CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

ArabLit Quarterly: Bookshops

Hello friends,

For an upcoming issue of ArabLit Quarterly devoted to BOOKSHOPS, we’re looking for original fiction, essays, and poetry in Arabic that explore books, reading, and book spaces in their many forms. We’re also happy to consider work already written in English, as well as work we can commission or arrange to translate.

We offer a small honorarium to both authors and translators whose work is published in the issue.

The issue will be guest-edited by Salma Harland, a British-Egyptian literary translator and editor working between Arabic and English. Her translations and critical writing have appeared widely, including in ArabLit Quarterly, The Massachusetts Review, Modern Poetry in Translation, Words Without Borders, and Poetry London. She has also previously worked as an editor at ArabLit Quarterly.

Here’s the call, in Salma’s own words:

For an upcoming issue of ArabLit Quarterly on bookshops, we’re seeking original works and translations of contemporary Arabic fiction, essays, and poetry that explore books and book spaces: from reimagining bookshops and libraries as sites of sanctuary, memory, or exile; to reflecting on medieval libraries, warraqin (scribe-publishers), and the material book; to examining cultural spaces destroyed or displaced by war or conflict.

As Salma’s description suggests, we’re interested in a broad understanding of “bookshops” and book spaces: their physical and imagined worlds, their histories and afterlives, and the people, communities, memories, and losses that gather around them.

The deadline for final drafts is October 5.

To pitch a piece or submit a final draft, please email Salma Harland at salmaharland@gmail.com with the subject line:

ALQ: [Genre] – [Author, Title]

For pitches, please include a brief description of the proposed work. If you’re submitting an Arabic-language piece for translation, please indicate that in your email.

We look forward to reading your work!

Warmly,
Ibtihal Rida Mahmood
Managing Editor
ArabLit & ArabLit Quarterly