Prison as a Site of Creative Liberation

For 14 years, Syrian poet Faraj Bayrakdar was imprisoned and tortured in a series of prisons. He found refuge in writing poetry. Now, the poems he wrote imagining the collapse of the regime are a reality. In December, 2024, the rule of Syria’s longtime president Bashar al Assad did collapse. Bayrakdar tells host Nahlah Ayed how the freedom within is greater than any prison. *This episode originally aired on Dec. 19, 2024.

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