Ghayath Almadhoun is a Palestinian poet who was born in Damascus in 1979 and moved to Sweden in 2008. He writes poetry, and his poems have been translated into nearly 30 languages. Currently, he lives between Berlin and Stockholm.
Almadhoun has published five collections of poetry in Arabic, the latest being "Adrenaline" in 2017 and "I Brought You a Severed Hand" in 2024, both published in Arabic by Almutawassit in Milan.
In Sweden, he has been translated and published in two collections: Asylansökan, Ersatz, 2010, which was awarded the Klas de Vylders stipendiefond for immigrant writers. He has also written Till Damaskus, Albert Bonniers Förlag, 2014, together with the Swedish poet Marie Silkeberg. which was included in the literary critic list for Best New Books at “Dagens Nyheter”, Sweden's largest newspaper, and made into a radio play for Swedish National Radio.
Almadhoun has also made several poetry films with Silkeberg, and his most recent poetry film, Évian, won the Zebra Award for the best poetry film of 2020.
The Dutch translation of Almadhoun's poetry, Weg van Damascus, (Uitgeverij Jurgen Maas) Amsterdam 2014, was one of the top 10 selling poetry books in Belgium for several weeks in 2015 and 2017.
Almadhoun's poetry has been included in the work of many artists, for example, the renowned American artist Jenny Holzer has projected poems by Almadhoun in “For Aarhus” Aarhus, Denmark, "MASS MoCA" Massachusetts, USA, "Off-White" Florence, Italy, Blenheim Palace, England & "Tutta la Verità" Bergamo, Italy. Legendary artist Blixa Bargeld has also read his poetry aloud in Norway and Greece.
In 2017, together with the Dutch poet Anne Vegter, he published the poetry collection "ik hier jij daar" (Uitgeverij Jurgen Maas) Amsterdam 2017. The book was also one of the 10 best-selling poetry books in Belgium for several weeks in 2017.
Adrenalin a selection of his poems translated into English by Catherine Cobham was published by Action Books, USA, in November 2017.
Adrenalin was on the 2018 BTBA longlist, Best Translated Book Award in the USA, and on the Small Press Distribution list of Poetry Bestsellers for four months - December 2017, January 2018, February 2018 & and January 2019.
"Ein Raubtier namens Mittelmeer" a selection of poems by Almadhoun translated into German by Larissa was published in February 2018 by (Arche Literatur Verlag AG) Zurich / Hamburg.
The book was ranked number 1 on the "Litprom-Bestenliste / Sommer 2018" list for the best books translated into German.
His poems have recently been published in three newly translated books, in Bengali, Persian, Italian and Dutch.
Almadhoun was awarded the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program scholarship (Berliner Künstlerprogramm des DAAD) 2019 / 2020.
In 2022/2023, Almadhoun curated and edited the German poetry anthology Kontinentaldrift – Das Arabische Europa, which included 31 Arabic poets living in Europe, translated it into German and published it bilingually in German and Arabic with a long foreword on Arabic poetry. The anthology was published in Germany in September 2023, by Verlag das Wunderhorn in collaboration with the Haus für Poesie in Berlin.
Publications:
قصائد سقطت سهوًا
published by the Arabic Writers Union
Damascus: Arab Writers Union, 2004
كلما اتسعت المدينة ضاقت غرفتي
published by the Ministry of Culture in Syria on the occasion of Damascus as Capital for Arabic Culture
Damascus: Damascus Capital for Arabic Culture, 2008
Asylansökan
Poems translated into Swedish
Stockholm: Ersatz Verlag, 2010
Prestolnica
Poems translated into Slovenian
Ljubljana: Studentska Zalozba, 2012
Till Damaskus
Poetry collection by Ghayath Almadhoun & Marie Silkeberg
Translation of the Arabic poems into Swedish: Ghayath Almadhoun & Marie Silkeberg
Stockholm: Albert Bonniers Förlag, 2014
لا أستطيع الحضور
published by the Arab Institute for Research and Publishing in Beirut and Amman
Beirut: Airpbooks, 2014
Weg van Damascus
Poetry collection translated into Dutch
Amsterdam: Uitgeverij Jurgen Maas, 2014
أدرينالين
Published by Almutawassit in Milano
Milano: Almutawassit, 2017
ik hier jij daar
together with Anne Vegter
Amsterdam: Uitgeverij Jurgen Maas, 2017
Ein Raubtier, das Mittelmeer heißt
Hamburg: Arche Literatur Verlag AG, 2018
Adrenalin
Poetry selection translated into Bengali by Manos Chakraborty
West Bengal, India: November 2019
آدرنالین
Poetry selection translated into Persian by Sara Rahmati
Iran: Nashre Markaz, 2019
Adrenalina
Poetry book translated into Italian by Jolanda Guardi
Milano: Edizioni Centro Studi Ilà®, 2021
Das Arabische Europa “Kontinentaldrift”
Poetry anthology Curated and Edited by Ghayath Almadhoun
Arabic / German
31 Arabic poets living in Europe.
Berlin: Verlag Das Wunderhorn GmbH & Haus für Poesie September 2023
ISBN: 978-3-88423-689-5
لقد أحضرتُ لكِ يداً مقطوعة
Published by Almutawassit in Milano
Milano: Almutawassit, February 2024
ISBN: 979-12-5591-04
Ik heb een afgehakte hand voor je meegenomen
Poetry collection translated into Dutch
Amsterdam: Uitgeverij Jurgen Maas, March 2024
ISBN 9789083381206