Forthcoming April 2024: Palestinian Prison Literature, Queer Refugees, Bedouin Poetry, & More

This list may not be complete; if you have something to add, please put it in the comments or email us at info@arablit.org.

The Screams of War: Selected Poems, by Akram Alkatreb, tr. Jonas Elbousty (Seagull Books)

From the publisher:

‘Those who believe in the currency of patience / Were burned out in the alleyway.’

The Screams of War is a visceral collection of poems that confront the realities of contemporary Syria. Akram Alkatreb’s verses capture the sense of the quotidian during war. His words, mere ‘murmurs engraved on stones’, long for and despair over an irrevocable past. At the heart of Alkatreb’s work lies a preoccupation with trauma and the profound burden of alienation that accompanies exile. Nascent memories are shrouded by the ‘scars of sleep’, and words find themselves nostalgic for destruction. The ubiquity of violence that Alkatreb channels into his poetry does not tolerate enclaves of innocence. The Screams of Waris an unforgettable testament to the resilience of the human spirit and a stark reminder of the harsh realities faced by those trapped in conflict.

The Tale of a Wall, by Nasser Abu Srour, tr. Luke Leafgren (Other Press)

From the publisher:

THE TALE OF A WALL  is a history book, an autobiography, a documentary, a love story, and a cry for justice written in flowing prose and modern poetry. It is written in two parts: the first is a rapid documentation of the early life of the author’s father, forced out from his village and settled in what has become the Aida refugee camp, where he ultimately established a large family. The second part documents how, upon becoming a teenager in the time of the First Intifada, the author testifies he was captured, tortured, and forced to confess, after which he was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. In his voyage through the many prisons of the occupation, he developed an existential strategy of resistance, establishing a center of gravity to be attracted to and converse with at the end of each day: the “Wall,” the prison wall. Through these philosophical dialogues he documents the political events that led to the fracturing of Palestinian society and its resistance, and the depressing effect of that on the incarcerated. As each year brings with it new waves of releases of prisoners, he dares to hope, and seeks refuge in the wall when these hopes are dashed. And, in a small miracle, he finds love with a lawyer from the outside – while in her absence, the wall is his solace and his curse.  This is the story of how, over thirty years in captivity, he crafted a new definition of freedom. Turning to writings by philosophers as varied as Derrida, Kirkegaard and Freud, he begins to let go of freedom as a question that demanded an answer, in order to preserve it as a dream. The wall becomes his stable point of reference, his anchor, both physically and psychologically.

The profile of this highly anticipated prison memoir has risen considerably following the interest it generated with Other Press Publisher Judith Gurewich’s support of it at the last Frankfurt Book Fair, including a conversation she participated in at the Fair entitled, ”The Transmission of Trauma: Publishing Voices from Israel and Palestine”, and recent podcasts conducted to shed light on Nasser’s story, including this one featured on “Speaking out of Place” with Gurewich and THE TALE OF A WALL translator Luke Leafgren: A Palestinian Prisoner’s Devastating Memoir: A Conversation with Its Publisher and Translator | Speaking Out OF Place. Gurewich traveled to visit Nasser Abu Srour in prison and she is committed to this publishing project and its significance in granting a voice to the voiceless. A testimony of how the most difficult of circumstances can build a person up instead of tearing them down, THE TALE OF A WALL  is an extraordinary record of the vast confinement and power of the mind.  Composed in a style that evokes the existential angst of Sartre combined with the poetry of Mahmoud Darwish, THE TALE OF A WALL  brings this powerful Palestinian voice to English readers for the first time.”

Selamlik, by Khaled Alesmael, tr. Leri Price (World Editions)

From the publisher:

Furat, a Syrian in his early 20s, visits Sibki Park in Damascus, which serves as a gathering place for gay men from all over the city. He learns about the Hammams, secret meeting places for gays located throughout the old city. Inside these public baths, the air is thick with the scent of bay laurel soap, and naked men hide in the steam. Despite society, religion and regime disapproval, Furat finds the love he seeks just before being forced to flee as his world changes. Later on, Furat wakes up in a cold sweat at an asylum in the Swedish forest recalling a terrifying dream in which he was blindfolded and bound. Having seen the horrific clips of what extremists do to gays circulating on the internet, he begins to write about his experience while locked in the toilet. This is the story of Furat’s journey, along with that of other refugees, as they struggle against physical and economic challenges, migration laws, and deep-seated fears of loss, shame, and hatred. However, amid these difficulties also lie moments of passion and pleasure. Despite everything, Furat remains steadfast in his pursuit of love.

You can also read an excerpt on the World Editions website.

The Book Censor’s Library, by Bothayna Al-Essa, tr. Ranya Abdelrahman and Sawad Hussain (Restless Books)

From the publisher:

A perilous and fantastical satire of banned books, secret archives, and the looming eye of an all-powerful government.

The new book censor hasn’t slept soundly in weeks. By day he combs through manuscripts at a government office, looking for anything that would make a book unfit to publish―allusions to queerness, unapproved religions, any mention of life before the Revolution. By night the characters of literary classics crowd his dreams, and pilfered novels pile up in the house he shares with his wife and daughter. As the siren song of forbidden reading continues to beckon, he descends into a netherworld of resistance fighters, undercover booksellers, and outlaw librarians trying to save their history and culture.

Reckoning with the global threat to free speech and the bleak future it all but guarantees, Bothayna Al-Essa marries the steely dystopia of Orwell’s 1984 with the madcap absurdity of Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, resulting in a dreadful twist worthy of Kafka. The Book Censor’s Library is a warning call and a love letter to stories and the delicious act of losing oneself in them.

Bedouin Poets of the Nafud Desert, by Khalaf Abū Zwayyid, ʿAdwān al-Hirbīd and ʿAjlān ibn Rmāl, edited and translated by Marcel Kurpershoek (Library of Arabic Literature)

From the publisher: