April 2013: New Arabic Poetry and Prose (in Translation)

Some beautiful work newly available in translation. Thanks in particular to some great work by translator Yasmeen Hanoosh in organizing the special “Writing from Iraq” issue this month on Words Without Borders:

Image from Words Without Borders April issue. Jamal Penjweny, "Iraq- Falwja" (detail) 2009.
Image from Words Without Borders April issue. Jamal Penjweny, “Iraq- Falwja” (detail) 2009.

ON LITERATURE

Words Without Borders: Beyond the Trauma of War: Iraqi Literature Today, Yasmeen Hanoosh

From their special April 2013 “Writing from Iraq” issue; more below.

NOVEL EXCERPTS

The National (UAE): An excerpt of Sons of Gebelawi, Ibrahim Farghali

SHORT PROSE

Words Without Borders: “The Green Zone Rabbit,” Hassan Blasim, trans. Jonathan Wright (from The Iraqi Christ)

Words Without Borders: “Salman and the Mule Suicides,” Najem Wali, trans. William Maynard Hutchins

Words Without Borders: “The Mulberry Tree,” Salima Saleh, trans. William Maynard Hutchins

Words Without Borders: “Merrymaking,” Luay Hamza Abbas, trans. Yasmeen Hanoosh

Words Without Borders: “The Arab Altar,” Abd al-Khaliq al-Rikabi, trans. William Maynard Hutchins

Words Without Borders: “Be Quiet, Soldiers,” Ali Bader, trans. Amir Moosavi

Words Without Borders: “A Portal in Space,” Mahmoud Saeed, trans. William Maynard Hutchins

Words Without Borders: “The One-eyed Tree,” Muhsin al-Ramli, trans. Yasmeen Hanoosh

The Kenyon Review: On East-West Dialogue, Adania Shibli, trans. Suneela Mubayi.

This is from the KR’s winter 2012 issue. I just read it; if you’d also missed it, please go now.

Aeon Magazine: City of Kismet, Youssef Rakha.

Let’s admit that Youssef probably wrote this originally in English; nonetheless.

POEMS

Jadaliyya: Saadi Youssef’s, “Genesis 34,” trans. Sinan Antoon

Jadaliyya: Salah Faik: “On the Tenth Anniversary of Murdering my Country” and other poems, trans. Sinan Antoon

Words Without Borders: Duna Ghali’s “Your Body Journeyed Off,” trans. William Maynard Hutchins

Words Without Borders: Sargon Boulus’s “Music in a Baghdad Alley,” trans. Sinan Antoon

Words Without Borders: Sargon Boulus’s “In Saadi Shirazi’s Garden (When He Was a Prisoner)“, trans. Sinan Antoon

Words Without Borders: Sinan Antoon’s “A Butterfly in New York,” trans. Sinan Antoon