Al-Bayati: ‘When I Met al-Sayyab in 1947’
“His illusions, his distant dreams, and his winged fantasies seemed to flutter quietly with emotion and land on his poems, leaving their enchanting colorful feathers on them.”
Country Focus
From ALQ: Football Chants and a Football-issue Playlist
“This chant reflects the intersections of football, politics, socioeconomics, migration, and the feelings of hogra. For those who want to escape the ills of the homeland, the wooden boat is often a symbol of their freedom.”
Mohamed Boukhza on Mohamed Choukri: ‘Romantic, Short-tempered,’ and with No Time for Hypocrites or Flatterers
“He was a multi-faceted person: romantic, short tempered, and self-loving with a high self-esteem. When surrounded by friends he liked, he would laugh hysterically. In him there was a mixture of spontaneity, adventure, and shrewdness. He was not malicious, and he believed in what he wrote.”
New Fiction: Eisa Al-Hilo’s ‘Two Old Ones in a Tree’
“In the end, they were like two birds perched in the tree. They stood behind the window and looked at the garden, which grew wider and wider to include the whole scene, where the old ones’ inner monologue ran like rushing water in the spaces of the evening, with senility’s trembling echoes.”
9 Short Stories by Syrian Women, in Translation
As far as we know, there is not an anthology of work by Syrian women writers, in English translation.
9 Short Stories by Egyptian Women, in Translation
Although this list does include short stories by Radwa Ashour and Salwa Bakr, it largely focuses on work by women writers who emerged in the ’90s, ’00s, and ’10s.
30 Reads: A Month of Algerian Literature by Women
“Of course, I do enjoy painting for you, right now, a slightly more calamitous situation than the one I actually face – I blame Algerian fiction’s long love affair with tragedies for my theatrics. But the truth is still harsh.”
Sahar Khalifeh: ‘I Am A Committed Writer, Or Maybe I Am An Obsessed Writer’
“I am a committed writer or maybe I am an obsessed writer. I am obsessed by occupation because I live it. I witness the atrocities of occupation. I witness and live through those atrocities and still am living them.”
9 Short Stories by Algerian Women, in Translation
We hope to see more Algerian women’s writing in translation. For now, we recommend these four stories, all translated from French.