Poetry Archive:
Throughout our project we have centralised poetry and creative writing, both as a means of writing about the research, but also of carrying out the research, including through creative workshops with localities in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey. This page contains readings and poetry by Refugee Hosts Writer in Residence, Yousif M. Qasmiyeh, poetic reflections by Refugee Hosts’ Principal Investigator, Prof. Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, poetry translations written by Yousif M. Qasmiyeh in collaboration with Oxford Student PEN and poems by other contributors.
In our creative archive, you can find poems, creative writing and reflections by the Refugee Hosts’ team in addition to information on past events and book launches. You can watch Refugee Hosts writer in residence, Yousif M. Qasmiyeh take part in the UCL Alternative Epistemologies festival with Prof. Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh and Dr Seth Ansizka, where he read from ‘Writing the Camp,’ his his award winning book, here. Yousif M. Qasmiyeh has also discussed, in conversation with Adriana X. Jacobs (University of Oxford), writing the camp, poetry’s ways of seeing, and the signs that death leaves in the camp to remember, revisit, and translate. You can listen to the podcast here.
Watch Yousif M. Qasmiyeh take part in the ‘Migrant Knowledge, Early Modern and Beyond: an event at the Crossroads’ event, where he discusses his writing and reads an extract from his poem ‘Thresholds.’
Books Published:
Qasmiyeh, Y. M. 2021 Writing the Camp. (Wales: Broken Sleep Books) – Highly Commended by the 2021 Forward Prize; Selected as one of the Best Poetry Books of 2021 by The Telegraph and The Irish Times.
Readings:
The Camp is the Reject of the Reject Par Excellence
Below you can listen to the Refugee Hosts Writer in Residence Yousif M. Qasmiyeh reading his poem “The Camp is the Reject of the Reject Par Excellence”
This poem was originally published by Interruptions: New Perspectives on Migration. Read the original article here or read it on our website here.
Refugees are Dialectical Beings Part One: Writing the Camp-Archive
Below you can listen to the Refugee Hosts Writer in Residence Yousif M. Qasmiyeh reading his poem “Refugees are Dialectical Beings Part One” which is titled: “Writing the Camp-Archive”
Listen to part two below. Read Part One here.
Refugees are Dialectical Beings Part Two: Refugees are Dialectical Beings
Below you can listen to the Refugee Hosts Writer in Residence Yousif M. Qasmiyeh reading his poem “Refugees are Dialectical Beings Part Two” which is titled: “Refugees are Dialectical Beings”
Read part two here, and part one here.
A Sudden Utterance is the Stranger
Below you can listen to the Refugee Hosts Writer in Residence Yousif M. Qasmiyeh reading his poem “A Sudden Utterance is the Stranger”.
You can read more about the poem here.
The Camp is Time
Below you can listen to the Refugee Hosts Writer in Residence Yousif M. Qasmiyeh reading his poem “The Camp is Time”.
You can read more about the poem here.
Writing the Camp
Below you can listen to the Refugee Hosts Writer in Residence Yousif M. Qasmiyeh reading his poem “Writing the Camp”.
Read more about the poem here.
Poetry by Refugee Hosts’ writer in residence, Yousif M. Qasmiyeh
Qasmiyeh, Y. M. (2020) ‘The Bomb Shelter’
Qasmiyeh, Y. M. (2020) ‘With a third eye I see the catastrophy’
Qasmiyeh, Y. M. (2019) ‘There it is: the camp that is yet to be born’
Qasmiyeh, Y. M. (2019) ‘The Throne’
Qasmiyeh, Y. M. (2018) ‘Necessarily, the Camp is the border’
Qasmiyeh, Y. M. (2018) ‘Flesh when mutilated called God’
Qasmiyeh, Y. M. (2018) ‘The hands are hers’
Qasmiyeh, Y. M. (2018) ‘In mourning the refugee, we mourn God’s intention in the absolute’
Qasmiyeh, Y. M. (2018) ‘To the plants is her face’
Qasmiyeh, Y. M. (2018) ‘The Wall’
Qasmiyeh, Y. M. (2018) ‘A daily rhythm inside which time can grow…’
Qasmiyeh, Y. M. (2018) ‘Name’
Qasmiyeh, Y. M. (2018) ‘The Camp is the Reject of the Reject Par Excellence’
Qasmiyeh, Y. M. (2017) ‘Refugees are Dialectical Beings: Part Two’
Qasmiyeh, Y. M. (2017) ‘In arrival, feet flutter like dying birds’
Qasmiyeh, Y. M. (2017) ‘A Sudden Utterance is the Stranger’
Qasmiyeh, Y. M. (2017) ‘The Dead’
Qasmiyeh, Y. M. (2017) ‘The Jungle’
Qasmiyeh, Y. M. (2017) ‘The Camp is Time’
Qasmiyeh, Y. M. and Ammann, O. (2017) ‘The Multiple Faces of Representation‘
Qasmiyeh, Y.M. & Stonebridge, L. (2017) ‘Time Machine: Stereoscopic Views from Palestine, 1900’
Poetry Translations
“The Dead,” poem by F. Suleiman, translated by Yousif M. Qasmiyeh and Oxford Student PEN
‘Nothing stays on the table except the trace of your hand…’ by Iskandar Habash, translated by Yousif M. Qasmiyeh and Oxford Student PEN
‘Prayer’ by Tammam Al-Tillawi, translated by Yousif M. Qasmiyeh and Oxford Student PEN
‘Despair’ by Enoh Meyomesse, translated by Yousif M. Qasmiyeh and Oxford Student PEN
‘Panorama’s of Death and Desolation‘ by Rasha Omran, translated by Yousif M. Qasmiyeh and Oxford Student PEN
Poetry by other contributors
Balestra, G. (2017) ‘Stelle (Stars)’
Balestra, G. (2017) ‘Paese (Country)’
Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, E. (2018) ‘Erasure’
Kelman, I. (2020) ‘From Home to Home’
Reed, H. (2017) ‘Protestimony’
Reed, H. (2017) ‘Prior Meltings’
Timberlake, F. (2018) ‘Name’
Refugee Hosts 