Iman Mersal est reconnue pour ses recueils de poésie en arabe, qui explorent les thèmes de l'identité et du déplacement. Son style distinctif se caractérise par une observation aiguë et une perspective unique sur le monde contemporain. À travers son œuvre, Mersal remet en question les notions conventionnelles, offrant aux lecteurs un regard neuf pour percevoir leur environnement. Son écriture est louée pour sa sensibilité et son art littéraire.
When Iman Mersal stumbles upon a great - yet forgotten - novel written by a young woman who killed herself shortly after her book was rejected by publishers, Mersal begins to research the writer. From archives, Enayat's writing and Mersal's own interviews and observations, a remarkable portrait emerges of a woman attempting to live independently.
A selection of luminous, fiercely intelligent verse from Egypt’s premier poet, Iman Mersal, showcases her as the great outsider poet of the Arab world. Over three decades, she has developed a voice that is both ferocious and tender, street-smart yet vulnerable. Her early work reflects the vibrant energies of Cairo’s literary bohème, a haven for “Lovers of cheap weed and awkward confessions / Anti-State agitators” and “People like me.” These poems blend wit and rage, punctuated by moments of beauty, like the “smell of guava” wafting through the City of the Dead. Other pieces confront themes of profound loss and erotic temptation, capturing “the breath of two bodies that never had enough time / and so took pleasure in their mounting terror.” Mersal’s recent work addresses the challenges of displacement and migration, exploring the risks of crossing personal and political boundaries in literature and life. This collection gathers poems from her first four collections, charting a journey from defiance to the establishment of a new, self-created sensibility. Central to her work is an indefatigably intelligent, funny, and complex persona, as she notes, “I’m pretty sure / my self-exposures / are for me to hide behind.”