Libyan Novelist Ahmed Fagih, 76
Libyan novelist Ahmed Fagih (1942-2019), best-known for his twelve-volume historical epic Maps of the Soul, died Tuesday at a hospital in Cairo.
Najwa Binshatwan: It’s Time for Libyan Writers to Prove Themselves
“Often, readers tell me I should write about one subject or another, and I don’t like this sort of relationship, where readers approach the writer as though they’re a machine or a mythical creature.”
Poet Farrah Fray: ‘Libya as a Landscape is Disappearing’
“I began thinking about the sanctity of Arabic and the way it is used to justify certain ideologies or concepts which many Libyans don’t agree with. Gaddafi made Arabic Libya’s standard language, and with it not only marginalized Libya’s indigenous people but also justified a newly established regressive way of living.”
Friday Finds: Watch Two Talks About Cartoonists, in Egypt and Libya
In the last ten days, there have been two big talks about comics and cartoonists, one by Libyan poet-translator-media mogul-doctor-blogger Ghazi Gheblawi, in London, and the other by author-artist-scholar-blogger Jonathan Guyer at Harvard.
Libyan Writers in Danger Following Attacks on 2017 Collection, ‘Sun on Closed Windows’
Yesterday, PEN International issued a statement expressing they are “deeply concerned” for the authors’ safety.
5 Libyan Women Writers Re-shaping the Literary Landscape
“Libyan poet Fatima Mahmoud wrote such powerful things in the 70’s, at the height of Gaddafi’s suppression of the people. Everything she wrote still rings true today.”
Friday Finds: A Conversation with Libyan Novelist Najwa Benshatwan
“But my work came to the scrutiny of the Libyan authorities who tried to lure me to write about the regime and its ideology which I refused to do.”
Resist the Bans: Support Writers from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia, and Yemen
Do add your own suggestions.
Caine Prize 2017 Judges Include Libyan Writer Ghazi Gheblawi, Submissions Open
The five-story shortlist will be announced in mid-May, with the winner announced in London on July 3.
Books Inside Books: An Infinite History of Modern Libya
“To help me explore Hisham Matar’s The Return: Fathers, Sons, and the Land In Between (2016), I ordered a sneeze-inducing, water-stained copy of Knud Holmboe’s Desert Encounter: An Adventurous Journey Through Italian Africa (my copy was printed in 1937), re-read parts of Alessandro Spina’s Confines of the Shadow epic, and even, among other things, pulled Dante off the shelf.”
Asia Alfasi’ ‘Extraordinary Tales’: Bringing Together Libya, Scotland, and Manga
Translator Valentina Viene profiles “Muslim Libyan Arab British graphic novelist” Asia Alfasi, who has moved from writing about her identity to, more broadly, life in Libya and Scotland.
Yemenis, Eritreans, Libyans: Apply for ‘Culture in Defiance’ Grants
The Prince Claus Fund has announced that it’s accepting project proposals for its Cultural Defiance Fund from the Central African Republic, Eritrea, Libya, and Yemen.
