Tuesday 19 October 2010

New York Times article on Adonis, Arab Poet

Picture nytimes.com

Every year around this time the name of the Syrian poet Adonis pops up in newspapers and in betting shops. Adonis (pronounced ah-doh-NEES), a pseudonym adopted by Ali Ahmad Said Esber in his teens as an attention getter, is a perennial favorite to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. This year Ladbrokes, the British bookmaking firm, had his chances at 8-1, which made him seem a surer bet than the eventual winner, Mario Vargas Llosa, a 25-1 long shot. Why Adonis appeals to the oddsmakers, presumably, is that he’s a poet, and poets have been under-represented among Nobelists lately; that he writes in Arabic, the language of only one Nobel winner, Naguib Mahfouz; and that as is the case with so many recent winners, most Americans have never heard of him.

Click on the picture above to access the article at www.nytimes.com

Thursday 14 October 2010

Remember to check the re-shelving area

Attention students! If you can't find your Middle East/Islam book on the shelves, especially N and NB classmarks, remember to check the 're-shelving area' at Stack 187 on level B. There are some shelves there for books which don't fit on the shelves in their normal place. These books are being re-shelved in their proper place as space becomes available, but in the meantime check there. If you need any help let me know.

Joseph Smith (js86@soas.ac.uk) Room C3