[Event] Book Launch | I Have Brought You a Severed Hand by Ghayath Almadhoun

ABOUT THE BOOK

In a phalanx of notes and footnotes, I Have Brought You A Severed Hand destabilizes the very hierarchies of the page, and in so doing transgresses the borders of the poem, the nation, the body, and even that zone between speaker and addressee. Written over the years 2017 to 2023, the poet takes us to Palestine, Syria, Germany and Sweden, reasserting the stakes for those unable to leave their states of imprisonment while proposing that hope may be inseparable from the absurdity of violence. He writes: “You say that I survived the war. No, my dear, nobody survives wars. It’s only that I didn’t die. I just stayed alive.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ghayath Almadhoun is a Palestinian poet born in Damascus in 1979 and moved to Sweden in 2008. Almadhoun has published five volumes of poetry in Arabic and his poetry has been translated into nearly 30 languages. He has created several poetry films, collaborated extensively with artists and scholars, and curated numerous events, readings, and literary anthologies. Adrenalin, translated by Catherine Cobham, came out with Action Books in 2017, and in February 2025, I Have Brought You a Severed Hand will be published simultaneously in English translation by Action Books in the U.S. and Divided Publishing in London and Brussels. Almadhoun currently divides his time between Berlin and Stockholm.

IN CONVERSATION WITH

Monica McClure is a Brooklyn-based writer and author of the two poetry collections, The Gone Thing (Winter Editions) and Tender Data (Birds, LLC) as well as several chapbooks. With Madeleine Maillet and Emily Brandt, she runs Yellow Wallpaper, an organization that promotes radically and rigorously curated books and book culture for readers outside major metropolitan areas.

IN CONVERSATION WITH

Ariana Reines is a poet and Obie-winning playwright from Salem Massachusetts. Her newest books are Wave of Blood (Divided, 2024) and The Rose (Graywolf, 2025). She runs Invisible College, a hub for the study of poetry and sacred texts online.