TODAY: The Englishing of Hisham Bustani’s ‘Monotonous Chaos’

Later today, ArabLit hosts author Hisham Bustani, translator maia tabet, publisher Michael B. Tager, and scholar Pete Moore talk translation, its politics, and more.

About this event

Employing a variety of different genres, the stories in Hisham Bustani’s The Monotonous Chaos of Existence — translated by maia tabet — explore the transformations in contemporary Jordan, the Levant, and the wider world. 

At this launch event, we’ll talk about Hisham Bustani’s second short-story collection in English translation, The Monotonous Chaos of Existence, the different ways his work is received in English and Arabic, the challenges of translation & of editing translations, the nitty-gritty of publishing multi-genre work, and the intersection of Jordanian literature, politics, and society.

Hisham Bustani is an award-winning Jordanian author of five collections of short fiction and poetry. His most recent book, the Monotonous Chaos of Existence, was published by Mason Press in January.

Pete Moore is currently the Visit Kuwait Chair at the Paris School of International Studies, Sciences Po, Paris. He currently serves on the Editorial Committee of the Middle East Report and is a member of the Northeast Ohio Consortium for Middle East Studies.

Marcia Lynx Qualey is the founding editor of ArabLit & ArabLit Quarterly, and co-host of the BULAQ podcast. 

maia tabet is an Arabic-English literary translator based in Washington DC, where she is the associate editor of the Journal of Palestine Studies. She is the translator of Hisham Bustani’s the Monotonous Chaos of Existence.

Michael B. Tager is the Managing Editor of Mason Jar Press. A writer and editor, his work has appeared places and can be found through his website.

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Join the event later today at: https://youtube.com/c/arablitquarterly.