“When we talk about creating platforms for writers that have been traditionally marginalized, it’s not just about identity and representation, it’s about making space for kinds of storytelling outside a narrow norm.”
“The last thing I need is that people read me because my book is forbidden. I need people to read it because they want to read it.”
“With the course’s title, I’ve offered students three huge categories that can be endlessly debated. On our first day of class, I put “Arab,” “Literary,” and “Travel” up on separate sections of the board.”
“We primarily are looking for translations from Arabic to English, but also accept translations from English to Arabic. Please provide both versions when submitting.”
“But let me explain something about the term ‘The Lebs’ and how it’s used in Australia. This term was created to depict a group of young people from different ethnic groups who walk, dress, and speak Arabic or English in a particular way. They can be Jordanian, Iraqi, Lebanese, even Malaysian.”
Your ‘burning patience’ extinguished now
you sneak back like daylight, slipping through alleyways
through front doors of houses, left ajar
closed at night, a dwelling goes down, like a rock.
“I’m as surprised as you are! There’s more interest in Vietnamese matters in the States now, so perhaps in a generation or so, Americans might be more willing to look at Iraq away from the blunders of the past.”
“Could Younis accomplish his mission successfully if he was just as delusional as our good old Quixote? We can no longer tell tragedy from farce.”
English translations of two of the shortlisted books are already forthcoming: Shahad al-Rawi’s The Baghdad Clock is set to appear this summer from OneWorld, in Luke Leafgren’s translation, while Dima Wannous’s The Frightened Ones is forthcoming from Harvill Secker, in Elisabeth Jaquette’s translation, in 2019.
