The ‘Ideal’ Text for Showing the Importance of Poetry in Ninth-century Baghdad
“The caliphs like this poetry because it’s a new aesthetic. It’s like having your portrait painted by the latest artist.”
News
5 in Translation by 2015 Naguib Mahfouz Medal Winner Hassan Daoud
“From my window the sand made lustrous by the moonlight is clear and close as if its surface has risen toward me. The light of the moon carries the sand almost to meet me.”
Trial of Novelist Ahmed Naji and Editor To Resume Early Next Year
“The trial was adjourned until January 2 for a final verdict.”
Hassan Daoud Wins 2015 Naguib Mahfouz Medal for ‘No Road for Paradise’
“Its mastery is in its slow, meticulous, stagnant narration, but it is a stagnation that serves a purpose and is the writer’s means to evoke the boring empty life devoid of any form of self-fulfillment led by this unhappy imam.”
Hassan Daoud Accepting the 2015 Naguib Mahfouz Medal: ‘The Picture of a Man of Religion Was Not Attractive to Me’
“During the 1970s, when my father was in his mid-forties, he announced to me his fear that the numbers of men of religion would diminish.”
Today: Announcement of Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature
This year’s panel of judges is made up of scholars and translator-scholars: Tahia Abdel Nasser, Shereen Abouelnaga, Mona Tolba, Humphrey Davies, and Rasheed El-Enany.
New $20K Prize for Arabic Short-story Collections Launched in Kuwait
In addition to the $20,000 monetary award, the prize will also provide support toward the collection’s English-language translation and publication.
Egyptian State Security Moves to Ban Alaa al-Aswany’s Monthly Public Seminar
“[H]e is being subjected to smear campaigns on account of defending his right as well as his fans’ right to freedom of expression, and the right to criticize the absence of freedoms, and the deteriorating media scene in Egypt.”
Emerging Writers: Apply for ‘Beirut Short Stories’ 2016
“The application deadline is January 1, 2016.”