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!” Link.
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 resource for anyone wishing to delve deeper into Enheduana’s world. Link.
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.
Coverage of the book
In connection with Sophus Helle’s book on Enheduana—which this website was created to accompany—he did a series of interviews, including three video chats (with Digital Hammurabi, Yale Babylonian Collection, and Yale University Press), a podcast, and a blog. The book was reviewed in, among others, the TLS, the LRB, and the Financial Times.
Collected works in English translation
Sophus Helle’s new book on Enheduana was published with Yale University Press in March 2023. It contains an English translation of her collected works and an introduction to her historical background, literary reception, and the main themes of her poems. This website, enheduana.org, was launched to accompany the book.
Enheduana 