01. Oct 2012

Manal Al-Sheikh and Mazen Maarouf's 'Poets of Protest' portraits released on Al Jazeera

On 21 September Al Jazeera released the programme profiling Stavanger's former ICORN guest writer, under the title "Manal Al-Sheikh: Fire won't Eat me up". Only a week later, Reykjavik's current ICORN guest writer was presented; "Mazen Maarouf: Hand Made". Both programmes gained lots of attentive viewers, resulting in comprehensive and very positive feedbacks to the writers.

The Al Jazeera Poets of Protest series reflects the poet's view of the change sweeping the Middle East through its intimate profiles of six contemporary writers as they struggle to lead, to interpret and inspire. Poetry lives and breathes in the Middle East as in few other places. In a region long dominated by authoritarian regimes, poetry is the medium for expressing people's hopes, dreams and frustrations. Poets became historians, journalists, entertainers - and even revolutionaries.

See episode on Manal Al-Sheikh here and Mazen Maarouf here.