Another One for the ‘Arabic Booker’ Longlist: ‘Year of the Dragon’
The longlist for the 2013 International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF) is set to be announced on December 6. One might well expect the judges to have put their finger […]
November 2012
Qatari Man Gets Life in Prison for Poetry Critical of Emir
Today, a court in Qatar sentenced Mohamed ibn al-Dheeb al-Ajami to life in prison, probably for his “Jasmine Poem.” The charges, according to Reuters (via al-Ajami’s lawyer), were “incitement to overthrow […]
Mohamed Morsi on the Role of Art
I’m having a hard time unpacking this text, but Issandr Amrani says perhaps Pres. Morsi is calling the head of the Supreme Constitutional Court a monkey. Update: The brilliant Issandr has […]
Don’t Miss: First Ever Arabic-English Translation Slam
Thanks to the indefatigable (except perhaps by Cairo traffic) Cathy Costain, Arabic-English translation is getting its first ever knock-down, drag-out, no-holds-barred, bare-knuckled translation slam.
See English PEN-winning Nihad Sirees in London
Yesterday, PEN officially announced its “Writing in Translation 2013” awards. Among the six titles are two from the Arabic: Writing Revolution: The Voices from Tunis to Damascus (trans. Robin Moger) and Sirees’s The […]
Play it Again: ‘If, One Day, A People Desires to Live’
In mid-January 2011, “If, One Day, A People Desires…” was my poem of poems. At the moment, Abu al-Qasim al-Shabbi’s anthem seemed to encompass all hopes, all movement up and […]
‘The Grub Hunter’: A Novel Surveilling a Novel
Amir Tag Elsir’s The Grub Hunter was released this summer by Pearson in the U.K. Meanwhile, I don’t think there’s yet been movement on a U.S. edition: It was not Amir Tag […]
CORRECTION: Two to Translate from Ahdaf Soueif
What were Ahdaf Souief’s Arabic-language favorite reads of 2012?
10 Holiday Gift Suggestions: New in 2012
If you’re the holiday gift-buying sort, well, I’m sure your loved ones would appreciate a good book: