Faraj Bayrakdar

A Dove in Free Flight Faraj Bayrakdar

In 2002-just after 9/11 and prior to the US invasion of Iraq-a group inspired by Lebanese novelist Elias Khoury's seminar on Arab prison literature decided to collectively translate Syrian poet Faraj Bayrakdar's collection A Dove in Free Flight. Smuggled out of prison, the poems were published in Beirut without his knowledge, as a means of publicizing the poet's plight as a political prisoner, and exerting pressure on public opinion to pay attention to his case. A French version, translated by the great Moroccan poet Abdellatif Laabi, himself a former political prisoner, followed. More than fourteen years after initial completion of the project, UpSet Press presents this extraordinary poetic, human, and historical document, featuring an introduction by editors Ammiel Alcalay and Shareah Taleghani, a preface by Elias Khoury, and a lengthy interview with the poet himself following his release on November 16, 2000, after thirteen years, seven months, and seventeen days in the Syrian carceral archipelago.