No One Will Know You Tomorrow

Najwan Darwish is an internationally renowned Palestinian poet whose works include two award-winning collections translated into English: Nothing More to Lose and Exhausted on the Cross. He lives in Jerusalem. Kareem James Abu-Zeid is an award-winning translator, editor, writer, and scholar. He lives in Santa Fe, NM.

“An unvarnished view of war and its repercussions: fear, dread, devastation, and exile.”—Elisabeth Egan, New York Times Book Review“Important. . . . This book is a selection of the past decade of [Darwish’s] poetry. That means that it travels the gamut. There are storytelling poems, where he creates myths and little miniature fables. . . . There are dream visions about a homeland from which he has long been exiled. There are also love poems. The translator, Kareem James Abu-Zeid, has done an incredible job.”—Kaveh Akbar, New Yorker“Expansive in breadth and beauty . . . spare and lyrical. . . . [Darwish’s] poems demand that readers bear witness to the brutality inflicted on his people but also invite a deeper understanding of Palestinian history and resilience. . . . Moving, timely, and necessary.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)“Brilliant. . . . A soon-to-be classic.”—ArabLit“Elegiac and tempestuous. . . . A poignant and vividly contemporary portrait of cultural grief and its psychic devastations.”—Xiao Yue Shan, Asymptote“Intimate, carefully wrought poems [that] depict life under Israeli occupation. . . . Irony and humor are present . . . but it is Darwish’s ability to convey both tremulous wonder and tragedy that make this collection so distinct.”—Alexia Underwood, Paris Review Daily“Deeply spiritual. . . . It is impossible to do full justice to the range and depth of Darwish’s work.”—Allegro PoetryFinalist for the 2025 PEN Award for Poetry in Translation, sponsored by PEN AmericaBig Other Book Awards, 2024: Winner, Reader’s Choice Award • Finalist, Award for TranslationShortlisted for the PEN Heaney Prize 2025Finalist for the 2025 Walcott Prize, sponsored by Arrowsmith PressLonglisted for the 2025 National Translation Award for Poetry, sponsored by American Literary Translators Association (ALTA)“A remarkable work of witness and translation. These poems, wry and sensual, widen the breach in the heart. Najwan Darwish is a prophet of our hard, exhausted time—the sea his ancient muse, Palestine his Andalus, language his only Paradise.”—Yasmine Seale, translator of The Annotated Arabian Nights“I return to the poetry of Najwan Darwish—that effortless, natural blend of high lyricism and tragic history—again and again, year after year. In the midst of the sobering horror of our moment, the poet searches for the timeless, the metaphysical. This search is wisdom: ‘Take refuge in language,’ he advises. ‘It’s the only solid ground / for ships.’ Lucky are the readers who find Darwish’s work for the first time. What a journey awaits your ships.”—Ilya Kaminsky, author of Deaf Republic“An enthralling and essential collection. The cultural, political, physical, and intimate geographies of this book widen as we read. These verses are enduring monuments, and translator Kareem James Abu-Zeid reaches the quietest beats of every poem, masterfully transporting Darwish’s wit and lyricism from Arabic into English.”—Nathalie Handal, author of Life in a Country Album“I’ve seen nothing of what I believed, but if a God exists it is the same God for me and for the Palestinian poet Najwan Darwish.”—Raúl Zurita, author of INRI