New Poetry by Hameed Qasim: ‘Baghdad Melancholy’
“This is Baghdad’s melancholy waving to me from afar,” Hamid Qasim writes, in a poem translated by Ghareeb Iskander and illustrated by Nasir Mounes.
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Posts by Marcia Lynx Qualey:
‘Safaa and the Tent’: Narrating Gaza through Comics
Earlier this week, The Lakes International Comic Art Festival published Gaza-based artist Safaa Odeh’s Safaa and the Tent, a collection of drawings and social-media posts translated by Nada Hodali. Nada talked about the book, its humor and grief, and the difficulties of translating a work that leaves you speechless.
‘They Even Assassinated My Library’
However, for me, the most precious of all the manuscripts in my library were the six stories I wrote in Israeli jail. These were the first stories I ever wrote, penned during a few months of incarceration following my participation in the First Intifada in 1992. I wasn’t quite 19 when I wrote those stories. I “published” them by hanging them on the wall of the prison.
New Poetry in Translation: Enter ‘Butterfly’s Burden’
In this poem, Dalia Taha writes that she “picked up ‘The Butterfly’s Burden’ / and could not put it down.”
From ‘The Statue of Delma’ by Reem Al-Kamali
Reem Al-Kamali’s The Statue of Delma — winner of the 2018 Sharjah Award for Arab Creativity — is a compelling historical fantasy that sweeps readers back in time to 3000 BCE. The setting is Delma Island, as isolated “as a rock thrown into infinite space.” The narrative unfolds as Nurta — a priest, artist, and magician — sculpts a statue of a deity.
Two Poems by Haitham K. Al-Zubbaidi
A Helmet of Brass By Haitham K. Al-Zubbaidi Translated by Ali Layth Azeez Nothing in me betrays the clouds’ expectations except that I am so deep in aridity. Nothing in […]
Bait AlGhasham DarArab Prize Opens with New Category
The Bait AlGhasham DarArab International Translation Prize is set to open submissions tomorrow for is 2026 award. The prize, now in its third year, aims to “celebrate outstanding Arabic literature and promote its presence globally through translation.”
From Mauritania to the IPAF Shortlist
Last month, International Prize for Arabic Fiction judges announced that Mauritanian writer Ahmed Vall Dine had been shortlisted for the 2025 prize for his Danshmand, a fictionalized biography of the renowned scholar Imam Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali (d. 1111). Vall Dine talks about his journey as a writer, the challenges that face Mauritanian writers, and why “any writer who takes on the challenge of portraying a historical Muslim scholar is actually fortunate.”
Toward a Gender-Conscious Translation
In our first “BETWEEN TWO ARABIC TRANSLATORS” conversation, Yasmeen Hanoosh and Marilyn Booth discuss the outlines and possibilities of gender-conscious translation, how a translator can be transparent about their choices, and Marilyn’s translation of Alis al-Bustani’s صائبة, (Sa’iba 1891), and the “need to advocate for, and translate, these earlier works.”