Ibtisam Barakat is a Palestinian-American poet, artist, and the author of award-winning books in English and Arabic, including Tasting the Sky: A Palestinian Childhood (FSG) and Balcony on the Moon: Coming of Age in Palestine (FSG/Macmillan). Her most recent book, The Lilac Girl, won the 2020 Sheikh Zayed Book Award.
Photo by Basetrack 18 / Flickr
The trees outside my balcony,
Remind me of the trees of Afghanistan
They are big green clouds that land on the ground to lift our spirits
and take them for a jo...
Rawan Anani / Courtesy of the artist
A Palestinian-American writer reflects on pieces of Palestinian culture—embroidery, food, dance, a cartoon character—and how they help restore to her a...
Photo by T Foz / Unsplash
Alphabets of My Heart
Because I am from East and West
a mother with two alphabets
and I must not love one
more than the other
if they are to grow up
and love eac...
Photo by Kea Mowat on Unsplash
Dear WLT Readers,
I am thrilled to offer the following translation of “Eagle Poem” from English to Arabic in honor of poet Joy Harjo who, this year, was...
Photo by Eric Ward on Unsplash
May 8, 2019
to Daniel Simon, Editor in Chief, World Literature Today
Dear Daniel,
It is with great pleasure that I write these words today to thank you...
Wally Gobetz, “Unisphere,” Corona Park, Flushing Meadows, New York, June 4, 2006
The following is a transcription of the author’s TEDxCoMo talk given on May 31, 2017.
My ac...
Australian artist Peter Gould’s “Iqra Bookshelf” (2011). The word Iqra’ (“Read”) is deeply symbolic to Muslims, as it was the first word of revelation given to the Prophet Muha...
Photo by Mike Baird/Flickr
Scribbles on the Poverty Line
When I was a girl in a poor familywe hung our clothes to dry on the povertyline,and with it I jumped rope.My friends saw and joined me.We were...