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Classical Arabic Literature Podcast

Classical Arabic Literature Podcast

By: James Montgomery and Lydia Wilson
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Summary

A podcast exploring classical Arabic literature. Each episode is a conversation on a writer, a book, or a theme between James Montgomery (the Sir Thomas Adams's Professor of Arabic at the University of Cambridge, Fellow of the British Academy, and a founding editor of the Library of Arabic Literature) and Lydia Wilson (a writer and journalist).

James Montgomery and Lydia Wilson 050179 Art Literary History & Criticism World
Episodes
  • Al-Mutanabbi

    Al-Mutanabbi
    May 2 2026

    Al-Mutanabbi was born in Kufa in 915 CE, and packed his 50 years of life with politics, religion and poetry. Al-Mutanabbī’s career saw him travel from Kufa to Baghdad, Syria, Egypt and Iran as he sought patronage at the courts of warlords and potentates or service in the retinue of local elites and bureaucrats, and he also spent time in the deserts of Iraq. He died at the hand of bandits in 965 CE.

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    1 hr and 9 mins
  • Kalilah wa Dimnah

    Kalilah wa Dimnah
    May 2 2026

    Kalilah wa Dimnah is a foundational work in Classical Arabic Literature despite the fact it was originally composed in Sanskrit, making its way through Middle Persian and Syriac to be translated into Arabic in the middle of the 8th century CE. At the heart of the book are the discussions between the two jackals of the title, Kalilah and Dimnah, who tell tales within tales with moral and political lessons, involving animal leaders and their advisors discussing and illustrating the consequences of actions and decisions.
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    55 mins
  • Abu Nuwas

    Abu Nuwas
    May 2 2026

    Abu Nuwas was born around 756 CE and died in 815, after a long and colourful career as a poet, travelling around the Muslim world in search of patronage. His work was as varied as his fortunes, and he has left behind poetry on love and hunting, praise and invective, asceticism and - perhaps most famously - wine.

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    1 hr and 6 mins
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