As part of the Reel Iraq Festival I had a chance to talk to the Iraqi Poet Sinan Antoon. Sinan has two books out and I found his collection, Bagdahd Blues, is hauntingly beautiful. There are some incredibly rendered, short poems in there all written clean and clear.Check it out. You can also find Sinan’s work in the latest issue of The Edinburgh Review as translated by Andrew Philip. I’m really happy that the Reel Iraq Festival branched out into the literary world this year and that I had a chance to be so active in so much of it. Let’s hope these important festivals keep growing in Edinburgh.

Here’s the blurb from the SPL:

Reader in Residence Ryan Van Winkle and Iraqi poet and novelist Sinan Antoon found a break during the Golden Hour to chat about his work, about labels and about which poems he carries with him. Also featuring hip hop track ‘Sunshine’ from Mammoth.

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