Summer Reads: Muhammad Zafzaf’s ‘Borges in the Hereafter’
“But, Mr. President,” Borges cut in, “we’re already dead.”
Fiction
Summer Reads: Basma Alnsour’s “The Time Our Friend Forgot His Phone”
“And so it was out of sheer laziness that he decided to go without his phone for the rest of the day. He assured himself it was safe, and that there was no way it could get stolen. In any case, he could use the landline or his dear wife’s mobile if there was an emergency, and he needed to get hold of family or friends.”
Summer Reads: ‘Nobody Mourns the City’s Cats’
This summer, we will run select pieces from summer issues of ArabLit Quarterly. This short story, by author Muhammad El-Hajj, tr. author-translator Yasmine Zohdi, ran in the summer 2019 SEA issue of the magazine, available as PDF, e-pub, and in print.
An Excerpt from Khalil Alrez’s ‘The Russian Quarter’
“Nonna and her scallions were two important events in the life of the giraffe.”
New Short Fiction: Ahmed Fouad Eldin’s ‘Leeway’
” Baffled by each other’s proximity and propelled by the desire to brew our drink before the other, we both stretch out our hands, and then draw them back.”
From the RAIN Issue: Mohamed Makhzangi’s ‘The Water Cords’
It will be a small miracle if you receive this letter of mine, which I’m writing on a day I skipped from our tour in the forest.
An Excerpt from the IPAF-winning Novel ‘The Exile of the Water Diviner’
The Exile of the Water Diviner, by Omani author Zahran al-Qassimy, is on the shortlist for this year’s International Prize for Arabic Fiction, the winner of which is set to be announced May 21 in Abu Dhabi. This novel tells the story of a water diviner employed by the villages to track springs of water hidden deep in the earth.
New Short Fiction by Najwa Binshatwan: ‘Click Like’
“Iman is afraid that she’s going to lose her job to AI. I pray to God that it will be like the rest of the inventions, which came to the Arab world only after they’d grown old in their own worlds.”
‘The Privatization of Da’bul’s Oil’: An Excerpt from ‘Shalash the Iraqi’
“Umm Da’bul was a bit taken aback when she discovered one day that her youngest, a child of ten, was peeing oil.”