Palestinian writer Karim Kattan recommends Pol Guasch's "luminous" poetry

BarcelonaThe Palestinian writer Karim Kattan and the Tarragona-born poet and writer Pol Guasch met in Barcelona in May. Guasch then presented one of Kattan's two latest works translated into Spanish, L'Éden à l'aube (2024; El Edén al alba in the Txalaparta edition), which narrates a story of love and desire between two men traveling under a hurricane wind that buries Palestine under sand. Mutual admiration arose. Kattan has read Guasch's work, and what has fascinated him most is his poetry, specifically, La part del foc (Viena, 2021), which was awarded the López-Picó prize.

Last January, Guasch published Relíquia (Anagrama), which begins with the impact of the suicide of his father on January 13, 2013, when he was only 44 years old, and from there, the son tries to understand an action that marked a before and after in his family. Guasch is also the author of Napalm al cor (Anagrama, 2021) and Ofert a les mans, el paradís crema (Anagrama, 2024). "I read Guasch's latest novel, and I loved it," admits Kattan. However, what has fascinated the Palestinian writer most are Guasch's verses: "I must say that the poetry collection, where short poems intertwine with each other, amazed me with how it speaks of desire and vulnerability. I found it to be luminous poetry," states Kattan. Guasch explores the experience of love in all its dimensions, from the physical to the metaphysical. He writes about burning desire but also about love as a refuge. Guasch has also praised the story of love and desire between two men that Kattan narrates in L'Éden à l'aube and which arises in a land as hostile as Palestine.