All Right, I Give in, Novels about Football (Soccer)
Everyone seems to be publishing lists of their must-read, English-language books about football (or soccer, where the lists are American). After all, we English speakers do seem to be terribly […]
Poetry
Amin Maalouf Wins Spain’s Prestigious ‘Prince of Asturius’ Award
Francophone Lebanese author Amin Maalouf has won Spain’s prestigious Prince of Asturias literature award, the Asturias foundation announced. Maalouf, the 61-year-old author of Samarkand and The Crusades Through Arab Eyes, […]
2010 Arab American Book Awards: When Did This Happen?
I just heard about the Arab American Book Awards yesterday, via Asia Writes. I guess I missed the announcement in Publishing Perspectives, and anywhere else it might’ve run. Perhaps the […]
Public Prosecutor Kicks Case Against ‘Arabian Nights’ to the Curb
According to Al Ahram, the AFP, and others, the Egyptian hisba case against 1,001 Arabian Nights has been dismissed. Prosecutor Abdel Megid Mahmud threw out the case—brought by a group […]
This Charming Middle-Grade Graphic Novel Needs a Publisher
You have to forgive Ali Abdel Mohsen, at Al Masry al Youm, for gushing about Essam Abdallah’s new middle-grade graphic novel Ehna wa Kowkab or Our Planet and Us, published […]
The New Saudi Novel (Again): Rebellious Pamphlet or Artistic Revolution?
Yesterday, the AFP published a new look at shifts in the Saudi literary landscape. Yes, we know that Saudi novels of the last five years are talking about sex and […]
Egypt’s Blog-to-Book Phenomenon: Positive or Negative for Arabic Book World?
Journalist and blogger Ahmed Naji has out a new book, Blogs From Post to Tweet. According to the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, which is making printed copies available […]
Jan Michalski Prize for (World) Literature: /Wolves of the Crescent Moon/ on Longlist
I found out about the new Jan Michalski Prize for Literature via The Literary Saloon. On the prize’s website, organizers note: An original feature of the Prize is its multicultural […]
Reading Challenge Update: Shakir Mustafa’s Top 5
Shakir Mustafa (not, you know, Mustafa Shakir) has finally turned in his reading challenge picks. Mustafa is the editor and translator of the excellent Contemporary Iraqi Fiction: An Anthology. I […]