An All-ages Literary Holiday Gift Guide
For gastrophiles and literary gourmands
Reading and recipes
Dates: A Global History, by ArabLit Quarterly contributor Nawal Nasrallah. Could go with “MAGICdATES” from the Karam Foundation, or other packaged dates.
Casablanca: My Moroccan Food by Nargisse Benkabbou. Could go with dishware from Fes.
Reading and recipes, if money is no object
Best of Delectable Foods and Dishes from al-Andalus and al-Maghrib: A Cookbook by Thirteenth-Century Andalusi Scholar Ibn Razīn al-Tujībī (1227–1293), ed. and tr. ArabLit Quarterly’s Nawal Nasrallah
Dishware and food items
Hand-painted Khalili dishes from Watan.
A holiday gift set from Z&Z, with their za’atar, sumac, dead sea salt, and Aleppo Pepper.
Find ALQ-inspired mugs at our RedBubble store.
Prints and posters
Prints, posters, and more from Watan (US-based)
Art prints and comix from Maamoul Press (US-based)
Broadsides and prints from Mizna (US-based)
Joumana Medlej’s shop “Majnouna” — order before December 1, when the shop will close down, reopening late January 2022. (UK-based)
Esra Elhamal’s “Islamic Illumination” shop (UK-based)
Folk-inspired art by Ahmed Alrefaie, cover artist from Winter 2021 FOLK issue (Kuwait-based)
Art (and more) from the ArabLit Quarterly shop on RedBubble
For the hodophile and literary traveler
The Book of Travels, by Hanna Diyab, ed. Johannes Stephan, tr. Elias Muhanna. A spellbinding eighteenth-century journey by the man who gifted us Aladdin and other tales.
The Annotated Arabian Nights, translated by Yasmine Seale.
Embroidered travel and laundry bags from the Karam Foundation
Children
Books
Arab Fairy Tale Feasts: A Literary Cookbook, by Karim Alrawi, ill. Nahid Kazemi. Ages 8-13. English.
Alya and the Three Cats, by Amina Hachimi Alaoui, illustrated by Maya Fidawi (cover artist for our CATS issue), tr. Mehdi Retnani. Ages 3-5. English.
أخ خ خ, A funny story of a forgetful girl who leaves the house and, “akh,” there’s another thing she forgot. Written by Manar Hazza and illustrated by Soheila Khaled, who made the illustrated recipe for our FOOD issue. Ages 3-8. Arabic.
A pre-order of Where Butterflies Fill the Sky, by Zahra Marwan (artist behind the comix art in our SONG issue). Ages 4-8. English.
A subscription box to ArabiKids. Arabic.
Stickers
Fun folk-art stickers from Ahmed Alefaie
Phone cases
For musicians and literary melophiles
Books and magazines
The SONG issue of ArabLit Quarterly, ed. Karim Zidan
Midnight in Cairo: The Divas of Egypt’s Roaring ’20s, by Raphael Cormack. A joyous historical journey.
Tote bags
A “sing and ascend” literary tote, with our from our SONG issue
Jewelry and art
Oud art from the “Kushajim” feature in the SONG issue of ArabLit Quarterly
Umm Kulthum art from the SONG issue of ArabLit Quarterly
Hand-painted wearable art from Sound of Mazzika
Albums
The “ghostly, feverish, magical” album “Medieval Femme,” by Fatima Al Qadiri, inspired by classic poems by Arab women
For literary football fans
The fall 2021 FOOTBALL issue of ArabLit Quarterly
For cat-lovers
The CATS issue of ArabLit Quarterly
Discounts we’ve spotted
The SAQI CHRISTMAS SALE is offering 50% off all books. Use MERRY21 at checkout on http://saqibooks.com. Discount is valid until November 28, 2021.
November 25, 2021 @ 3:28 pm
A thousand shukrans for the tips! Salaams and love to filfil!