I appreciate the Arabic Network for Human Rights’ (ANHRI) statement regarding a suit that claims 1,001 Nights should be banned and its publishers jailed. The latter group includes no less […]
Somehow, I thought I could quickly track down each of these 100 titles, translate them (roughly), note whether or not an English translation or excerpt exists, and be done with […]
At some point in the controversy-riddled process of selecting this year’s International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF for short, or Arabic Booker), I sent an email to a fellow blogger-critic, […]
I’m not quite sure what’s going on here, but Ibrahim al-Koni’s masterwork The Animists (translated by Elliot Colla) was originally scheduled to be out from AUC Press in February of […]
Yesterday, I was pestering translator Maia Tabet (Elias Khoury’s White Masks, Archipelago, 2010) about the use of contractions. I’m reading a book right now that I think is wonderful, but […]
I am not a Yalie (Yalawaya?) so generally, the issue of whether Yale’s Arabic program is or isn’t in turmoil concerns me very little. However, when the director of an […]
Words Without Borders, along with translating excellent literature into English and presenting it free online, also puts out a quarterly tip sheet about WWB writers who they believe “can be […]
Kirkuk was recently named the Iraqi capital of culture for 2010, according to Aswat Al Iraq. Generally I don’t follow these “capital of X” designations (Beirut is the capital of […]
PalFest 2010—a literary festival that aims “to bring world class cultural events to Palestinian cities”—announced its May 2010 program today. The festival, which was founded by award-winning author Ahdaf Souief, […]
