Librarian David Hirsch: Roaming the Middle East for Printed Matter
“It takes time,” he said. “You can’t just open a funnel, you can’t just click on Amazon. It’s not quick and dirty.”
Poetry
eL Seed: Playing with the Arabic Letters
“If I had known Arabic since I was five or six, I wouldn’t be able to break the rules.”
IPAF Winner Shukri al-Mabkhout: ‘This Is a Novel of Defiance’
“The complexity of recent Tunisian history, and a minute sociological analysis can only be expressed in a novel. Only narration can make sense of the events.”
‘Diamonds and Women’: One of the Few Novels that Follows Arab Immigrants to South America
“Sex and sexual conquest are undoubtedly the most pronounced themes of the novel.”
Readings from the ‘Book of Gaza’
Perhaps the most interesting aspect to the “Book of Gaza” is to see the trajectory, obsessions, and interests of the Gazan short story over the course of forty years.
Tunisia’s 2015 Golden Comar Prizes to Shukri al-Mabkhout, Anouar Attia
Last Saturday, the winners of the 19th annual Golden Comar Prize were announced at the Municipal Theatre of Tunis.
‘Consorts of the Caliphs’: History Through the Writings of 39 Women
“Modern historians, I think, would probably pooh-pooh it as a work of history, and I think they would be quite wrong to do so.”
‘Made by Many’ Crowdfunding, ‘Arabian Stories’ Contest, Other Calls for Submissions
New calls and contests for translated literature, literary events, and short-short stories (in Arabic).
Souad Massi’s New Album: Interpreting Classic Arabic Poems
Souad Massi’s new album “El Mutakallimun,” loosely translated as “The Masters of the Word,” reinterprets ten classic Arabic texts.