Ten acclaimed, popular, and up-and-coming Arab authors give their favorites of 2015:
Yasser Abdel Latif
Egyptian poet, short-story writer, screenwriter, and novelist Yasser Abdel Latif was born in 1969.
The year’s best collection of poems was Eleven Dogs, by the poet Ibrahim Elsayed. It took him about eight years to complete, since he issued his first, and out of it came this amazing picture.
The best translated book is Berlin Childhood by German philosopher and critic Walter Benjamin. It’s been transferred from the German to the Arabic by Egyptian storyteller Ahmed Farouk, who has created a beautiful translation that’s a real addition to Arabic literature.
READ: You can find poems from Eleven Dogs, in translation, on Qisasukhra. You can also read a translated excerpt of Otared on Mada Masr. Both by the excellent Robin Moger.
Hisham Bustani
Hisham Bustani is the author of the University of Arkansas Translation Award-winning The Perception of Meaning.
Since the literary writer should continuously expand their scope of reading and knowledge in order to improve their artistic tools and expand their conception of the world, I have chosen for this year’s list one book of short fiction, one of science, and one of political economy.
Fiction: Abderrazak Boukebba, Death Shroud, Dar al-Ain, 2015.
In contrast to the disappointing quality that has become rampant in the realm of the novel, the short story has evolved to become the artistic representative of Arabic prose. Boukebba’s Death Shroud joins a list of exceptional works of short fiction whose writers are continuously developing their literary tools and maintaining their conceptual courage in stepping outside the traditional story structure and continue the process of “inventing” its form.
Science: Stefano Mancuso and Alessandra Viola, Brilliant Green: The Surprising History and Science of Plant Intelligence, Translated by Joan Benham, Island Press, 2015.
I have long been an avid reader of biology, physics, and cosmology; but this book (although much simplified for the common reader) opens yet another perspective on how one perceives life, the planet, and the interaction of its components. Not only do plants have a larger number of senses than most animals (including humans), they are also quite intelligent with effective communication tools; reproductive, symbiotic, and predatory schemes; plus a networked decision-making center. Brilliant Green transforms the way we look at the world of plants, and, as follows, the world.
Political economy: Ali Kadri, Arab Development Denied: Dynamics of Accumulation by Wars of Encroachment, Anthem Press, 2015.
Why did the Arab Spring fail? Why are Arab post-colonial states a failure? Why do we still have oppressive regimes and continuous wars in the Arab World? This ambitious book sets out to answer these questions by proving that development has been purposely-stopped in the Arab region and replaced by a process of de-development that is profitable for both local regimes and their Western principals. The book also describes how war in this region has become an end in itself rather than a means: through a process of continuous war, global capitalism and its local agents accumulate profit.
Nael Eltoukhy
Nael Eltoukhy’s most popular novels have been his 2006 (2009) and Women of Karantina (2013). At least one commentator has already foreseen a future Nobel for Eltoukhy, and he was longlisted this year for the first-ever Financial Times ‘Emerging Voices’ Prize, alongside Elias Khoury. His Women of Karantina is available in vivid, fun translation from Robin Moger (2015).
Tareq Imam
The best novel published in 2015, in my opinion, is The Black Battalion by the novelist Mohammed Mansi Qandil (Dar El Shorouk, Cairo), which centers on a 19th-century historical incident wherein a battalion of Sudanese soldiers is sent to Mexico to fight on the side of France in the era of Sa’id Pasha.
George Ritzer’s Globalization is the best book translated to Arabic in 2015. The author is an American thinker, and his book was released by the National Center for Translation. This book gives a holistic vision of what has bocame of globalization in the world today, from the angle of cultural criticism.
Zubaydah and the Monster is an anthology of stories of great writer Saeed Kafrawi.
The stories in Ghost Kite, by Hisham Aslan, are in my opinion the best stories in 2015, and also one of the best collections of short stories I’ve read over the years. The great little stories of the collection form, in the end, a large mural.
Mohammed Abdelnaby
Otared, by Mohamed Rabie.
Collected Prose Poems, Russell Edson, translated by Ahmed Shafie.
The Complete Works of the late great writer Edwar Kharrat.
READ: You can read a translated excerpt of Otared on Mada Masr. By the excellent Robin Moger. You can also read “5 by and about Edwar Kharrat,” who passed away earlier this month.
Hilal Chouman
The Dark Side of Love, by Rafik al-Shami: This is the Arabic translation of the massive novel published in German in 2004, and the publication of the Arabic translation now acquires additional meanings given the current Syrian war. It’s a wonderful mosaic of love stories that ebb and flow in time, along with the rhythm of the rivalry between two families.
I Am Better, by David Foenkinos: The Arabic translation of this novel (from the French) is not optimal and has some gaps from the moral and religious provisions of the translator and publisher, but all this doesn’t obscure the novel’s exquisite discussion of physical pain as a director on the path to self-discovery and solutions in French contemporary life.
A Very Old Friend, by Ibrahim Aslan: This is the last book by Ibrahim Aslan, which was published posthumously, and its beauty accumulates page by page.
Revenge, by Yoko Ogawa: This chapters in this book at first look stand-alone, and closer to the short stories, but soon the reader discovers that everything is interconnected. These stories of revenge draw a different picture from the Japanese streets that we think are all built so well. Despite the chapters’ links to each other, they remain fragile, just like the small reprisals — which go as far as torture and murder — in each chapter.
Moving Your Heart – Hassan Daoud
This is a novel about the city and what changes when the population fails to communicate.
READ: Daoud won this year’s Naguib Mahfouz Medal for his previous novel, No Road to Paradise.
Mohamed Rabie
Personal Conversation, a short-story collection by Badr El-Dib
Blue Light, Hussein al-Barghouti
Zone, by Mathias Énard, transated by Mary Tuq
Cain, by José Saramago, translated by Saleh Almani
READ: You can read some of al-Barghouti’s poems in translation on Jadaliyya.
Salim Allawzi
Allawzi is a Lebanese novelist and journalist, born in the city of Tripoli, Northern Lebanon. His novels Colorful Slaughters and Behind Darkness were published in 2011 and 2014 respectively.
American Neighborhood, by Jabbour Douaihy
About the Stars and Other Stories, by William Faulkner
Strands of Sa’ada, by Marwan Al-Ghafouri
READ: A review of Douaihy’s American Neighborhood.
Lina Nabulsi
Lina Nabulsi is a Palestinian writer. Her first book, Mama Expired, was published in 2009. Two more followed: Long Live the Republic of My Heart (2012) and Chocolate Planet (2014).
Rhythm, by Wagdy al-Komi
Grandma Hessa’s Mice, by Saud Alsanousi
Tashari, by Inaam Kachachi
Absence, by Mohammad Abdelqawi Meselhi
Beneath the Feet of Mothers, by Buthaina al-‘Issa
READ: An interview with al-Komi on Daily News Egypt.
Fadi Zaghmout
Willow Trees Don’t Weep, by Fadia Faqir
Virgins of Londonstan, by Hanan Al Shaykh
Edge of Eternity, by Ken Follet
READ: A review of Virgins of Londonstan.
Also, from Ursula Lindsay at Al Fanar: Recommended 2015 Books From and About the Arab World