In celebration of Women in Translation Month (#WiTMonth), Comma Press has shared author Maya Abu al-Hayyat reading her short story “The Gap” in the original Arabic as well as in Yasmine Seale’s English translation.
Read moreAn Excerpt of Fadi Zaghmout’s Speculative Novel ‘A Needle and a Thimble’
The fourth novel by Jordanian author and gender activist Fadi Zaghmout is set in an alternate universe where people are divided not by gender but by height. In it, a character of middling height appears and throws a short dressmaker’s life into disarray.
Read moreFrom ALQ: Muhammad Zafzaf’s ‘Borges in the Hereafter’
“But, Mr. President,” Borges cut in, “we’re already dead.”
Read moreNew Short Fiction: ‘The Awakened Memory’ by Salima Saleh
“I remember another waterfall—how we left the dirt road and walked down towards the shore. Clear water flowing over the pebbles deepened in the middle of the river, so that leaving the shore became an adventure, and made the small island packed with trees appear distant, despite how close it actually was.”
Read moreNew Fiction: ‘The Echo of Silence’ by Hany Ali Said
“He stares at the reflection of the furniture in the mirror but everything is perfectly still. When he speaks to his own reflection, he hears a muffled hiss like the one made by the hands of a clock.”
Read moreNew Short Fiction from Sudan: ‘Nameless,’ by Mohammed Hamad Mahmoud
“On joining primary school, I started leaving sufficient space for my non-existent name at the right margin of the page, followed by my father’s full name, who died and immortalized his name through me. I did the same in my English notebooks, at the left side of the page. I was the third person in all languages and descriptions in the universe.”
Read moreAn Excerpt from Fadi Azzam’s ‘Huddud’s House’
“He fell silent; it was the silence of a man staring at the phantom of nothingness; a silence that spoke the full truth.”
Read moreFrom Khaled Nasrallah’s IPAF-shortlisted ‘The White Line of Night’
“The censor would often read a sentence and claim that he had read it elsewhere.”
Read moreNew Short Fiction from Syria: Ibrahim Samu’il’s ‘The Stench of Heavy Footsteps’
She felt her chest growing tighter and exhaled. “Are you going to lecture me? Just tell me, how and where will I see him?”
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