January 2014: Arab and Arabic Literary Events Around the World

Better late than never: ArabLit starts a global events calendar. Please post your suggestions below or send a message here. And if you hate the way it looks, as I do, please suggest a new format.

calendar clipartAll of January

Crowdfunding campaign: “Help Rebuild Lebanon’s Torched Library And Restore 10,000s of Lost Ancient Books” (Worldwide)

More about the crowdfunding campaign. More about the burning of Al-Saeh Library.

January 7

International Prize for Arabic Fiction Releases Longlist (Worldwide)

See it here.

Sawiris Prizes Announced (Cairo)

Winners here.

January 9

Forthcoming Poetry and Prose from Iraq, Palestine, and Lebanon (San Francisco)

In San Franscisco, translator Kareem James Abu-Zeid reads from three forthcoming books, by Najwan Darwish, Dunya Mikhail, and Rabee Jaber. More about the event.

January 15

Launch of Gaza Writes Back (London)

At 7 pm in the P21 Gallery, 21 Chalton St., London NW1 1JD. More about the event. More about the collection.

First MoMa Screening of Palestinian Poet Annemarie Jacir’s “When I Saw You” (New York City)

More about the event and other screenings. 

January 16

Banipal Book Club Reads Vertigo (London)

From 6:30 to 9 p.m. atThe Arab British Centre, 1 Gough Square, EC4A 3DE. More on the event.

January 17-18

Writers Unlimited: Winternachten Festival Den Haag (The Hague)

Syrian novelist Nihad Sirees and Egyptian novelist Miral al-Tahawy will appear on Jan 17. The French-Lebanese writer Amin Maalouf, the festival’s guest of honour, will deliver the Winternachten Lecture on Jan 18. More about the events.

January 18

Launch of Rowayat Journal (Cairo)

Rowayat is a new literary journal, featuring both emerging and established writers – Egyptian and international – but all with a focus or inspiration from Egypt. Their launch party is set for Saturday Jan 18 at Diwan Bookstore Maadi from 3pm to 5.30pm. More about the magazine. More about the event.

January 20

Application Deadline for British Council Grants to Syrian Artists (Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, or Iraq)

Grantees are eligible for £1000 to £3000, and must be Syrian citizens living in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, or Iraq. More about the grant and applications here.

January 22

Opening of the Cairo International Book Fair (Cairo)

The fair is set to open as usual, with Kuwait as the guest of honor. More about the fair.

Opening Night of Theatrical Version of Khaled al-Khamissi’s Taxi (Cairo)

Brian Farish, Rewan El-Ghaba, and Kevin Dean, and Yasmin Galal are the core of The Thousand Tongues, a new Cairo-based theatre company that will be staging a theatrical version of Khaled al-Khamissi’s Taxi. The production, which will run alternately in Arabic and English, will open at a new performance space, VENT, on January 22. More about the event.

Al-Mutanabbi Street Project Panel Discussion (London)

Join Alan Ingram at the Mosaic Rooms as he chairs a discussion about the Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here project with two of the projects contributing artists, Catherine Cartwright and Mona Kriegler, alongside other special guests. More about the event.  More about the project.

January 23

Book Launch: ‘The Storyteller of Jerusalem’ (London)

On January 23 at the Mosaic Rooms, translator Dr. Nada Elzeer, publisyher Michel Moushabeck, and author of the book’s forward, Rachel Beckles Willson, will come together to launch The Storyteller of Jerusalem: The Life and Times of Wasif Jawhariyyeh, 1904-1948. More about the event.

January 24-25

Translating in/Justice (Marrakech)

Translating in/Justice is the second in a series of three symposia on “Artistic Justice: Positions on the Place of Justice in Art.” It’s set to take place in Marrakech and is curated by Dar al-Ma’mûn co-director Omar Berrada. More about the events.

January 27

K-12 Educators: Global Lit Online Book Group to Discuss Mahfouz’s ‘Autumn Quail’ (Worldwide)

From 7–8 p.m. EST, Harvard’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies will host a discussion of Autumn Quail with scholar Sami Alkyam. More about the event here.

January 28

A Talk with Hyam Yared (Brussels)

Lebanese writer Hyam Yared, one of the “Beirut39” and one of the prominent voices on the Lebanese literary scene, talks with Hadja Lahbib about living and working in a time of war. More on the event.

January 29

Arabic Literature in Italian, Italian Literature in Arabic (Rome)
Chiara Comito will be hosting the presentation of two translations into Arabic by the contemporary Italian writer Niccolò Ammaniti.
The two novels (Me and You; I am not afraid) have been co-edited by Italian publisher e/o and Cairo-based publisher Baad el-Bahr, run by Stefania Angarano.  Comito will be talking together with blogger and Arabic literature expert Rabii El Gamrani about the Italian lit published in Arabic, Arabic lit published in Italian, translations and related issues. More on the event.

January 30

Panel Discussion About the New Baghdad Library (London)

The Mosaic Rooms are hosting the architects of AMBS, who will be joined by cultural figureheads to discuss the new designs for the planned library in Baghdad. More about the event. More about plans for the new Baghdad library.

January 31

Fady Joudah at the 2014 Boston University Lecture Series in Literary Translation (Boston)

Most Friday afternoons from 1-3 p.m., Boston University will be hosting a series on literary translation with luminaries like Joudah, Sinan Antoon (Feb 28), Ammiel Alcalay (March 21), and Susan Bernofsky (April 4). More on the events.