No Award in 2019: Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature
“With plans for the future of the award already in motion, the decision has been made not to announce a winner for the Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature this year.”
News
Bulaq 38: ‘Insufficiently Westernized’
In Bulaq Episode 38, we discussed a picaresque, surprisingly joyful tale set in an evacuated village during the Iran-Iraq war; the TV adaption Elliott Colla’s Baghdad Noir; and the evolution — or partial evolution, anyhow — of reviews of Arabic literature in translation.
Myths of Motherhood and Exile in Huzama Habayeb’s ‘Velvet’
Huzama Habayeb’s Velvet, by contrast, is unafraid of its fullness: its gold jewelry, its fleshy abundance, its black velvet, and most of all, its melancholic and romantic lyrics, as sung by legendary Lebanese diva Fairouz.
‘Palestine Book Awards’ Gives First-ever Award in Translation Category
A total of 43 English-language books were entered in this year’s competition.
Halloween Horror & Ahmed Salah Al-Mahdi’s ‘Hour of the Wolf’
“Scholar-translator Richard Jacquemond, after a visit to the 2016 Cairo International Book Fair, noted that three genres dominated shelves and tables: horror, satire, and romance.”
Amjad Nasser, 1955-2019
According to multiple reports, Nasser died Wednesday. He was 64.
6 Winners of the 2019 Etisalat Award for Arabic Children’s Literature
Winners of the Etisalat Prize for Arabic Children’s Literature were announced today in six categories — best book, best text, best illustrations, best production, best wordless picture book, and best young adult — on the opening day of the Sharjah International Book Fair.
A Wartime Novel That’s Tender, Charming, and Donkeyphilic
“So Um Qasem decides to get up before dawn and make off with a donkey called “Good Omen,” who is both her trusty steed and her Sancho Panza.”
Bulaq 37: ‘Disappearing Palestinians’
On Episode 37, Ursula Lindsey & M Lynx Qualey talked about two festivals (one long-established, one brand new) that celebrate Palestinian literature; an author who was penalized for supporting BDS; and a book that asks the question: What would happen if Palestinians simply disappeared?