A question of poetry

Nimah is the not-so-silent voice of a Saudi woman and that is reflected undoubtedly in her collection of poems that is, The Unfurling.

She writes with the passion and honesty that, in my opinion, is unusual for a woman in the Arab world.
She discusses thought-provoking topics like freedom and democracy, child slavery in Africa, spousal abuse, divorce, the Palestinian intifada, global extremism and terrorism.
“Some of the poems in the book are very private and emotional and they touch subjects like my family, my daughter’s birth or the incident of the Makkah fire which makes me cry every time I read it to an audience. I write about my experiences, topics that are close to my heart and about issues that are so-called taboo in this part of the world. In our society, we are reticent about so many ills prevalent around us but someone needs to raise a voice so that those issues are brought to the forefront,” said Nimah.
Nimah’s book, The Unfurling, is a journey of sorts whereby it moves from her personal experiences to local issues and ends with global topics. The underlying themes of her poems are predominantly peace and freedom and the push of globalisation versus the pull of the older traditions, a concern that is causing a multilevel debate in her home country.
Nimah descends from a line of Makkan scholars and her father started reading Shakespeare to her when she was just eight. The Unfurling is her compilation of poems written over a span of four years in several different formats. “My book is a selection of my work, it is not my complete work.
The reason why I chose to write in English is that it can reach out to a wider audience. Also the style that I write in is better handled in English than Arabic. In my poems I start with the foundation and then build on it layer by layer, something like building blocks. If you take away one block the entire edifice crumbles.
That is why initially I was not in favour of translating my poetry because the linguistic beauty and other poetic devices get lost in translation,” stated Nimah emphatically. Although now due to her poetry recitals worldwide her work is translated into many languages, Nimah pays great attention to detail so that she can keep the magic of her poetry intact.                          
Nimah is the first Saudi woman poet to be published in the United States and concluded her US book tour in 2005 whereby she did many readings at various cities concluding with Washington DC venues. In 2006, she was nominated a Young Global Leader of the Young Global Leaders Forum, an affiliate of the World Economic Forum selected from over 4000 candidates, joining 175 new leading executives, public figures and intellectuals from 50 countries to serve for five years in impacting global issues.
Her recent poetry reading at the Al Riwaq art gallery at the invitation of the creatively inclined group, Elham was an evening of utter delight for poetry lovers. According to Deonna, a member of the audience, “I was mesmerised by her eloquent recital.
She captivated the audience through her interactive and thought-provoking discussion. Nimah is working on her second compilation of poems now and soon her inspiring work will be published for all to appreciate.