In Praise of Defeat: Poems Selected by the Author

Banned by the Moroccan government, Abdellatif Laabi's poetry is increasingly influential on the international scene and spans six decades of political and literary change, innovation and struggle. Including a wide range of work, from piercing domestic love poetry to a fierce lyricism of social resistance informed by nearly a decade spent in prison for 'crimes of opinion,' all of Laabi's poetry is situated firmly against tyranny and for life. This selection has been translated into English for the first time by Donald Nicholson-Smith.