New Short Fiction: ‘Sleeping in Front of Al-Gomhorya Cafe’
In this short fiction by Mai Al-Maghribi, “a watchtower grew over my shoulder, yellow and dry, with windows on both sides, and my father was the security guard who watched my every move.”
Fiction
Classic Short Fiction: Mahmoud al-Badawi’s ‘The Peddler’
Critic Sabry Hafez writes, in the Journal of Arabic Literature, that, “Amongst the men of letters of his generation, Mahmud Al-Badawi (b. 1911) stands as a lone and unique literary figure. He spent his literary life away from the limelight of public fame despite his substantial contribution to the development of Egyptian literature.”
Classic Short Fiction: ‘The Irony of the Flute’
As Hilary Kilpatrick wrote in The Journal of Arabic Literature, “Mahmud Tahir Lashin is one of those Egyptian writers who, pioneers in their own time, never achieved wide popularity and were soon forgotten. Yet his short stories reveal an original and accomplished artistry, and his novel, Hawwa’ bila Adam, is one of the most interesting works of fiction to have been published in Cairo during the 1930’s.”
‘Birthday in a Cellar’: New Short Fiction
“Birthday in a Cellar” appears in Amer Al-Masry’s third short-story collection, The Man Who Turned Back (الرجل الذي التفت إلى الوراء), the first book out from the new Gaza Publications.
Classic Short Fiction: Mahmud Taymour’s ‘The Grand Funeral’
“Bashir Agha walked the doctor through the winding corridors, guiding him to Mustafa Hassan’s sickbed. The doctor followed, stepping cautiously until they arrived at a dim, dust-coated chamber littered with refuse.”
From Fatma Qandil’s ‘Empty Cages’
It’s publication day for Fatima Qandil’s raw, tenderly crafted novel Empty Cages, translated to English by Adam Talib. In this excerpt, we get a glimpse of the narrator’s relationship with her mother.
New Short Fiction: ‘Fable of the Salt’
In this short fiction, “Umm Shihab still believes in superstitions. Not a day goes by without her burning incense, afraid that an old spell might have wandered in and entered her house by mistake, or that someone is blowing under the ashes of envy, trying to ignite a fire within her.”
From Sufyan Rajab’s ‘Noah’s Hourglass’
Sufyan Rajab’s Noah’s Hourglass is no ordinary East-West love affair. The fun, sharply observed novel moves between two voices—the Tunisian Belkacem and the Ukrianian Olga—as they each try to find safe harbor in an unsafe world. An excerpt in James Scanlan’s sharp translation.
Classic Short Fiction: Muhammed Taymour’s ‘The Eid Whistle’
This classic short fiction was composed in August 1917 by Muhammed Taymour, a pioneer of modern fiction and theatrical literature in Egypt.