An estimated 10,000 people attended the funeral of the Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish. Given the difficulty in travelling around occupied Palestine this number is even more dramatic. Tributes, obituaries and news stories have covered the life and work of Darwish, as an activist and a poet. It is hard to imagine many poets' names being known by 10,000 people here let alone attending a funeral. But Darwish always got a crowd, whether that be in Cairo or Haifa. His most recent collection in Britain, The Butterfly's Burden, was published by our friends at Bloodaxe, but his work regularly appeared in the journal of Inpress member Banipal. Their website www.banipal.co.uk includes tributes to him and selections from his poetry that have been published in the journal together with links to other sources of Darwish material. The Banipal editors are planning a special memorial edition of the journal, which will be featured on the Inpress website when it comes out.
Darwish also wrote for another member press, Modern Poetry in Translation and their special issue on Palestine is well worth purchasing to read a range of Palestinian poets. You can find it through www.mptmagazine.com. Copies are of course available via Inpress.