Wikipedia

Omar Sakr

(Redirected from Omar Sakr (Australian Writer))

Omar Sakr is a contemporary Arab Australian poet, novelist and essayist.

Omar Sakr
BornWestern Sydney, Australia
OccupationPoet and novelist
Website
www.omarsakr.com

Career edit

Sakr has been a published poet since 2014, with over 80 poems appearing in literary journals including Meanjin,[1] Overland [2] and other publications.[3][4] His first book of poetry These Wild Houses was published in 2017 by Cordite Books.[5]

In 2020, he was the first Arab-Australian Muslim to be shortlisted for and then win the prestigious Prime Minister's Literary Award for poetry for his book The Lost Arabs.[6][7] The judging panel described The Lost Arabs as a collection of “vital, energy-driven poems” that “speak with a clear and fearless voice, a voice that is often passionate and sometimes angry, but always lucid and warmly human."[8]

His first novel, Son of Sin, was published by Affirm Press in 2022. Rafqa Touma in The Guardian described in as “laced with charm, candor and a vital sense of warmth”.[9] Sakr's work has been translated into Arabic and Spanish[10] and he was the poetry editor of The Lifted Brow from 2017 to 2020.[11] In 2022, Sakr was named by The Australian as one of the top 100 cultural leaders in the arts.[12] His latest poetry collection, Non-Essential Work, was published by University of Queensland Press in 2023.[13]

State Library Victoria controversy edit

In 2024, Sakr was scheduled to appear at the State Library Victoria's Teen Writing Bootcamp series for young people alongside Alison Evans, Amie Kaufman, Ariel Slamet Ries, Morgan Rose and Jinghua Qian. On 28 February, two days before Sakr's scheduled appearance on 1 March, the entire program was cancelled by the library who cited that a "child and cultural safety" review was necessary:

We have a duty of care to ensure the highest levels of child and cultural safety are in place for all participants, artists and facilitators in our programs, and we take this very seriously. At a time of heightened sensitivities, we believe it is important to conduct this review carefully and thoroughly and take the time needed to make sure that the design and implementation guidelines for programs remain appropriate.[14]

When this was made public, speculation followed in The Age and The Guardian that public support of Palestine by Sakr and three other writers involved in the program - Evans, Qian and Ries - was the actual reason for the postponement, and that the genocide in Gaza was the "heightened sensitivities" referred to.[15][16] The incident followed soon after the public disclosure that the dismissal of pro-Palestinian journalist Antoinette Latouff from the ABC had been coordinated by a WhatsApp chat named "Lawyers for Israel".[17] Sakr told The Age:

Who was unsafe? What does it mean? You have to clearly articulate if you decided on your own that your processes are insufficient, that you are unsafe. You can say that out loud. But I won’t allow the inference to remain that we are unsafe... I’m more than willing to have a conversation around the safety of children with anyone. I would love, in fact, to see the safety of Palestinian children foregrounded in this country given our government’s role in what’s happening in Palestine and that they have cut funding to the principal aid organisation on the ground there as we are seeing Palestinian children starve to death.[18]

While the library publicly insisted that the program had been postponed and not cancelled, they also sent a "termination agreement" to Sakr and the other writers involved in the program. This offered immediate full payment on condition that the writers agree they must not "make any claim or demand that the library must do something, or must not do something, in connection with the contract or the program." Neither Sakr, Evans, Ries or Qian have signed this agreement.[19]

On 14 March 2024, The Age claimed that library CEO Paul Duldig told a meeting attended by 30 staff that Sakr's public support of Palestine was the actual reason for the postponement.[20] It was also revealed that 113 of the library's 300 staff had signed an internal letter in support of Sakr and the other writers that accused the library of "censorship and discrimination",[21] and that the library's head of engagement, Angharad Wynne-Jones, had recently resigned.

