Shepherd of Solitude Selected Poems 1979-2004

?Shepherd of Solitude is the first English collection for Jordanian poet Amjad Nasser, translated and introduced by the foremost translator of contemporary Arabic poetry into English Khaled Mattawa, with the poems selected by poet and translator from the poets Arabic volumes over the years 1979 to 2004.

Amjad Nasser (1955-2019) was an important and innovative participant in the contemporary Arab poetry and literary scene. His death, announced on 30 October 2019, after a long struggle against cancer, is a major loss to the world of Arabic literature and beyond. Born in Jordan in 1955, from 1976 Amjad Nasser worked as a journalist and editor on newspapers in Beirut and Cyprus. Since 1987 he lived in London, where he was for many years managing editor and cultural editor of Al-Quds Al-Arabi daily newspaper. He published more than ten volumes of poetry, four travel memoirs and two novels. Khaled Mattawa was born in Benghazi, Libya in 1964 and emigrated to the USA in his teens in 1979. He is the author of six books of poetry and two critical studies. His awards include the Academy of American Poets Fellowship prize, the PEN Award for Poetry in Translation, and a MacArthur Fellowship that was one of 21 “genius grants” awarded in 2014 to outstanding figures by the MacArthur Foundation. He has translated eleven volumes of contemporary Arabic poetry by major Arab poets, among them Adonis, Saadi Youssef, Amjad Nasser, Fadhil al-Azzawi and Iman Mersal and others.