I Sing From the Window of Exile

Palestinian poet Dareen Tatour shot to worldwide attention when she was jailed in 2016 for the ‘crime’ of writing a poem, ‘Resist, my people, resist them’. Her defiance, Kafkaesque trial and ultimate release amidst an international outcry, was chronicled in her memoir, ‘My Threatening Poem’, published by Drunk Muse Press in 2021. Now, ‘I Sing From the Window of Exile’ brings together her first collection of poems in English translation, alongside the original Arabic texts, and offers a comprehensive view of the work of this remarkable poet. From her exile in Sweden, Dareen writes achingly of her love for Palestine, lost and shattered relationships with people, places and time; she recalls the violence and humiliations inflicted on Palestinian women prisoners under Israeli rule; and she sends out a passionate rallying call for humanity and justice. These are poems that sing off the page by a poet who never flinches from drawing deep on her own history, and that of her people.