On 20 March 2024, Gabrielle de Vietri of the Victorian Greens introduced a motion in Victorian Parliament that acknowledged the Library had "terminated the contracts of four writers who have spoken in support of Palestine", and that as political censorship is "indefensible" and public institutions are expected to hold "high ethical and transparency standards", the Library should now fully account for its decision. The motion was not passed.[22]

On 29 April 2024, The Age reported that numerous well-known Australian authors, including Tony Birch, Michelle de Kretser and Grace Yee, are boycotting the Library indefinitely until the matter is resolved. The same article also quoted Duldig as saying to Library staff, when challenged on using Sakr's pro-Palestinian commentary as a basis to cancel the workshop:

You call it profiling. I call it risk management.[23]

Personal life edit

Sakr was born to immigrant Turkish-Lebanese parents in Western Sydney, where he still lives.[24] He attended Liverpool Boys High, received his BA in communication from the University of Technology, Sydney in 2010 and his Master in Creative Writing from the University of Sydney in 2013. Sakr is bisexual.[25]

In 2019, Sakr was part of the Big Anxiety festival, where he spoke of how he had experienced anxiety and depression as he navigated his sexuality in a religious household, and how writing poetry had allowed him to channel his feelings and "take the pain in my life and transform it into something beautiful."[26]

Awards edit

Books edit

  • Son of Sin (Affirm Press, 2022)
  • The Lost Arabs (University of Queensland Press, 2019)
  • These Wild Houses (Cordite Books, 2017)
  • Non-Essential Work (University of Queensland Press, 2023)

Short stories edit

  • “White Flu” in After Australia (Affirm Press, 2020)
  • “An Arab Werewolf” in Liverpool in Kindred: 12 Queer YA Stories (Walker, 2019)

References edit

  1. ^ "Eye Bones In You Throat by Omar Sakr". Meanjin. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
  2. ^ "Three Poems by Omar Sakr". Overland. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
  3. ^ "Hop This Scotch by Omar Sakr". Peril Magazine. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
  4. ^ "Diary of A Non-Essential Worker by Omar Sakr". The Saturday Paper. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
  5. ^ "These Wild Houses by Omar Sakr". Cordite Books. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
  6. ^ "2020 winners announced today #PMLitAwards". Australian Government. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
  7. ^ "Prime Minister's Literary Awards: The Yield and The Lost Arabs throw fragile lines across cultural and linguistic divides". The Conversation. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
  8. ^ "Prime Minister's Literary awards: Tara June Winch wins in record-breaking year for Indigenous work". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
  9. ^ "Son of Sin by Omar Sakr review – a queer Muslim boy comes of age in poetic, vivid debut". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
  10. ^ "Shelf Reflection: Omar Sakr". Kill Your Darlings. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
  11. ^ "For Omar Sakr, "Poetry Is Air"". Chicago Review of Books. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
  12. ^ "The 100 List Arts and Culture 2022". The Australian. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
  13. ^ "UQP acquires new collection from prize-winning poet Omar Sakr". UQP. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
  14. ^ Burke, Kelly (6 March 2024). "Writers puzzled after State Library Victoria cancels workshops for teens citing 'child and cultural safety'". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 March 2024.
  15. ^ O'Brien, Kerrie (7 March 2024). "State Library Victoria cancels workshops hosted by pro-Palestine writers". The Age. Retrieved 15 March 2024.
  16. ^ Burke, Kelly (6 March 2024). "Writers puzzled after State Library Victoria cancels workshops for teens citing 'child and cultural safety'". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 March 2024.
  17. ^ Michael Bachelard, Calum Jaspan, Messages show push to oust Lattouf, Archived 15 January 2024 at the Wayback Machine The Age 16 January 2024 pp.1-3.
  18. ^ O'Brien, The Age, 7 March 2024.
  19. ^ Burke, The Guardian, 6 March 2024.
  20. ^ O'Brien, Kerrie (14 March 2024). "State Library revolt over treatment of pro-Palestine writers". The Age. Retrieved 15 March 2024.
  21. ^ Beazley, Jordyn (14 March 2024). "State Library Victoria staff accuse management of 'censorship and discrimination' over pro-Palestine authors controversy". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 March 2024.
  22. ^ de Vietri, Gabrielle. "Political censorship is indefensible". Twitter. Retrieved 20 March 2024.
  23. ^ O'Brien, Kerrie (29 April 2024). "Top writers boycott State Library Victoria over accusations of censorship". The Age. Retrieved 29 April 2024.
  24. ^ "The suburbs I still know". SMH. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
  25. ^ "George Haddad and Omar Sakr centre bisexual Arab Australian protagonists in their debut novels". ABC. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
  26. ^ "Muslim poet tackles taboo subjects at Big Anxiety festival". SBS. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
  27. ^ "Indie Book Awards 2023 shortlist announced". Books+Publishing. 18 January 2023. Retrieved 2023-01-18.

External links edit

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