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I HAVE never seen so many people at a poetry festival before – or so many Kalashnikovs.
A few weeks ago I was in the southern Iraq city of Basra with my friend, the Punjabi poet Amarjit Chandan. We were guests of the Iraqi Writers Union for the 13th annual Al-Marbed international poetry festival.
“Poetry is the Present and Future of Basra” read the banner over the stage in the main hall of the hotel where most of the readings were held.
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