Lit & Found: A Conversation About the Present and Future of Arabic Children’s Lit

Over at Words Without Borders, ArabLit’s M Lynx Qualey talks with publisher Salwa Shakhshir of Dar Salwa, author and book activist Miranda Beshara, and author and disability-rights trainer Mohamed Nabulsi about the present and future of Arabic literature for young readers.

Each shares their views on the positives, challenges, and opportunities in the current landscape of writing for young readers in Arabic.

Shakhshir talks about how the publishing industry has become aware of the “importance of digital publishing and having content accessible online,” Beshara talks about new efforts to publish in colloquial Arabics, while Nabulsi laments “low level of freedom of expression and choice of topics, as we are still not writing about emotional and sexual relationships among teens, and the accompanying new concepts of freedoms and sexual identities” and gives his suggestions for the future of Arabic children’s lit.

Read the whole interview at Words Without Borders.