April 2015 Global Arab and Arabic Literary Events Calendar
Arab and Arabic literary events in some form of translation. Please append more below or email:
April 1
Naguib Mahfouz Reads from his Newly Released Novel (Rome, Italy)
“My House in Damascus: An Inside View of the Syrian Revolution” (London, England)
The launch of a new edition of My House in Damascus: An Inside View of the Syrian Revolution. Author Diana Darke will be in conversation with Zahed Taj-Eddin, as they will discuss the destruction of Syria’s historic monuments and sites. 7 p.m. at the Mosaic Rooms. More here.
Ali Bader, Inaam Kachachi and Samuel Shimon on “Celebrating Iraqi Culture: A Nation Shaped by Conflict” (Oxford, England)
Three prominent Iraqi authors discuss war and its effect on a nation’s cultural identity at the Oxford Literary Festival. 2 p.m. More here.
April 2
A Talk by Palestinian-Egyptian-American Novelist Randa Jarrar (Boston, USA)
The author of A Map of Home talks at Boston University. More here.
April 7
Twitter Chat with Nael Eltoukhy, Author of Women of Karantina (World)
6-8 p.m. Cairo time. More here.
April 9
Mizna & the Cedar present: Arab American Soundscapes (Minneapolis, USA)
Including poets Nathalie Handal, Hedy Habra, Philip Metres, and others. More here.
April 10
The City and the Writer: In Focus Minneapolis and Palestine, AWP (Minneapolis, USA)
Palestinian and Minneapolis-based Graywolf Press writers have a cross-city exchange, including Palestinian-American poet Nathalie Handal, Palestinian poet Najwan Darwish, translator Kareem James Abu-Zeid, and others. More here.
April 13
Book Launch & Discussion: “Baddawi”: A Graphic Novel by Leila Abdelrazaq (New York City, USA)
Palestinian-American author Leila Abdelrazaq’s discusses her debut graphic novel Baddawi, a look back at her family’s lives as refugees in Lebanon. More here.
April 14
“Reading the Way: A Translational Challenge” (London Book Fair, England)
Syrian children’s-book author Nadine Kaadan will join Arabic-English (and German-English, Russian-English) translator Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp and others to discuss the translation of accessible and inclusive books from around the world. More here.
“What Not To Translate” (London Book Fair, England)
From 1 – 2 p.m. at the fair’s Literary Translation Centre. Billed as “In a world where writers and free expression campaigners are still recovering from the attack at Charlie Hebdo, and where a perilous freelance income can be…” and featuring Arabic-English translator Alice Guthrie and others. More here.
Also: View the whole schedule of literary translation events at LBF 2015.
April 15
On North African literature: Pierre Joris & André Naffis-Sahely (New York City, USA)
Two translators of North African lit as part of the Bridge series. More here.
April 16
“Poetry & Pastry: an elegant soiree of Near Eastern & New York Poetry” (Cornell, USA)
For the launch of The City That Never Sleeps: Poems of New York, ed. Shawkat Toorawa; the event will feature poetry readings, including by much-acclaimed Egyptian poet Iman Mersal. More here.
April 18
Poetry Month Workshop with Alise Alousi (Detroit, USA)
According to organizers, “Workshop participants will learn about the different ways poetry is shared from oral storytelling traditions and spoken-word poetry to the earliest written examples and the printed broadsides that make up the Mutanabbi Street Starts Hereexhibition. We will discuss examples of contemporary and classical Arabic poetry and use them as a jumping off point for writing our own poems.”
Suitable for kids ages 6-12 accompanied by a parent. Free admission, but registration required. More here.
April 19
“Untold Stories” with Laila Lalami (Los Angeles, USA)
At the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. More here.
A Celebration of Kahlil Gibran (Dubai, UAE)
Nadim Sawalha is set to recite some of Gibran’s poetry and also discuss his play based on Gibran’s life, “Rest Upon the Wind.” Starts at 8 p.m., costs AED 30. More here.
April 20
Amara Lakhous on “Diversity and Suspicion in a Global World” (Newark, Delaware, USA)
From 5-6 p.m., in 127 Memorial Hall, Algerian-Italian crime novelist Amara Lakhous will speak about “Diversity and Suspicion in a Global World.” More here.
April 23
Naomi Shihab Nye at the Town Hall Theatre (Galway, Ireland)
April 25
A Corpus, Not a Canon: The Library of Arabic Literature (Oxford, England)
An all-day workshop convened by Marina Warner and Philip Kennedy, including Roger Allen, Marilyn Booth, Robyn Creswell, Selma Dabbagh, Humphrey Davies, Geert Jan Van Gelder, Ferial Ghazoul, Tim Macintosh-Smith, Abdelfattah Kilito, Shawkat Toorawa, Anna Dlla Subin, and too many more luminaries to list.
Free, but booking is essential. More here.
Fadi Zaghmout: In Conversation (Dubai, UAE)
The author of Bride of Amman and Paradise on Earth at the Dubai International Writers’ Centre. More here.
Poetry and Music from Iraq (Detroit, USA)
As part of Art X Detroit, Iraqi poet Dunya Mikhail will give a performance that includes poetry, songs, images, short film, and oud. With Alise Alousi, Hasan Hamid, Susie Ibarra, Nashwan Pola, and Jeannie Vanasco. More here.
April 29
Launch and Signing of Saud al-Sanoussi’s The Bamboo Stalk, trans. Jonathan Wright (London, England)
Starting at 6:30 p.m., Waterstones Piccadilly. More here.
Other calendars:
7iber’s calendar of events in Amman