetic epics to the Arabic literary tradition. Shawqi was sent to continue his studies in Paris where he was influenced by the Molière and Racine. He returned to Egypt in 1894 and remained a prominent member of Arab literary culture until the British forced him into exile in southern Spain in 1914. Shawqi remained there until 1920. In 1927 he was crowned by his peers the 'Prince of Poets' in recognition of his considerable contributions to the literary field. Shawqi's work can be categorized into three main periods during his career: The third stage occurred after his return from exile: during that period he wrote his religious & Sufi poem, in praise of the Prophet Muhammad (here fully translated in the correct qasida form). The maturation of his poetic style is reflected in his plays (including Majnun-Layla, (here partially translated). Included are remarkable poems for children, qit'as, qasidas in the correct forms. Introduction: Life, Times & Poetry, On Qasida & Qit'a. Pages 119. Introduction to Sufi Poets Series AATISH, ASHGAR, AHMED YESEVI, 'AISHAH Al-BA'UNIYAH, AMIR KHUSRAU, ANSARI, ANVARI, AL-MA'ARRI, 'ARIFI, 'ATTAR, ABU SA'ID, AUHAD UD-DIN, BABA FARID, BABA AZFAL, BABA TAHIR, BEDAR, BEDIL, BULLEH SHAH, DARA SHIKOH, DARD, FAIZI, GHALIB, GHANI KASHMIRI, HAFIZ, HALI, HASAN DEHLAVI, HATEF, HUMA, IBN 'ARABI, IBN YAMIN, IBN AL-FARID, IQBAL, INAYAT KHAN, 'IRAQI, JAHAN KHATUN, JAMI, JIGAR, KAMAL AD-DIN, KABIR, KHAQANI, KHAYYAM, LALLA DED, MAHSATI, MAKHFI, MANSUR HALLAJ, MIR, MOMIN, MU'IN UD-DIN CHISHTI, NAZIR, NESIMI, NIZAMI, NUND RISHI, OBEYD ZAKANI, PAUL, QUTUB SHAH, RABI'A, RAHIM, RAHMAN BABA, RUMI, SADI, SA'IB, SANA'I, SARMAD, SAUDA, SEEMAB, SHABISTARI, SHAH LATIF, SHAH NI'MAT'ULLAH, SHEFTA, SULTAN BAHU, URFI, WALI, YUNUS EMRE, ZAFAR, ZAUQ, EARLY ARABIC, PERSIAN, URDU, TURKISH, AFGHAN SUFI POETS. 90-120 pages Paul Smith (b. 1945) is a poet, author and translator of many books of Sufi poets from the Persian, Arabic, Urdu, Turkish, Pashtu and other languages including Hafiz, Sadi, Nizami, Rumi, 'Attar, Sana'i, Jahan Khatun, Obeyd Zakani, Mu'in, Amir Khusrau, Nesimi, Kabir, Anvari, Ansari, Jami, Khayyam, Rudaki, Lalla Ded, Mahsati and others, and his own poetry, fiction, biographies, plays, children's books and screenplays. amazon.com/author/smithpa

From the Pharaohs to Fanon, Dictionary of African Biography provides a comprehensive overview of the lives of the men and women who shaped Africa's history. Unprecedented in scale, DAB covers the whole continent from Tunisia to South Africa, from Sierra Leone to Somalia. It also encompasses the full scope of history from Queen Hatsheput of Egypt (1490-1468 BC) and Hannibal, the military commander and strategist of Carthage (243-183 BC), to Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana (1909-1972), Miriam Makeba and Nelson Mandela of South Africa (1918 -).