"I don't like to resemble these taxi drivers to whom passing journalists glean their quick impressions about the country they are visiting."
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.
IndieGoGo: Support Independent Palestinian Theater
From the beginning, Khashabi chose to be an independent theater, which has meant refusing institutional Israeli financial support, as, organizers say, "we believe in the importance of an independent and free Palestinian cultural scene."
Cover Reveal: Sahar Khalifeh’s ‘Bab al-Saha’ is ‘Passage to the Plaza’
Khalifeh's classic novel is forthcoming next February 15 from Seagull Books in Sawad Hussain’s translation as "Passage to the Plaza."
Palestine +100 Launch: ‘A Beautiful Little Experiment’
Both "Iraq + 100" and "Palestine + 100" – which Page suggested may come to form the beginning of a series – have been published in a spirit of "storming the fort of science fiction," in Page's words, and representing voices and stories historically marginalized within the science fiction canon.
On Telling ‘A Story the World Has a Hard Time Hearing’
“These are giants in our part of the world,” Abulhawa said. “But here they’re unknown.”
Ibtisam Azem’s ‘The Book of Disappearance’
Why have the Palestinians disappeared once again?
New Arabic Releases: 3 Recommendations from the RAYA Agency
Yasmina Jraissati at the RAYA Agency is recommending three very different titles for the fall. Two are new releases: a debut novel by Palestinian author Asma al-Atawna and a historical novel by award-winning Sudanese writer Hammour Ziada. The third is a fictionalized biography of Saddam Hussain (1937-2006): The least surprising recommendation is الغرق: حكايات القهر والونس (Drowning), by Naguib … Continue reading New Arabic Releases: 3 Recommendations from the RAYA Agency
Classics, Revisited: Pre-release Excerpt of Sahar Khalifeh’s ‘Bab al-Saha’
"In the furnace of conflict at the heart of the 1987 Intifada, notions of freedom, love, respectability, nationhood, the rights of women and Palestinian identity...will be melted and re-forged."
Nayrouz Qarmout on Writing, Pessimism, and How ‘Fear Kills Women’
"But despite all this pain and pressure, women’s creativity is a reason for survival."
Ibtisam Azem on the ‘Power of the Silenced Story’
"[T]he red notebook, which has fragments from the oral history and memory of a Palestinian woman, and her grandson, will be beyond Ariel’s control. It is the power of the silenced or unheard story, that will never disappear."
