The Lady’s Coat
In a ceremony held at the Mahmoud Darwish Museum on Wednesday, 12 April 2017, Mays Dagher released her The Lady’s Coat, a collection that won the first award at the 2015 Young Writers Competition, organised by the A. M. Qattan Foundation. Mrs. Hanadah Kharmah, Professor of Philosophy at the Birzeit University, introduced The Lady’s Coat.
Published by the Al-Dar Al-Ahlia for Publishing and Distribution, Amman, The Lady’s Coat is Dagher’s second collection of short stories. Dagher first published Masters Like Honey. Including 50 short stories, The Lady’s Coat won the AMQF Young Writers Award 2015 for the short story.
Blind Dogs in a Picnic
Poet Omar Ziyadah released his first collection Blind Dogs in a Picnic in a ceremony at the Mahmoud Darwish Museum, Ramallah. Launched on Wednesday, 12 April 2017, the collection was introduced by Poet Hala al-Shurouf.
Ziyadah participated in the AMQF 2015 Young Writers Competition. His collection was celebrated and recommended by the jury for publication. In their statement, the jury said the work “expresses an industrious spirit that creates and builds a text on the spirit of Arabic poetry. However, Ziyadah reduces classical ornamentation and produces poems of smart ideas, a coherently structured poetic expression and discourse and symmetrical language. Poems carry on self-contemplation that involves a philosophical sense.”
Wheat in Cotton
Jadal al-Qasem released her first collection Wheat in Cotton in a ceremony at the Mahmoud Darwish Museum, Ramallah. Launched on Wednesday, 18 April 2017, Wheat in Cotton was introduced by Artist Reem Talhami.
Al-Qasem won the AMQF 2015 Young Writers Award. In their statement, the jury said that Wheat in Cotton “reflects in some poems remarkable visual snapshots, particularly those which carry on a confessional context. The work is restrained, avoiding metaphorical embellishments. The poet adroitly tightens an aesthetic grip over transient moments, recycling them both metaphorically and symbolically. She embeds poetry with other potentials. A preference lies in revealing the voice of the present ego, both strongly and harshly. Marking an exciting presence of the nature, poems illustrates an ancient mediator and witness of the relationship between women and men.”