A new album by Danish singer-songerwriter Agnes Obel, The Meaning of Flowers, features several tracks inspired by Enheduana’s hymns to Inana. Obel says of “Blood so Red” that the Exaltation “made its way into the song, lifting up my own epiphanies on childbirth and the laws of the body and these experiences outside of languageContinue reading “Agnes Obel’s Meaning of Flowers”
Author Archives: sophushelle
New book: Song from the Sands
Ellen Rachlin’s debut novel, Enheduanna’s Song From the Sands, mixes myth and history to retell the life of Enheduana, foregrounding her conflict with the rebel leader Lugal-ane and Enheduana’s need to become as ruthless as the man she is trying to defeat. Link.
Enheduana in Scottish
The poet Robert Crawford has published a new Scottish translation of Enheduana’s Exaltation in the LRB: “Wi ‘This’ll dae! Eneuch!’ I hae gied birth, / O Leddy on heich, tae this, yir halie sang, / This sang I sang tae ye at daurk midnicht – / May the singer sing the sang agane at nuin!”Continue reading “Enheduana in Scottish”
New book: Gadotti’s Enheduana
A new study of Enheduana’s life by Alhena Gadotti is out now with Routledge! Entitled Enheduana: Princess, Priestess, Poetess, the book lays out what we can say for sure about Enheduana’s life, her historical context, her transformation into a powerful cultural myth in the centuries after her death. Gadotti’s volume will be a critical resourceContinue reading “New book: Gadotti’s Enheduana”
Feature film: Pomegranate
Weam Namou’s directoral debut Pomegranate tells the story of Niran, a young, liberal Muslim woman who struggles to navigate a conservative immigrant community of Iraqi Chaldeans in the US. Eventually, Niram comes across the work of Enheduana, which allows her to find her own voice while holding on to her tradition. Trailer and links.
Performance art: Sally Silvers, “You Better”
Experimental choreographer Sally Silvers interprets Enheduana’s poetry as dance, creating what she calls “a sequence of ‘girl crush’ dances that celebrate female power, writing, thinking, and moving.” Description, video.
Performance art: “Hands do not touch your precious Me”
A creative collaboration between the director Wim Vandekeybus, the performer and visual artist Olivier de Sagazan, the composer Charo Calvo, takes its inspiration from the poetry of Enheduana and a vision of Inana as “the divine embodiment of the paradoxes of human existence.” Description and video.
Stefania de Kennessey, “The Names of Woman”
In a cantata commissioned by Dall’ombra Ensemble, Stefania de Kennessey weaves together the voices of various women throughout history, ending with Enheduana, for a piece entitled “The Names of Woman“. The premiere was performed by Malaika Alvaro, Diane Taublieb, Morrie Sherry, Mara Milkis, Ann Roggen, and Wanda Glowacka.
Douglas Knehans, “To the Stars”
As part of an event entitled “Enheduana: Voicing the Divine Feminine“, Harvard University’s Center for the Study of World Religions hosted the premiere of Douglas Knehans’s “To the Stars”, a musical adaptation of Enheduana’s Exaltation, conducted by Evan Ziporyn and performed by Maggie Finnegan, Anne Harley, Gabby Diaz, Amy Advocat, and Matt Sharrock. Video.
Žibuoklė Martinaitytė, “Enheduana”
The Lithuanian music festival GAIDA commissioned a musical adaptation of Enheduana’s Hymn from the composer Žibuoklė Martinaitytė. It was first performed at GAIDA in 2023, performed by by mezzo-sporano Justina Gringytė and the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Robertas Šervenikas.
Enheduana 