"With so much to explore in his 7 novels, dozens of short stories, and scads of genre-crossing nonfiction that feels so relevant to our present day hopes and wars, the door is there, we need simply to walk through it."
Friday Finds: From Amjad Nasser’s ‘Petra’
The water that tells of life also tells of the place.
Amjad Nasser, 1955-2019
According to multiple reports, Nasser died Wednesday. He was 64.
In Celebration of Amjad Nasser, a Poet Who ‘Mourns Himself While Still Alive’
This week, the literary journal "Akhbar al-Adab" dedicated an issue to Nasser and his work, which features essays by Ghassan Zaqtan, Tarek al-Tayeb, Qassim Haddad, Hoda Barakat, and others.
Online: 20 Translated Stories by Hisham Bustani
Hisham Bustani -- an award-winning Jordanian short-story author -- is one of the few practitioners of Arabic short stories who has been widely translated and published in non-specialized English-language literary magazines.
Fadi Zagmout on the Banning of ‘Laila and the Lamb’
"Unfortunately, banning books is a form of censorship that, nowadays, harms the book industry, limits creativity, and frustrates writers, but does not prevent the book from reaching the reader."
Samah Selim Wins $12.5K NEA Grant to Translate ‘Sultana’
"'Sultana' is Ghalib Halasa's last and most autobiographical novel."
The Notorious Ghalib Halasa
Two men sat near the round threshing floor in the western fields. Each with his rifle on his lap.
Jordanian Novelist Jamal Naji, 1954-2018
"His novel 'When the Wolves Grow Old' was shortlisted for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction in 2010."
Friday Finds: ‘The Village Idiot,’ by Majidah al-Outoum
"We awoke one morning to news of a death. The person we had lost was the one we used to call the Village Idiot—that buffoon who used to make us laugh and cry at the same time, that leaping, dancing ball of energy who would hurl himself around, wild with enthusiasm, stomping on our toes and crashing into us as he went gesticulating by."
Who’s Afraid of Dead Arab Authors?
In a recent commentary for Al Araby, الترجمة باعتبارها استشراقاً, Jordanian poet and novelist Amjad Nasser writes about translation: The piece begins with an anecdote, a time when Nasser was asked to suggest a novel to translate, and he suggested the acclaimed novel by Jordanian novelist Ghalib Halasa, Sultana (1987). https://twitter.com/arablit/status/970646719561175040 As Ali Issa wrote on Jadaliyya, to accompany his translated … Continue reading Who’s Afraid of Dead Arab Authors?
Amjad Nasser’s ‘Here is the Rose’: ‘We Can No Longer Tell Tragedy from Farce
"Could Younis accomplish his mission successfully if he was just as delusional as our good old Quixote? We can no longer tell tragedy from farce."
