Poetry Unbound in Conversation — Fady Joudah
5/29/202647 min
From a young age, says Palestinian American poet and physician Fady Joudah, “I had such a fascination with the way the alphabet makes music in the mind.” We are thrilled to offer this thoughtful conversation between Pádraig and Fady, recorded when Fady received the 2024 Jackson Poetry Prize. Fady reads several poems — including two with the same name! — and speaks of how memory, time, history, faith, love, violence, and difference figure in his work. He says, “Ultimately for my existence as a Palestinian in the 20th or 21st century … I am also always, particularly in English, bridging a gap.”
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Fady Joudah is the author of six collections of poems and has translated several collections of poetry from Arabic. He is the editor and co-founder of the Etel Adnan Poetry Prize, and his most recent collection, [ … ], was published in 2024 by Milkweed Editions. This interview was recorded on the occasion of him receiving the 2024 Jackson Poetry Prize.
Find the transcript for this show at onbeing.org.
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First 90 secondsPádraig Ó Tuama· Host0:00
[gentle music] Hi, friends. Padraig Ó Tuama here. Thanks very much for listening to Poetry Unbound. In between Poetry Unbound seasons, and we have Season 11 that'll start later in 2026, we have a whole host of interviews that I've done with poets over the last two years, Poetry Unbound in Conversation, we call them. I've loved the opportunity to talk to poets about their craft, how they see the world through the lens of poetry, and what this art form does for them. These Poetry Unbound in Conversation episodes deepened my curiosity about language and art. I trust they will for you, too. Today you'll hear from Fady Joudah, a poet, editor, and translator who will take us through two decades of his poetry back and forth across the boundaries of memory, medicine, mythology, Palestinian identity, and nationality. He'll also read a long poem, "Dedication," from his most recent collection, a collection which is often called Ellipsis, though its title is unpronounceable because it's rendered as an ellipsis, three dots on the cover of the book. This conversation comes from the Jackson Prize reading recorded in New York City in September of 2024. A special thanks to Poets & Writers for hosting and organizing this event, and a thanks as well to Melissa Greuel from Poets & Writers and to the Jackson family for supporting this prize. Of course, thank you to Fady Joudah and his publisher,