Longyearbyen library, Artica Svalbard, The Wolf magazine, Norwegian PEN, Longyearbyen Library and Artica Svalbard are proud to present:
Libyan poet Ashur Etwebi and British poet James Byrne read from their new works – both in Arabic and English – crossing continents and styles, reflecting a very special friendship through poetry. Ashur Etwebi and James Byrne started their collaboration during the Al-Sendian arts festival, Syria, in 2009. Since then, Etwebi and Byrne have collaborated on the translation of Etwebi’s poetry. In 2011 Byrne wrote the poem ‘Are you in the hills Ashur’ when the United States refused to rule out a military intervention in Libya, and rebel forces were beaten back.
