UM: Poet

A New York Times feature on the Syrian poet Adonis – considered to be a favorite to eventually win the Nobel Prize in literature – notes that he was in Ann Arbor last week giving lectures and readings at UM. (UM professor Khaled Mattawa translated his most recent volume of poetry into English.) “Small and animated, with a nimbus of poet-length gray hair, Adonis also posed graciously for photos with female fans who were presumably collecting souvenirs in case the Swedish Academy gives him the nod next year. But in conversation he refused to discuss the Nobel. ‘I don’t think about it,’ he said sternly. ‘I don’t wish to talk about it.’ Adonis speaks fluent French, and his English is better than he lets on, but while in Ann Arbor he preferred to use Arabic, with Mr. Mattawa interpreting.” [Source]