Nizar Qabbani’s 1967 Letter To Gamal Abdel Nasser
“Whoever loves his country, Mr. President, purifies its wounds with alcohol, and with fire cauterizes—if need be—the areas that are wounded.”
Nonfiction
Friday Finds: The Dialects of Oil & Rain
At the end of last month, three writers — Mona Kareem, Deepak Unnikrishnan, and Krupa Ge — talked about translation, transience, the Gulf, belonging, and more.
Another Road for Syrian Poetry
“The divide among poets has added a diaspora to the spatial diaspora, which scattered Syrians around the world.”
Remembering Muhammad Wardi: Censored, Banned, and Beloved
For that reason, Wardi’s words have been at the forefront of the current Sudanese revolution. He’s recalled as a strong example of a great artist who proved strong and steadfast in opinions, words, and actions. His revolutionary-themed pieces, which document crucial chapters of Sudanese history, have been used as rallies’ chants and played on the sit-in site loudspeakers.
10 Recipes from Medieval Arabic Texts
The thirteenth and fourteenth centuries were — among other things — a wonderful period for Arabic cookery compilations, several of which have recently been translated to English.
Reclaiming the Women of Arabic Popular Epics
This look at the women who seem to have disappeared in scholarship about the Arabic popular epics is a re-run from Women in Translation Month (#WiTMonth) last year.
‘Black’: A Short Memoir by Hoda Salem
“This, too, felt like an insult, despite the fact that I have never identified as either Sudanese or Egyptian.”
The Two Autobiographies: Salim Barakat Bleeding in Forgotten Places
Salim fans can rejoice now to see this pure marvel — mad and dangerous writing full of poetry — that will be available in bookstores again.
Poet Mourid Barghouti on His Wife, Novelist Radwa Ashour (1946-2014)
The relationship between Palestinian poet Mourid Barghouti and Egyptian novelist Radwa Ashour — as traced through their literary works — is one of the twentieth century’s great love stories.