Where is Everybody?
Originally published in December 2012, “Where Is Everybody?” is a celebrated essay by Egyptian writer and novelist Ahmed Khaled Tawfik, later collected in Coffee with Uranium, first published in 2012. […]
Nonfiction
Publication Day: ‘Your Presence Is a Danger to Your Life’
It’s publication day for the US edition of Samar Yazbek’s Your Presence Is a Danger to Your Life, translated to English by Leri Price. To mark the day, we have a link to an excerpt from the book, a conversation about the book between Samar and Olivia Snaije, a review by editor Ibtihal Rida Mahmood, and a conversation about the translation process between contributor Tugrul Mende and translator Leri Price.
Fallible Men vs Safynaz Kazem
This originally ran in the 2020 ROAD issue of ArabLit Quarterly and appears here for Women in Translation Month (#WiTMonth), as this year, we’re focusing on underappreciated classics in Arabic by women. And, as Hadil Ghoneim writes below, the gifted and sometimes frightening Kazem was “overshadowed, banned, and deliberately ignored.” Here, we remember her path-breaking work.
Beyond the Workshop: How a Writing Community Was Born
Taqwa Ahmed Alwawi explores the creation of a community of writers in Gaza under genocide.
World Cup Lit: Syrians on the Pitch
In celebration of the World Cup, writing by Luqman Derky, who is “not only a poet and actor but also a gifted amateur futbulji who, under slightly different circumstances, could well have started a professional career.”
Five Poems by May Ziadeh
“sometimes my soul is wild, / an egret flying far / beyond the ocean’s edge, // and sometimes I curl up, / tender as an anemone when touched, / as salty and as damp.”
In Memory of May, by May Ziadé
“Are you related to *the* May Ziadeh?”
Why Bring May Ziadeh into English? Why Now?
We asked ourselves (and each other) why we wanted to bring May Ziadeh’s Musings of a Young Woman into English. Why May? And why now?
Standing Tall Like Trees: From Gaza to Canada
How do trees survive when fall strips them of their green leaves, and snow suffocates them, turning them into rigid white ghosts that frighten birds and leave no room to breathe?