Coming Early 2020: ‘Granta’ Anthology in Arabic

After some initial confusion that followed a submissions call that appeared on Facebook, Granta editor Sigrid Rausing clarified Monday that the literary magazine, founded in 1889, will publish “an anthology of short fiction by Palestinian writers in partnership” with Mahmoud Muna of the Educational Bookshop in Jerusalem:

The magazine is set to be edited by Haifa-based writer Eyad Barghouthy.

The call for submissions, which included a quote from Kahil Gibran (1883-1931), initially struck a few writers and editors as odd. The poem quoted, Gibran’s “My Friend,” is translated to Arabic from the English and begins: “My friend, I am not what I seem.  Seeming is but a garment I wear—a care-woven garment that protects me from thy questionings and thee from my negligence.”

The announcement from Granta is slightly modified from the call for submissions at right, which invites short stories, literary texts, and poems for a first Arabic edition. The Granta announcement refers to a one-time anthology of short fiction by Palestinian writers, to be published by Muna and edited by Eyad Barghouthy.

From the announcement:

Eyad Barghouthy was born and raised in Nazareth. He currently resides in Haifa, where he has recently established Dar Laila publishing and translations after managing the Arab Culture Association in Haifa for five years. He specializes in editing and translation, especially short stories, children’s books and comics. Barghouthy graduated with a B.A. from Tel Aviv University in Sociology and Political Science, and an MA from Haifa University in Non-profit Organisation Management. He has published the novel Burdaqaneh (An Orange), as well as two short story collections: Bayn Al-Buyout (Between the Houses), which was awarded the Young Writer Award by the A.M. Qattan Foundation, and Nudouj (Maturity). His story “Al Sama’a” (The Headset) won the Sea of Words short story competition, sponsored by the Anna Lindh Foundation and the European Institute of the Mediterranean. He has also written four plays and a script for a short film.

There are currently nine international editions of Granta, including one in Chinese and one in Hebrew. The international editions feature both translations from the English-language Granta as well as original content.