Project Description
Muniam Alfaker was born in Baghdad, Iraq in 1953. He began writing at a very early stage in his life; theatrical plays were the first material he wrote. His first play was performed in Baghdad in 1976-77. Because of censorship and impossible political conditions during the dictatorial regime in his country, Muniam Alfaker fled to Morocco and from there on to Lebanon, where in he worked for a number of newspapers and magazines during 1981-82. In Lebanon he published his first poems. Later on, Muniam Alfaker moved to Syria where he, in 1983, published his first poetry collection Far Away From Them. In 1986 he published his second poetry collection, The Different, which was later on translated into French in 1988. Muniam Alfaker moved to Denmark in 1986. He published in 1988 A Cloud in Flight (Sky på Flugt), in a bi-lingual Danish Arabic format. He came out with his second volume, Screams Are the Horses of the Souls (Skrig er sjælens heste), in 1988. A later collection of poems, Traces on Water (Spor på Vand), was published early in 1991. In mid 1993 Nuage sur le depart was published by L’Harmattan Publishing House, Paris in a bi-lingual French Arabic format. In 1994, Muniam Alfaker wrote, together with the Danish poet Marianne Larsen, a play called Train of Childhood (Barndommens Kupé), which had its premiere at Fiol Theater in Copenhagen early same year. The piece was later published as narrative and play score under the same title. A selection of poems from Alfaker’s three poetry collections published in Denmark, has been published in Norway by Aschehoug. The selection is entitled Sky på flukt, where the same bi-lingual format in Norwegian and Arabic is maintained. In 1994, all four volumes of Muniam Alfaker’s poems were gathered by Sina Publishing (Cairo) and published in Arabic under one title, Al-lau’at al-arbaa (The Four Torments). Muniam Alfaker is presently Editor-in-Chief of Assununu (The Swallow) , a magazine on Danish literature. culture and the arts published in Arabic. In 1994, the collection of Poems Clothing without Body (Klæder uden Krop), was published and received the National Arts Foundation Prize (Statens Kunstfond). Muniam Alfaker received also furthermore, Denmark’s Library Union Prize of Writers (Danmarks biblioteksforenings forfatterpris) in March 1995. In 1998 Muniam Alfaker released his latest poetry collection Together (Sammen) in his known bi-lingual format in Danish and Arabic. Together was furthermore released in Morocco under the title Retraite d’un Cœur (Resignation of the Heart) in 1999. In 2000, Alfaker’s latest collection of poetry Seldom (Naderan) was published and received televized attention in Lebanon. Latest, is Alfaker’s lyrical work under the title Book of Visions (Visionens Bog) which was published in both Denmark and Norway.