Public Events with Syrian-Swedish Author Suzanne Ibrahim, 151st Guest of KROKODIL’s Residency

16 Dec Public Events with Syrian-Swedish Author Suzanne Ibrahim, 151st Guest of KROKODIL’s Residency

Syrian-Swedish poet, prose writer, and journalist Suzanne Ibrahim stayed in Belgrade during November and December as the 151st guest of KROKODIL’s Writer-in-Residence program.

Two events were held during her stay. First, on Friday, December 5th, a translation workshop was organized for students of Arabic studies. The workshop was led by Dragana Đorđević, a translator and professor at the Department of Oriental Studies at the University of Belgrade’s Faculty of Philology. As part of the workshop, participants had the opportunity to work on translating an excerpt from Suzanne Ibrahim’s latest novel, “As One Who Wears a Grave”, discuss the text and its multiple layers with the author, and find the best solutions for translating the specific cultural and historical context carried by the text.

A week later, on Thursday, December 11th, a public conversation with Suzanne Ibrahim was held, moderated by Mirko Dautović, an international relations analyst. At the very beginning, he gave a short presentation on the history of Syria and the political situation over the last 100 years to familiarize the audience with the context Suzanne Ibrahim comes from and writes about in her work. As someone forced to flee her homeland for Sweden due to constant censorship, political pressure, and threats that primarily followed her journalistic work, Suzanne mostly shared her personal experiences during the conversation—she spoke about life in wartime circumstances, documenting the war, all the challenges she faced, life in exile, and adapting to a new culture. During one part of the conversation, Suzanne read the excerpt translated during the workshop in the original, while the participants’ translation was simultaneously projected. This linked the two events, and the audience, in addition to hearing her invaluable insights and experiences, had the opportunity to hear a reading in Arabic of an excerpt from one of her literary works.

Suzanne Ibrahim’s residency was realized within the framework of the “Centers of Periphery 2.0” project, jointly created by the Littfest literary festival (Umeå) and the KROKODIL Association, with the aim of strengthening ties between the Nordic and post-Yugoslav cultural scenes and developing a strong basis for cooperation; promoting democratic values, freedom of expression, and human rights through literary exchange; amplifying peripheral and/or underrepresented voices, and creating opportunities for dialogue.
The Centers of Periphery 2.0 project is supported by the Swedish Institute.

Photo: Marija Piroški