Flash Fiction Questionnaire: With Laila Hashemi

For our forthcoming bilingual publication — which will feature the fifteen short stories shortlisted for the 2024 Arabic Flash Fiction Prize, co-produced by ArabLit and Komet Kashakeel — we made up our own sort of Proust questionnaire for the authors. In it, we’ve asked each of them the same 15 questions you’ll find below.

Excerpts from their answers will appear in the print collection, and they will also run in fuller versions online at ArabLit.

Syrian writer Laila Hashemi was a finalist for the 2024 prize with her story “Second-hand Life” (حياة مستعملة). This project is funded by the British Council’s Beyond Literature Borders programme corun by Speaking Volumes Live Literature Productions.

Tell us about an opening sentence you find particularly compelling, in any work of fiction.

Laila Hashemi: I love the openings of A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, the opening of Midaq Alley by Naguib Mahfouz, and the opening of Beirut Nightmares by Ghada Samman.

What author, living or dead,  would you like to have on WhatsApp?  

Laila Hashemi: The author Isabel Allende.

What advice on writing—that you were told, or perhaps read somewhere—do you find most useless, stupid, or ridiculous?

Laila Hashemi: It was about the importance of rewriting each sentence dozens and dozens of times until you reach the perfect text that satisfies you. In fact, there is no such thing as a completely perfect text. If we were to follow this advice, we’d find ourselves in an endless cycle of attempts. Clinging to the idea of ​​perfection can hinder creativity and limit the flow of ideas.

What advice on writing—that you were told or perhaps read somewhere—have you found most useful and nourishing?

Laila Hashemi: I once read a useful piece of advice that is still stuck in my memory, which was: Write about things you know well, about an environment you know, about events you know, about characters similar to those you encounter on the street every day.

When did you start writing? Do you remember anything about the first piece you ever wrote, or the place that you wrote it?

Laila Hashemi: I started writing when I was in elementary school, but it became clear I wanted to write when I filled a whole notebook with thoughts and poems influenced by news of the invasion of Iraq. It was the first time I read a text out loud in front of my family.

Tell us about one of the main places where you write. Is it at a desk, on a couch, in bed? At a coffeeshop? Secretly, while at work?

Laila Hashemi: I prefer to write while sitting on a sofa at home with tea beside me and soft music in the background.

 What is one poem you have memorized that you sometimes recite to yourself?

Laila Hashemi: I haven’t memorized them in full, but excerpts from “In Praise of the High Shadow” and “And We Love Life” by Mahmoud Darwish.

 If you were asked to design a bookshop near your home, what would you make sure it had? Comfortable chairs? A hidden nook for reading? Coffee and tea? Something else?

Laila Hashemi: I’d make sure the store has very comfortable seats—velvet sofas in gentle tones, such as pink, turquoise, and green, and maybe some chairs staged in a circle, to fill the reader with a sense that they’re being gently embraced. There will also be a reading corner, dedicated to those looking for moments of solitude and complete immersion in their book, with gentle natural lighting.

Plus, there must be a corner dedicated to drinks and sweets, with colors and details that whet the appetite, such as fancy decorated plates and flowered napkins, with the addition of a corner with pens and notebooks that have multicolored covers, so that each visitor has the opportunity to write down his feelings or thoughts after reading a book or recalling an idea or snippet of memory.

If you were going to write using a pen name or pseudonym, what would it be?

Laila Hashemi: I tried writing under a pseudonym many years ago, but I didn’t feel comfortable with it, so I chose to continue writing under my real name.

Where do you find new stories that you enjoy reading? Do you find them in magazines, online, from particular publishers? How do you discover new writing?

Laila Hashemi: I like discovering new books through all sorts of ways, but maybe what helps me most is following the social media accounts of publishing houses, writers, and bibliophiles. I like to keep up with updates on new releases, and I write down the names of the books that pique my curiosity in a special list of my own, so that I can return to them later and decide what I’ll search for in print or digitally. This follow-up allows me to stay close to everything new, and gives me the opportunity to explore different literary styles and recent releases that sometimes come with innovative subject matter or new narrative methods that draw me in. I also use Goodreads, since this website is my gateway to finding recommendations and opinions from readers all around the world, which lets me tap into a great diversity of ideas and points of view about books. I really enjoy readers’ reviews because they often illuminate new aspects of the book for me, or push me to discover a book that I might not have thought about before.

What is your favorite under-appreciated short-story collection?

Laila Hashemi: I recently read several collections of short stories that I really liked, including Do You Know by Rawa’a Sunbol, and Nobody Mourns the City’s Cats by Muhammad El-Hajj.

Did you have a favorite book, story, or poem as a child or teen? What has its impact on you been?

Laila Hashemi: When I was really young, I particulary enjoyed the beloved tales in the Ladybird series, with its beautifully drawn illustatrations and sweet international stories. Even before I learned to read, my mom would read them out loud to me. Later, at about the age of nine, I came across an adventure novel for children called The Vasyukivka Bullfighters.* It was the first book with a large number of pages that I read alone and I loved it. It was an introduction that made me love reading as a fun activity and not just as homework, study, or boring practice.

*This book is by Ukranian children’s-book author Vsevolod Nestayko.

If you could change one thing about how publishing works, what would it be?

Laila Hashemi: If I could change one thing in the publishing industry, I would focus on strengthening the relationship between publishing houses and emerging writers, because I believe that there are young creative energies that need a supportive platform to showcase their work. I would work on developing programs that aim to embrace new writers and introduce them to the public in the right way, with training and mentoring guidance that helps them formulate their ideas and develop their skills, in addition to providing continuous communication about opportunities with publishers.

I would also develop more serious marketing plans that put the book and the author at the heart of the strategy, so that marketing is not limited just to big books, but rather addresses new writing with real passion, through plans that introduce readers to all that’s new in a way that suits our current era.

Also, I’d focus on translating Arabic literature into other languages, because Arabic literature carries a special voice and a distinctive culture. I’d encourage the launch of programs that promote translations and highlight high-quality Arabic works. This would include organizing international literary exhibitions and workshops between writers and translators.

Laila Hashemi is a Syrian writer who studied translation and tourism. Her published works include Cold Lava (2019) and Escape in Four Tickets (2022), both published by Arab Scientific Publishers Inc.