Tripoli, 17 January 2014:
Libyan poet and translator Khaled Mattawa has been awarded the prestigious honorary position of being elected onto the . . .[restrict]board of chancellors for the Academy of American Poets.
Benghazi-born Mattawa, who emigrated to America when he was a teenager, has published several collections of poetry, the latest entitled Tocqueville, and has gained recognition as a skilled translator specialising in contemporary Arabic poetry. He has also co-edited two anthologies of Arab-American literature.
Academy Chancellor Marilyn Hacker described him as: “One of the best, most inventive, lyrical and intellectually challenging American poets of his generation.” She added that his work was “as daring in its amalgam of poetic techniques as it was dazzling in the breadth of its subject matter.”
Mattawa, along with fellow newly-elected chancellor American poet Alberto Ríos, will act as “ambassadors of poetry” as well as organising arts programmes and judging poetry competitions. The Academy of American Poets has 15 chancellors, each of whom holds the post for six years.
As well as teaching and working in the US, Mattawa also plays an active role in cultural activities and the literary scene in Libya. He is one of the founders of the Arete Cinema Club and regularly teaches creative writing modules at Tripoli University.
Find out more about Mattawa’s work here. [/restrict]
