Join this rare opportunity to hear a poetry reading by the famous Sudanese poet Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi at the Horniman Museum, as part of Black History Month on 3 October.
Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi
Saddiq is one of the leading African poets writing in Arabic today. He was born in Sudan in 1969 and grew up in Omdurman-Khartoum where he still lives. In 1986, at the age of 17, Saddiq won first prize in a major poetry competition, as a result of which he became the youngest member of the Sudanese Writers’ Union. Saddiq is famous in his native Sudan for his outstanding lyric poetry – his poetry has always been concerned with the rich cultural diversity of Sudan and its complex history.
Welcome Party at the Petrie Museum
Saddiq came to the UK for the first time in 2005 to take part in the Poetry Translation Centre‘s first World Poets’ Tour and it was there where he received a fantastic response from audiences in the UK. He returned to the UK a year later and gave a moving reading at the Poetry Cafe as part of their occasional series ‘In Town Tonight’ featuring important international poets visiting London.
Saddiq’s status as an important international poet was growing and in June 2012, Saddiq represented Sudan at Poetry Parnassus, the world’s largest ever gathering of international poets, as part of the Cultural Olympiad in London. Saddiq’s ‘Poem of the Nile‘ was published in The London Review of Books, it was the first time they featured the work of an African poet.
The Nile flows quietly…
Seeping through the city’s silence
And the burning sorrows of villages.
Now friends no longer exchange greetings each morning
No longer recognize each other.
African Worlds Gallery at the Horniman Museum
(Extract from Poem of the Nile by Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi)
On Wednesday evening’s event at the Horniman Museum, Saddiq will read a series of poems composed in response to the ancient Sudanese collections at The Petrie Museum. He will present his poems in Arabic with Sarah Maquire, founder and Director of the Poetry Translation Centre, who will translate them into English.
The evening will also feature music on Oud and a tour of the African Worlds Gallery with the Horniman’s Keeper of Anthropology. Refreshments and translation are provided. The event is free, but limited places and booking required 020 8291 8686.
Poetry and Music with Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi
Horniman Museum and Gardens
Wednesday 3 October 2012, 7pm
In association with The Petrie Museum and the Poetry Translation Centre. With thanks to The Poetry Translation Centre for details of Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi’s biography.
