‘Confines of the Shadow’: ‘A Passion for the Other, But Not for the Exotic’
“I decided to translate him after reading the first few pages of ‘The Confines of the Shadow,’ so almost immediately.”
Libya
10 Translations, 10 Poems from ‘Genius Grant’-ee Khaled Mattawa
Wednesday morning, the MacArthur Foundation announced its list of “Genius Grants.” On the list to receive a no-strings-attached stipend of $625,000 is Libyan poet and translator Khaled Mattawa, who said he plans to use the money to further his translations and take on larger projects.
On Bringing a Benghazi-set ‘Panoptic Masterpiece’ into English
Alessandro Spina — the nom de plume of Benghazi-born author Basili Shafik Khouzam — died last year, two weeks before André Naffis-Sahely came to an agreement with a London publisher to translate his epic “The Confines of the Shadow,” which, Naffis-Sahely writes, “belongs alongside panoptic masterpieces like ‘Buddenbrooks,’ ‘The Man Without Qualities’ and ‘The Cairo Trilogy.'”
A Novel That Represents ‘A Complete Generation of Libyan Writers and Intellectuals’
Libyan poet, translator, and short-story writer Ghazi Gheblawi has been enthusiastically tweeting about Mansour Bushnaf’s “Chewing Gum,” now out in English translation, by Mona Zaki, from Darf Publishers. So, what’s the big deal about “Chewing Gum”?
Libyan ‘Prison Scenes’: ‘I Don’t Deny That a Part of Me Is Lost Forever’
Italian journalist Vittoria Volgare talked with the Libyan short-story writer Omar al-Kikli, whose work has appeared in English translation Banipal and Jadaliyya about al-Kikli’s 2012 prison memoir, Sijniyat, a testament to the years he spent in Ghaddafi’s prisons.
Hisham Matar: On the Novelist and Dictatorship
Libyan creative writer Hisham Matar writes as if he dreams; no detail is without a symbol or an emotional function.
A Celebration of Ibrahim al-Koni, the Desert, Russian Literature, and ‘Swiss Sufism’
Encouraged by translator/scholar/writer Elliott Colla—who had an interesting short essay about Ibrahim al-Koni in yesterday’s Ahram Online—I thought we’d make this an al-Koni week. Although not an “Arab” writer, al-Koni is one of the giants of contemporary Arabic literature, and has a unique and world-encompassing literary vision.