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Short Fiction by Muhammad Khudayyir

Short Fiction by Muhammad Khudayyir

Fiction, Iraq /
A story from the fall of 1983 by the scribe of Basra, Muhammad Khudayyir ...

Coming Sept 2026: Modern Classics and YA, Plus a Day of Translation

Coming Sept 2026: Modern Classics and YA, Plus a Day of Translation
Lit Lists /
This month, we have books and events coming in September 2026, as well as one we missed from the end of August ...

Naguib Mahouz Medal Announces 2026 Lit Shortlist

Naguib Mahouz Medal Announces 2026 Lit Shortlist
Lit Lists, News /
Yesterday evening, American University in Cairo Press announced the shortlist for the 2026 Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature ...

Fiction

Short Fiction by Muhammad Khudayyir

Short Fiction by Muhammad Khudayyir

A story from the fall of 1983 by the scribe of Basra, Muhammad Khudayyir.

...

Stealing Sleep, Reclaiming Tomorrow

Stealing Sleep, Reclaiming Tomorrow

In the opening pages of The Sleep Thief by Ibtisam Azem (tr. Sinan Antoon), Palestinian protagonist, Gharib Haifawi, recounts how he was dubbed the “sleep thief” by his interrogators during his imprisonment.

...

‘By Candlelight’: Short Fiction by Latifa al-Zayyat

'By Candlelight': Short Fiction by Latifa al-Zayyat

Part of our focus, this Women in Translation Month (#WiTMonth), is on classic Arabic works by women, especially those at the margins of (or neglected entirely by) critical and readerly attention.

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Poetry

The Red Suns, Purple Moons, and Gun-Carrying Mice of Syrian Poet Da’ad Haddad

The Red Suns, Purple Moons, and Gun-Carrying Mice of Syrian Poet Da'ad Haddad

“In her poetry world, the sun is red. The moon is purple. Snow is ubiquitous. Winter is eternal.”

...

Poems of Whiskey and Regret by Rasha Omran

Poems of Whiskey and Regret by Rasha Omran

These poems, translated by Phoebe Carter, are from Rasha Omran’s sixth collection, “A Secret Wife of Absence.”

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New Poetry in Translation: Sayed Abolela’s ‘Cinema’

New Poetry in Translation: Sayed Abolela's 'Cinema'

This poem is from a forthcoming collection,  مصمم معارك, to be published by the General Egyptian Book Organization.

...

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Interviews

Palestinian Sittis and the Inheritance of Memories

Palestinian Sittis and the Inheritance of Memories

In this conversation, Hooda Shawa offers inspiring insight into her experience writing such a personal and powerful novel as well as herself as an author.

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On the New Platform, ‘Palestine is Everywhere’

On the New Platform, 'Palestine is Everywhere'

Editors of the anthology Palestine is Everywhere — Skye Arundhati Thomas, Edwin Nasr, and Gloria Habsburg — recently launched a new “Palestine is Everywhere” platform to host a series of monthly commissions, “creating an ongoing space to support and amplify the work of artists, writers, and practitioners from Palestine and the wider region.”

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On the Choice to Write in Colloquial Arabic

On the Choice to Write in Colloquial Arabic

“Some classical poets feel that the popularity of colloquial writers has nothing to do with the quality of their work, but rather because they have chosen the easier path.”

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In Focus

From Gaza
Between Two Arabic Translators with Yasmeen Hanoosh
May Goes On: (Re)-Introducing May Ziadeh

From the archives

‘Writing in Gaza’: by Yousef el-Qedra

'Writing in Gaza': by Yousef el-Qedra
Yousef el-Qedra is a poet and playwright in Gaza; you can read more of his work in translation in Hayden’s ...

Egyptian Novelist Shady Lewis on Coptic Identity, Church-State Relations, and Citizenship

Egyptian Novelist Shady Lewis on Coptic Identity, Church-State Relations, and Citizenship

“In Ways of the Lord, Christians are mistaken for being Jews and are accused of spying for Israel, which demonstrates the lack of recognition of Copts and their conflation with other minorities.”

...

Safia Ketou: The First Algerian Sci-fi Novelist of Post-independence Algeria

Safia Ketou: The First Algerian Sci-fi Novelist of Post-independence Algeria
For Women in Translation Month, our Algeria editor writes about one of her favorite discoveries, whose La Planète Mauve et Autres Nouvelles should ...