PALEWELL PRESS

Adnan Mohsen was born in Baghdad in 1955. After finishing his first degree at Baghdad University in 1978, he was forced to leave Iraq due to his stand against the dictatorship. He moved to Lebanon, Syria, Algeria and Libya, arriving in Paris in 1981. He received his doctorate from the University of Jusseiu and works at the Louvre.

Publications in French include Memory of Silence, 1994; et cetera 1995; Texts about others 1996; and like this (a dual edition in French and Arabic), 2000. In Arabic he has published Many Voices for One Throat, 2016; I Cry Alone in the Labyrinth 2016; Definition 2016; and Letters to Gudea 2018. Please Don't Kill All the Poets, Palewell Press 2024, is his first collection in English. 

In 2016, Adnan’s interest in Surrealism led to the Surrealism Adventure, a collection of articles written by the pioneers of surrealism along with poems and activities he translated from French to Arabic. This was followed by the Surrealism Archives in 2019, a translation of his research into archival material focusing on surrealist explorations of sexuality. He introduced Malcolm de Chazal to the Arabic reader by publishing a translation of his poems in 2018. He has introduced Iraqi and Arabic poets to French readers through his numerous translations from Arabic to French.

Adnan is married to Aube de Thiersant, the daughter of the Savoyard painter Jacques de Thiersant. They have two children, a son Adam and a daughter Amielle.