Visit, and Bring Donations to, the BALMAL Arab Library in London
BALMAL — the Banipal Arab British Centre Library of Modern Arab Literature — is calling for book donations: The library, at 1 Gough Square in London, contains volumes of fiction, […]
News
Samah Edriss on the Closing of Al Adaab Cultural Magazine (At Least for Now)
Al-Adaab is closing, but, according to publisher Samah Edriss, may return in an electronic form that “tricks censorship and spreads wider to reach the era where we can re-issue its paper version again.”
Raja Shehadeh’s ‘Occupation Diaries’ Makes 2013 Orwell Prize Shortlist
Two hundred ten books submitted for the 2013 Orwell Prize — Britain’s top prize for political writing — have now been narrowed to seven. Among the seven shortlisted titles is Palestinian writer Raja Shehadeh’s “Occupation Diaries.”
In D.C. May 2-3: Midans of the Self, Sonallah Ibrahim
If you can get to D.C. May 2 and 3, you’ll find “Midans of the Self,” featuring talks about Sonallah Ibrahim and his work by eminent scholars and translators (Richard Jacquemond, Samia Mehrez, Hosam Aboul-ela, Margaret Litvin, Robyn Creswell, Elliott Colla, Christopher Stone, Sabry Hafez, more!), a staging of Ibrahim’s “February 11” and more.
Countdown to IPAF: 6 Excerpts, 6 Novels Shortlisted for the ‘Arabic Booker’
In Banipal 46, there are excerpts of each of the six novels shortlisted for this year’s International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF), which is set to be announced the evening […]
If You’re In Beirut: Hay Festival May 8-10
A host of internationally celebrated authors and artists will be at this year’s Hay Festival Beirut, including Hanan al-Shaykh, Karl Ove Knausgård, Mohammed Hanif, Hanif Kureishi, Hyam Yared, Iman Humaydan, Joe Sacco, and Mazen Kerbaj, as well as three of the young shortlistees for the 2013 International Prize for Arabic Fiction: Mohammed Hassan Alwan, Jana Elhassan, and Saud Alsanousi.
How Far Do You Trust Tech Companies With Arabic Literature?
Jason Merkoski spoke with NYTimes about his new book, Burning the Page, and the future of ebooks. When he was asked about the downside of trusting our literary future to a few tech companies, he said: “Frankly, I don’t trust the executives at any e-book retailer when it comes to censorship.”
On Ghassan Kanafani’s 77th Birthday
The great Palestinian author Ghassan Kanafani was born on this day in 1936. To celebrate his life and writing, we have a few (translated) excerpts of his work, as well as pieces about Kanafani.
A Kite in the Snooker Club
The two books are very different. And yet the echoes between Waguih Ghali’s Beer in the Snooker Club (1964) and Dominique Eddé’s Kite (2003, English trans. Ros Schwartz 2012) are significant enough to have pestered me these last few weeks.