“We denounce the systemic prosecution of advocates of sexual and religious freedom.
“We denounce the censorship of artists anywhere in the world.”
Jordan
Your Annual Anti-Valentine’s Day Literature: ‘That Pathetic Woman’
“She is the one who has become his widow, and I am a woman of sin who deserves to be stoned, who steals men from the warmth of their homes.”
2015 Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize to Translator of ‘Sultan’s Seal’; ‘Land of No Rain’ Commended
“This text confronts the translator with extraordinary challenges.”
Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp Shortlisted for £10,000 Arts Foundation Award for Translating Modern Arabic Fiction
The judges…noted in a prepared statement that each finalist had “strategically selected their language of translation and was to some extent self-taught.”
‘Bride of Amman’: On the ‘Sexual Freedoms and Body Rights’ Tour
Jordanian author-blogger Fadi Zaghmout and translator Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp are set to launch the English translation of Zaghmout’s debut in a tour subtitled “Sexual Freedoms and Body Rights in the Middle East.”
‘Perception of Meaning’: At the Boundary of Arabic Poetry and Apocalypse
Last November, The Perception of Meaning was chosen as a co-winner of the University of Arkansas Award for the Translation of Arabic Literature; now a bilingual edition of the book by Hisham Bustani, trans. Thoraya El-Rayyes, is coming from Syracuse University Press this fall.
Two Reviews of ‘Snow in Amman’
“The collection has…an unusual near-balance between men’s stories and women’s.”
Homosexuality and the Arabic Novel: The Triumph of Mockery
“Chreiteh…takes not just the license to portray a gay character as fully rounded, but to mock her two leads as one would mock oneself.”
Two Views of Fadi Zaghmout’s Debut Novel, ‘The Bride of Amman’
“Salma describes Jordanian women’s obsession with marriage as ‘maniacal,’ and I was reminded of Lorca’s ‘Yerma,’ another woman seen as a failure and ridiculed by her peers.”
Fadi Zaghmout’s ‘Paradise on Earth’: Family Dynamics in Futuristic Jordan
“Age manipulation can make entire families physically appear to be of a single generation: such is the case with the Christian community of Fuhais, who in a literalist reading of the Bible have all decided to live their lives in the same blissful childhood state.”
Amjad Nasser: ‘We Have to Listen More to Reality Than We Used To’
“It’s difficult for me to predict the destiny of Arabic creative writing, but I think that we have to listen more to reality than we used to, but without being slaves to it, and without being mechanical reflections of reality.”
Pro Tip: How to Prevent Arab Authors from Reaching Audiences in the US
Instead of appearing at Amherst in person, Jordanian writer Hisham Bustani is now scheduled to appear via Skype.
