A New Life for Arabic Noir?
Oum Cartoon blogger Jonathan Guyer has a piece up at the Paris Review this week about “The Case of the Arabic Noirs.” In it, he argues that — in Egypt, at least — the crime novel might be coming back.
August 2014
Another Farewell: Samih al-Qasim’s Last Train
As translator and novelist Elliott Colla writes, Samih al-Qasim — who died on Tuesday — was identified primarily a poet. But he was also an essayist, a memoirist, and a letter-writer.
CairoBookStop: New Website Aims to Map Cairo’s Book Scene
A few weeks ago, Nancy Linthicum and Michele Henjum announced the launch of CairoBookStop, a site that aims to assist scholars, book lovers, book buyers, book makers, and book sellers, connecting people with books.
Beloved Palestinian Poet Samih al-Qasim Dies at 75
“I don’t like you, death
But I’m not afraid of you”
Mahfouz’s ‘Midaq Alley’: ‘I’m Not Even Sure I Should Be Reading Such Books’
Over at Mada Masr, Hadil Ghoneim has penned a fascinating short piece, trans. Amira Elmasry, about her impressions of US high school students reading and discussing Naguib Mahfouz’s classic “Midaq Alley.”
Read Fiction by University of Iowa’s 2014 IWP Residents from Egypt, Saudi, Sudan
The University of Iowa’s International Writing Program (IWP) residency — the world’s oldest and largest multinational writing residency — will host another thirty to thirty-five authors this year, among them Saudi author Abdullah al-Wesali, Sudanese writer Sabah Sanhouri, and Egyptian poet, novelist, and translator Ahmed Shafie.
‘War and Peace in Gaza and London,’ Coming in September
Gaza-based Theatre for Everybody and London-based Az Theatre are co-creating and co-producing “War and Peace in Gaza and London,” set for a Rich Mix debut at 4 p.m. on September 14.
At the Edinburgh Book Fest: Where Political Analysis Falls Apart, Literature Can Say Something
There are a number of events that focus on Arab and Arabic literatures at this year’s Edinburgh International Book Festival. Contributor Raphael Cormack attended two, and found that, “Where political analysis falls apart, literature and fiction can say something.”
Thus Far, 220 Reported Entries for New $200K Katara Novel Prize
The Peninsula Qatar reported on Thursday that the Katara Novel Prize — which seems to be Qatar’s answer to the International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF) and Sheikh Zayed Book Award — is moving forward. The prize committee announced Wednesday that they’d received 220 entries ahead of the October 31 deadline.