Category Archives: literary

دانيال، ابن بهيجة: رسالة إلى لبنان

Posted on June 6, 2019 by Daniel Drennan ElAwar

ترجمة: هلا قمبريس لإنجليزية الأصلية: Daniel, Ibn Bahija أَرَأَيْتَ الَّذِي يُكَذِّبُ بِالدِّينِ فَذَٰلِكَ الَّذِي يَدُعُّ الْيَتِيمَ. الماعون، ٢-١: ١٠٧ لا نزال نحن المنبوذين، شظايا طردت من الجسد. جسمنا يحيطُ بنا، ويحتوينا، فيطردنا؛ ثم يعود إلى حالة «كما لو» لم نوجد. … Continue reading →

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إذا رجع ابني | Should my son come back…

Posted on June 4, 2016 by Daniel Drennan ElAwar

[These are the words of the mother of one of the disappeared during the Lebanese civil war. Source unknown; contributed by Zeina Allouche. Further coming full circle: Above the communal crypt of my mother’s final resting place was a mirror … Continue reading →

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Daniel, Ibn Bahija: An Open Letter to Lebanon.

Posted on June 1, 2016 by Daniel Drennan ElAwar

Seest thou one who denies the Reckoning? Then such is he who harshly repulses the orphan…. —The Small Kindnesses, 107:1–3   النسخة العربية: دانيال، ابن بهيجة: رسالة إلى لبنان We remain the repulsed, splinters, expelled from the body; the corpus … Continue reading →

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حبل صرّة | Umbilical Cord (theater performance)

Posted on April 11, 2015 by Daniel Drennan ElAwar

Badael/Alternatives presents: حبل صرّة | Umbilical Cord Testimonies from the world of forced separation. After more than a century, the wars are still going on. Featuring the photography of Samer Mohdad.

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انا من هناك—I am of that place.

Posted on March 25, 2015 by Daniel Drennan ElAwar

A poem by the Palestinian writer Mahmoud Darwich (محمود درويش). Translation is mine.

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On the nightmare of adoption reunion.

Posted on January 18, 2015 by Daniel Drennan ElAwar

An adoptive parent in the United Kingdom recently described the potential reunion of the children temporarily in his care with their parents as his “worst nightmare”. This was like a kick in the gut. Because I feel that my own … Continue reading →

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Edgar Allan Poe: Disinherited adoptee

Posted on October 29, 2014 by Daniel Drennan ElAwar

I came across this in a tiny book published in 1905, The Works of Edgar Allan Poe: Volume II, handed down to me by my father. Published by the New Century Library in New York, the book starts with an … Continue reading →

Posted in history, literary | 2 Comments

A Lebanese proverb: On adoption.

Posted on August 21, 2014 by Daniel Drennan ElAwar

I came across a Lebanese proverb: .إلي ما بيربى ع سفرة أبوه ما بيشبع Translation: “He who is not brought up at his father’s table shall not be satisfied.” Note: Reference to the hard life which orphans and adopted children … Continue reading →

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September 11, 2013: In James Baldwin’s words

Posted on September 11, 2013 by Daniel Drennan ElAwar

This passage is from The Fire Next Time, by James Baldwin; first published in 1962.

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An anti-poem on anti-adoption.

Posted on July 17, 2013 by Daniel Drennan ElAwar

In the world of adoption there would seem to be a spectrum of potential caregivers. The spectrum ranges from one pole focused on the needs of the child to the other pole focused on the needs of the parent(s). On … Continue reading →

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