On BULAQ, we talk to poet Batool Abu Akleen about refusing to write and then choosing to write through the genocide; about the importance of mentors; and about creating a community of literary translators in Gaza.
Pediatrician and children’s-book author Arwa Nasir is the force behind Bulbul Books, an Arabic children’s-book publishing house based in the US. This year, she has launched a new monthly magazine of the same name.
Hiusam Maarouf talks about the new publishing house “Gaza Publications,” saying that the idea “stemmed from the fear of obliteration and erasure that threatens the Palestinian story.”
In our third “BETWEEN TWO ARABIC TRANSLATORS” conversation, Yasmeen Hanoosh and Mona Kareem discuss translation work as “a ground to stand on,” the process of removing the “veil of innocence” from literary translation, the small-press and translators’ collectives that Mona is excited about, and more.
Here, Taissier Khalaf talks about The Andalusian Messiah, shortlisted for this year’s International Prize for Arabic Fiction. The novel follows Gonzalez’s quest for identity after his Morisco mother’s execution in 1592 Andalusia. The author digs into “secrets and mysteries” of “neglected margins” and reflects on his literary journey.
Mohamed Samir Nada talks about his dystopian novel Prayer of Anxiety, which won the 2025 International Prize for Arabic Fiction.
A prize-winning novel about family tension is set during a period of tumult in Tunisia.
The new podcast MAKTOOB: Arabic Stories in English is coming soon from Komet Kashakeel. You can find a trailer with more about the six-episode podcast, which covers a diversity of books from across the region, on YouTube and Spotify. Here, co-hosts Lauren Pepperell and Anam Zafar talk about how it came about, highlights from the series, and what we might expect from a season two.
International Prize for Arabic Fiction-shortlisted writer Haneen Al-Sayegh talks with ArabLit about the novel that “began as an intimate letter” to her daughter, the collective solidarity of women, and how “many depictions of Arab women in literature remain confined to reductive tropes: the broken, submissive woman pleading for freedom or awaiting salvation.”
