Join this interview with translator Kareem James Abu-Zeid about his translations of Rabee Jaber’s novel Confessions and poet Najwan Darwish’s collection Exhausted on the Cross as part of the afikra Book Club series.
“In its direct, stripped-back lines, the collection demonstrates both the limits and the necessity of language, inviting us to ask, together, how we can move through and beyond suffering.”
We discuss the current situation in Lebanon and literature that looks at the worlds beneath our feet.
“But there are also books that find the holes and — at least sometimes, for some readers — patch us up.”
What Arab and Arabic literature has been translated to German? We have started a list.
“It is Jaber’s Confessions, which is in sensuous, tactile translation by Abu-Zeid.”
The other winners were Martin Pousson, for Black Sheep Boy, in fiction; Paul Kalanithi, for When Breath Becomes Air, in creative nonfiction; Elizabeth Letts, for The Perfect Horse, in research nonfiction; Solmaz Sharif, for Look, in poetry; Stacey Lee, for Outrun the Moon, in young adult; Eli Saslow, for “The White Flight of Derek Black,” in journalism; and Lisa Loomer, for Roe, in drama.
“Usefully, the Banipal list is not just a list, but also includes brief introductions to both the works and their authors, as well as some contextualization.”
While you’re on your way to the polls — or as you wait for results, or as you assiduously ignore what’s going on in the US — catch up on any Bulaqs you might have missed.
