Homelands
NEW COURSES FOR 2017
‘Homelands’
An exploration of contemporary poetry from Israel and Palestine
with Dr Marian de Vooght
A 4 Week Course
Tuesdays 4.15 – 5.30
7th – 28th March
Wivenhoe Bookshop
The fee for this 4 week course is £48.00. For further details or to book ‘phone 01206 824050 or send us an email
About the Course
Poems from the Occupied Palestinian Territories, the Palestinian Diaspora and Israel have been characterized by protest, opposition and debate, but also by understanding, searching for common ground, love.
This course aims to explore poems that are relevant to readers of all backgrounds in the region and beyond. We will also consider moments where Arabs and Jews have recently shared poetry through workshops, anthologies and universities.
Among the poets we will discuss are David Avidan, Liana Badr, Fadih Joudah, Khaled Masalha, Agi Mishol, Sami Mohsen, Amir Or, Tuvia Ruebner, Ghassan Zaqtan. The legacy of two great modern poets, Mahmoud Darwish and Yehuda Amichai, will be discussed as well, as they keep inspiring poets of today.
Poems from Arabic and Hebrew will be provided in translation.
About the Tutor
Marian de Vooght has a PhD in Comparative Literature from the University of Texas. She has taught at the universities of Texas, Trondheim, Konstanz, East Anglia and Essex, and she is a poetry translator.
The fee for this 4 week course is £48.00. For further details or to book ‘phone 01206 824050 or send us an email
PREVIOUS COURSES
‘Voices from the Continent’
European poetry of First World War
with Dr Marian de Vooght
A 4 week course
Tuesdays from 4.15 – 5.30
20th Sept – 11th Oct
Wivenhoe Bookshop
The fee for this 4 week course is £48.00. For further details or to book ‘phone 01206 824050 or send us an email
About the Course
In this course we will read poems in translation that were originally written in Dutch, French, German, Italian and Russian. We interpret the texts from the point of view of their political context as well as their personal anguish. Among the poets we will discuss are Anna Akhmatova, Guillaume Apollinaire, Theo van Doesburg, Vladimir Mayakovski, Paul van Ostayen, August Stramm, Georg Trakl, Giuseppe Ungaretti.
World War I poetry from the European continent is less well known than its counterpart in English. Most of us are familiar with poems by Wilfred Owen, Ivor Gurney, John McCrae and many others who wrote about the Great War in English. Their poems expressed the disillusions of patriotism, feelings of compassion and despair, and the horror of combat.
Whichever way you look at it, First World War poetry is almost always political. Poems written in many different languages on the European continent were also signs of the times. We can trace avant-garde influences like Futurism and Surrealism and of important movements such as Socialism and Pacifism that were prominent in the years of 1914 – 1918.
About the Tutor
Marian de Vooght has a PhD in Comparative Literature from the University of Texas. She has taught at the universities of Texas, Trondheim, Konstanz, East Anglia and Essex, and she is a poetry translator.
The fee for this 4 week course is £48.00. For further details or to book ‘phone 01206 824050 or send us an email.
PREVIOUS COURSES
Poetry and Survival
with Dr Marian de Vooght
A 3 week course
‘Afghan Women’ © Seamus Milne
Tuesday from 4:30-5:30
26th April, 3rd & 10th May
Wivenhoe Bookshop
The fee for this 3 week course is £36.00. For further details or to book ‘phone 01206 824050 or send us an email
About the Course
During and after times of war and oppression, writing poetry is a sign of survival.
We will ask questions about what poetry reveals about survival.
Marian de Vooght has a PhD in Comparative Literature from the University of Texas. She has taught at the universities of Texas, Trondheim, Konstanz, East Anglia and Essex, and she is a poetry translator.
Course Structure
Wk 1 – April 26th . Kurdish poet Choman Hardi; Eliza Griswold’s collection of Afghan women’s poetry Am I the Beggar of the World.
Wk 2 – May 3rd . Iraq: the regime, the wars, and after. Selected poems from Flowers of Flame (ed. Sadek and Veach), Fifteen Iraqi Poets (ed. Mikhail) and two collections by Brian Turner.
Wk 3 – May 10th . Syrian poets now. Selected poems by Haji Golan, Amal Kassir and Omar Offendum.
The fee for this 3 week course is £36.00. For further details or to book ‘phone 01206 824050 or send us an email
