Mare Nostrum - Paperback

Mare Nostrum: A Powerful Meditation on the Refugee Experience

Khaled Mattawa's Mare Nostrum stands as a pointed, incantatory account of the refugee crisis in the Mediterranean. This chapbook confronts the harrowing journeys of those fleeing Africa and the Middle East to European shores, transforming the 2013 Italian immigration operation's name—"our sea" in Latin—into a profound meditation on collective responsibility.

About This Poetry Chapbook

Mattawa conjures multiple voices through ritualistic lyrics, creating what reads as both narrative and blessing. The work memorializes those who risked everything crossing the Mediterranean, many facing shipwrecks, imprisonment, and uncertainty upon arrival. Through his verse, Mattawa asks readers directly: Do you remember? This question reverberates throughout the chapbook, rendering us culpable for the losses and responsible to those pursuing hope and escape from oppression. The poetry moves between perspectives, as if stirring ghosts from wreckage. Wrapped in imagery of gold foil and disease-free bodies on bridges to slippery worlds, Mattawa poses the central question: "Who is saving whom?" The answer remains implied, never stated, leaving readers to grapple with their own complicity.

About Khaled Mattawa

Khaled Mattawa teaches in the graduate creative writing program at the University of Michigan. His literary accomplishments include four poetry collections, a critical study of Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, two coedited anthologies of Arab American literature, and numerous translations of contemporary Arabic poetry. His recognition includes the Academy of American Poets Fellowship prize, the PEN Award for Poetry in Translation, and a MacArthur Fellowship.

A Lighthouse for 21st Century Politics

Mattawa's writing serves as a lighthouse for contemporary political discourse. This chapbook functions as both memorial and call to consciousness, documenting one of the defining humanitarian crises of our time. The work belongs in collections focused on migration literature, human rights poetry, and Mediterranean studies.