The deep wounds in god's dream await meholding a silver sign with my name on it This bilingual edition, created as an active collaboration between translator Mayada Ibrahim and the celebrated Sudanese poet Najlaa Osman Eltom, gathers poems from three published volumes alongside previously untranslated work. Tracing the development of a distinctive poetic voice, it establishes Eltom's reputation as a lyricist of the visceral, the surreal, and the politically incisive. Eltom's twenty-five-year poetic journey, divided between Sudan and Sweden, transforms the rupture of migration into a process of alienation and self-rediscovery. In this process, the immigrant's identity--so often constructed as a limiting frontier--becomes instead a sharpened sensitivity to how colonial politics are reinvented, how communities are destroyed, and why the global South remains a space of violence and disenfranchisement. Rich with intertextual resonance, Eltom's writing draws upon vernacular poetry, song, and Sufi literary traditions. She employs the rhythmic repetition of dhikr and the mystical pursuit of irfani knowledge, weaving biographical detail from a lifetime lived under an oppressive regime with materials gleaned from the colonial archives she spent years studying. The result is a body of work that speaks simultaneously to Sudan's complex past and to urgent questions of memory, power, and resistance. Najlaa Osman Eltom is a Sudanese poet, writer, and literary translator whose work delves into the intersections of language, movement, and the fluid landscapes of memory. She has published three poetry collections in Arabic, alongside numerous short stories and essays. As a translator, Eltom has been actively engaged in bringing Sudanese literature to global audiences. She is the co-recipient of the 2025 inaugural PEN Presents x International Booker Prize Translation Grant (with Mayada Ibrahim) for their translation of Stella Gaitano's work. She has lived in exile in Sweden since 2012. Mayada Ibrahim is a literary translator and editor, based in New York with roots in Khartoum and London. She is the co-recipient (with Najlaa Osman Eltom) of the 2025 inaugural PEN Presents x International Booker Prize Translation Grant for their translation of Stella Gaitano's work. She has received the PEN Translates Award, and been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and a British Science Fiction Association Award. She teaches Arabic at Hunter College in New York and is the managing editor for 52 Walker. Publisher: Trace Press Publish Date: September 01, 2026 Pages: 102 Language: English Type: Paperback EAN/UPC: 9781069370440 Dimensions: 8.5 X 5.5 X 0.3 inches | 0.2 pounds BISAC Categories: Poetry
