On December 11, Khaled Khalifa’s ‘No Knives in the Kitchens of This City’ was awarded the Naguib Mahfouz Medal. ArabLit checked in with Elisabeth Jaquette, who has translated an excerpt of the novel.
It was two years ago that poet Abdel Rahman al-Abnoudi wrote “The Prisoners’ Laughter” in solidarity with Abd el-Fattah, who was then detained (since October) after the violence at Maspero.
I’m not quite sure what the Arab British Centre has in mind with these grants, but surely the translation of Arabic literature could go to “improving the British public’s understanding of the Arab world.”
Knowing that these things sometimes change, we’ll add an “insha’allah” to that forthcoming.
I try not to republish many calls for papers, but I found this one over at the Translation Studies Portal and thought it might also be an opportunity to honor Dr. Radwa Ashour. (Note that, if you’re interested in submitting, abstracts are due Dec. 28).
Just like last year, ArabLit asked a few acclaimed and award-winning authors for their favorite reads of 2013.
Two Arabic book fairs were held at the beginning of December — one in Doha and one in Beirut — and they both reported slow sales. Al-Sharq al-Awsat said that “reports regarding the demise of the Arab-language book are perhaps looking somewhat exaggerated,” although noting that sales have been down for the past three years.
World Arabic Language Day — singular, in UNESCO’s estimation — isn’t until Dec. 18, but the events begin today. It’s a UN-designated holiday that was designed as an annual celebration to “promote multilingualism and cultural diversity, as well as celebrate Arabic language’s role in and contribution to the safeguarding and dissemination of human civilization and culture.”
Although Upworthy only started in late March of this year, it’s been inspiring imitators and parodies at least since July. We enjoy Upworthy parodies as much as the next person, so we’d like to run a modest parody contest (as an excuse to give away some fantastic books).
