The Grandchildren of Sinbad

Description:	Al-Rubai, Abdul Razzaq (author)Yousif, Salaam (translator)Hillman, Brenda (translator)Case, Katherine (printer)Stenzel, Annie (printer) Letterpress with linoleum cut. Edition of 30. This collection supports and promotes awareness to the important mission and framework of the Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here Coalitions focus on the lasting power of the written word and the arts in support of the free expression of ideas, the preservation of shared cultural spaces, and the importance of responding to attacks, both overt and subtle, on artists, writers, and academics working under oppressive regimes or in zones of conflict, despite the destruction of that literary/cultural content. I had the privilege of being part of a letterpress group that printed one of these broadsides for the benefit. Led by poet-printers Katherine Case and Annie Stenzel, our group of seven worked with a gorgeous poem by Abdul-Razzaq al-Rubai; translated by Salaam Yousif and Brenda Hillman.The Grandchildren of SinbadWhen the boards of our broken ship were brokenAnd the horizon grew pitch black,We gathered our tearsAnd the letters of the drownedAnd we wondered:Have we arrived on dry landOr have we lit our night stovesOn the backs of whales?As we primed the Vandercook press with indigo ink for our first night of printing at the San Francisco Center for the Book, Katherine told us of an amazing gift she had received. A former U.S. soldier and paper maker from Vermont had returned home from his tour in Iraq filled with complexity and misgiving, grappling with a need to somehow change what part he had played in the war. In response, he took his sand-colored fatigues and boiled them down, making an unusual thick and sturdy paper. He had heard about the Mutanabbi benefit and had sent ten sheets to San Francisco. It was surreal and deeply moving to roll what had been his worn uniform through the old press and watch the words etch themselves into the fibers. A copy of the broadside hangs above my writing desk and holds within it the import of transformation, reminding me that what I do matters and that I had better do it right now.--Jennifer Sweeney
Origin:	2009
Created By:	Al-Rubai, Abdul Razzaq; Yousif, Salaam; Hillman, Brenda; Case, Katherine; Stenzel, Annie
Contributor(s):	Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here Coalition
Publisher:	Thicket Press (San Francisco, California)
Source:	http://iuidigital.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/AMSSH/id/16
Collection:	Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here Coalition Collection
Rights:	http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Copyright:	In Copyright
Subjects:	broadsides letterpress printing art

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