He Tells Tales of Meroe: Poems for the Petrie Museum

In 2012 Sudanese poet Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi was poet in residence at the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, University College London. Inspired by ancient Sudanese artefacts in the collection, the poet has produced a series of poems that both illuminate early Sudanese kingdoms (often eclipsed by ancient Egypt) and his own experiences. This dual-language collection presents eight new poems in both Arabic and English which are accompanied by stunning photographs, taken by Crispin Hughes, of the objects that inspired the poems. The volume is Introduced by professor of Egyptian Archaeology Stephen Quirke, poet Sarah Maguire and the poet himself, making it the perfect introduction to Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi’s exceptional work and the cultural history of Sudan. Limited edition of 300 numbered copes Unique insight into both ancient and contemporary Sudan from the country’s leading poet, Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi Illustrated by 12 colour photographs of the objects from the Petrie Museum collection that inspired the poems

About the Author :
Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi is one of the leading African poets writing in Arabic today. He has gained a wide audience in his native Sudan for his imaginative approach to poetry and for the delicacy and emotional frankness of his lyrics. His poetry has always been concerned with the rich cultural and linguistic diversity of Sudan and its complex history. Mark Ford was born in Nairobi, Kenya in 1962. He has published three collections of poetry, Landlocked (1992), Soft Sift (2001) and Six Children (2011). He has also published a biography of the French writer Raymond Roussel, Raymond Roussel and the Republic of Dreams, and a parallel text edition of Roussel Sarah Maguire published four highly-acclaimed collections of poetry, Spilt Milk (Secker; 1991; reprinted PBS; 2007), The Invisible Mender (Cape; 1997), The Florist's at Midnight (Cape; 2001) and The Pomegranates of Kandahar (Chatto; 2007), a Poetry Book Society Choice that was short-listed for the TS Eliot Prize, 2007. Sarah edited the innovative and popular anthology Flora Poetica: The Chatto Book of Botanical Verse which was published in 2001. Sarah was the first writer to be sent to Palestine (in 1996) and to Yemen (in 1998) by the British Council. Since then she has been active in translating contemporary Arabic poetry into English. With Yama Yari, she co-translated A Thousand Rooms of Dream and Fear (Chatto, 2006) by Atiq Rahimi, Afghanistan's leading novelist. A selection of Sarah's poems, Haleeb Muraq, translated by the leading Iraqi poet, Saadi Yousef (the distinguished patron of the Poetry Translation Centre) was published by Dar Al-Mada in Damascus in 2003. She has a book in print in Malayalam: a selected poems, Kandaharile Mathalanarngagal, translated by Abraham Anthony, was published in Kerala in 2010. In March 2008, Sarah gave the StAnza Lecture 2008 at the St Andrews Poetry Festival on the subject of 'Poetry and Conflict'. A link to her lecture is given on the right. In June 2008, Sarah received a prestigious Cholmondeley Award. Sarah Maguire was the founder and first director of the Poetry Translation Centre. She died in N0vember 2017.