Sahara

by Ahmed Elbeshlawy, Paola Caronni (Foreword by)

Overview

Based in Hong Kong and Egypt, Sahara is a collection of poems about writing poetry, love, sexuality, woman, religion, and identity. Though deeply personal and passionate, the collection cuts across different registers and disciplines, mixing the personal with the social, reality with fantasy, art and literature with life, philosophy with psychoanalysis, and the sophisticated urbanism of cities with the inexplicable beauty of the desert.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781666772708
Publisher:	Resource Publications
Publication date:	06/29/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	116
File size:	890 KB

About the Author

Ahmed Elbeshlawy is a scholar of comparative literature, author, and poet. His books include Unappeasable Ghosts (2021), Savage Charm (2019), Twenty Five Meditations on Writing and Subjectivity (2019), Woman in Lars von Trier’s Cinema (2016), America in Literature and Film (2011), and various articles and book chapters in different anthologies.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Sahara is a long love song that subsumes its own poetic world as if seen through a prism. It is a testament to loving and writing; two actions that commingle and sometimes compete to get priority. The poet allows us to enjoy every verse of this lush poetry collection and retain it for a long time.”

—Paola Caronni, author of Uncharted Waters



“Sahara is a stellar collection. Ahmed Elbeshlawy’s variety of voices deftly exploits different registers throughout. Though seemingly straightforward, he ironically reveals that little in this world is dismissible and unimportant. Herein lies the heart of the architecture of and the richness therein of Sahara.”

—George Watt, author of The Finley Confession



“Ahmed Elbeshlawy’s poetic voice is eclectic. Sahara is at once a love saga, a work of philosophy, and a cultural critique. Those Hong Kong-Egypt-based poems are not only written with great passion but are also the product of an interdisciplinary mind that shifts sharply—and delightfully—between the urban, the literary, the social, and the psychoanalytic.”

—Cecilia Kak, program director of English studies, HKU School of Professional and Continuing Education



“Ahmed Elbeshlawy has the insider’s knowledge of the city, but the outsider’s perspective. Sahara provides a miscellany of poems that reward the reading and rereading of them.”

—David McKirdy, author of Ancestral Worship



“Ahmed Elbeshlawy explores the erotics of poetry and the poetry of love. He questions received opinions and preconceptions and evokes poignant memories and recollections. Throughout the collection, there are paeans of praise for the efficacy of poetry, for its importance, especially in times when it is reviled or deemed useless. Those who share his conviction should read this volume.”

—Peter Kennedy, honorary associate professor, HKU



“Some real beauty here. Presence, poise, and poetry. There is the welcome alerting crispness of morning desert dew across the collection; with a variety of powerfully sustaining tastes in the life-creating liquid too.”

—Andrew Barker, poet

Editorial Reviews

Sahara is a long love song that subsumes its own poetic world as if seen through a prism. It is a testament to loving and writing; two actions that commingle and sometimes compete to get priority. The poet allows us to enjoy every verse of this lush poetry collection and retain it for a long time.”

—Paola Caronni, author of Uncharted Waters



“Sahara is a stellar collection. Ahmed Elbeshlawy’s variety of voices deftly exploits different registers throughout. Though seemingly straightforward, he ironically reveals that little in this world is dismissible and unimportant. Herein lies the heart of the architecture of and the richness therein of Sahara.”

—George Watt, author of The Finley Confession



“Ahmed Elbeshlawy’s poetic voice is eclectic. Sahara is at once a love saga, a work of philosophy, and a cultural critique. Those Hong Kong-Egypt-based poems are not only written with great passion but are also the product of an interdisciplinary mind that shifts sharply—and delightfully—between the urban, the literary, the social, and the psychoanalytic.”

—Cecilia Kak, program director of English studies, HKU School of Professional and Continuing Education



“Ahmed Elbeshlawy has the insider’s knowledge of the city, but the outsider’s perspective. Sahara provides a miscellany of poems that reward the reading and rereading of them.”

—David McKirdy, author of Ancestral Worship



“Ahmed Elbeshlawy explores the erotics of poetry and the poetry of love. He questions received opinions and preconceptions and evokes poignant memories and recollections. Throughout the collection, there are paeans of praise for the efficacy of poetry, for its importance, especially in times when it is reviled or deemed useless. Those who share his conviction should read this volume.”

—Peter Kennedy, honorary associate professor, HKU



“Some real beauty here. Presence, poise, and poetry. There is the welcome alerting crispness of morning desert dew across the collection; with a variety of powerfully sustaining tastes in the life-creating liquid too.”

—Andrew Barker, poet

From the Publisher