Launch of New Banipal: ‘Narrating Marrakech’

If you’re in London, Banipal will be launching issue 48, “Narrating Marrakech,” this Tuesday at the Kensington Central Library:

According to Banipal, the issue includes:

…enthralling voices from the “kingdom of the improbable, one where reality is creatively rewritten”, as Juan Goytisolo describes the city in his introduction to Marrakech: Open Secrets, the first text of the feature. We invite readers to partake in many sublime moments of the real and seemingly unreal through the writings of poets and authors from Marrakech: Yassin Adnan and Saad Sarhan, whose recent book Marrakech, Open Secrets, has been translated especially for this issue; the painter novelist Mahi Binebine, who never fails to captivate, and his new novel The Lord will reward you; Abu Youssef Taha brings a couple of black tales with a twist; Rajae Benchemsi writes of Bahia, the henna painter, and describes Marrakech as “a cosmic uterus”; Mohamed Nedali’s fascinating debut novel Prime Cuts: An Apprentice Butcher’s Life & Loves will at last be published in English; Anis Arafai gives readers three alternative short stories while Taha Adnan presents three scenarios on the lure of the East and “the winds of Westernization”.

The event will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the library’s Lecture Theatre, and is set to include readings and be followed by a reception.

The event, which is part of the Nour Festival of the Arts, is free, but attendees are encouraged to RSVP to nour@rbkc.gov.uk to ensure a place.