Hoopoe Fiction: Read Excerpts of the First Ten Titles

My apologies; WordPress has now twice published drafts and sent out emails to subscribers. In any case, here we are again: Hoopoe Fiction — a new imprint of American University in Cairo Press — has launched their website, on which they feature significant extracts of their first ten titles:

A Rare Blue Bird Flies with Me

Youssef Fadel
Translated by Jonathan Smolin

Read the extract, which opens, “A MAN I DON’T KNOW is standing in front of the bar. He acts as if he wants to tell me something, but I ignore him. I prefer to ignore what goes on in men’s minds.”

Also read reviews on ArabLit (of the Arabic).

The Televangelist

Ibrahim Essa
Translated by Jonathan Wright

Read the extract, which opens, “THE MAKEUP ARTIST dabbed powder on Sheikh Hatem’s forehead with the fnesse of a professional.”

Also read reviews in The National and The Complete Review.

Whitefly

Abdelilah Hamdouchi
Translated by Jonathan Smolin

Read the extract, which begins, “THE RAIN LET UP around three o’clock. Detective Laafrit of the Criminal Investigations Unit approached his third-floor office window and looked out over the boulevard.”

Also read reviews in The National and The Complete Review.

A Time of White Horses

Ibrahim Nasrallah
Translated by Nancy Roberts

Read the extract, which begins, “A PERFECT MIRACLE HAD TAKEN on flesh. . . . Under the mulberry tree in front of the guesthouse, Hajj Mahmud was sitting with his son Khaled and a number of men from the village, when suddenly they saw a cloud of dust approaching in the distance.”

Also read reviews on Your Middle East and Banipal 45.

This is a reprint of an AUC Press title.

The Longing of the Dervish

Hammour Ziada
Translated by Jonathan Wright

Read the extract, which begins, “As soon as the shackles were off his legs, Bakhit Mandil jumped to his feet.”

Also read a review on Ahram Online (of the Arabic).

No Knives in the Kitchens of This City

Khaled Khalifa
Translated by Leri Price

Read the extract, which begins, “She left her scribbled notes on the table for days, and we paid them no more attention than we had to the others.”

Also read a tribute to No Knives (Arabic edition) on ArabLit.

Otared

Mohammad Rabie
Translated by Robin Moger

Read the extract, which begins, “I was approached by a young man smelling of soap—he seemed to me to have just had a bath and shaved—and gripping a long-barreled shotgun of local manufacture in his two clean hands.”

Also read another extract at Mada Masr and an interview with Rabie on ArabLit.

A Beautiful White Cat Walks with Me

Youssef Fadel
Translated by Alexander Elinson

Read the extract, which begins, “Today I began to execute my plan.”

The Final Bet

Abdelilah Hamdouchi
Translated by Jonathan Smolin

Read the extract, which begins, “Alwaar stopped his Fiat Uno directly in front of the police car opposite the villa gate.”

Also read reviews on The New Internationalist and The Complete Review.

This is a reprint of an AUC Press title.

The Time-Travels of the Man Who Sold Pickles and Sweets

Khairy Shalaby
Translated by Michael Cooperson

Read the extract, which begins, “I had ended up in the wrong time.”

Also read a review on The Complete Review and a Q&A with translator Michael Cooperson about the book on ArabLit.

This is a reprint of an AUC Press title.