Poetry

Every breeze that blows brings your scent to me; Every bird that sings calls out your name to me; Every dream that appears brings your face to me; Every glance […]

The Guardian books blog gently—almost gingerly—raises a few questions about the rise in “vanity” publishing (in the English-speaking world). It asks, among other things, whether authors who have bona fide […]

The Beirut39 blog has had a few short interviews up lately with the Beirut39ers. But unless you already know these writers quite intimately, it’s by and large hard to be […]

Diwan has been an integral part of Cairo’s new (upscale) bookish landscape, along with the Sherouq stores and indies like Kotob Khan. So I took note when the chain said […]

In an interesting and highly entertaining piece for The National, Beirut 39er Youssef Rakha reviews the controversies and conspiracy theories surrounding the International Prize for Arabic Fiction—the “Arabic Booker”—now in […]

Looking at the 2009 Arabic Booker shortlist (in translation) makes one wonder: What of 2008? Bahaa Taher’s Sunset Oasis, the winner of the inaugural Arabic Booker, became available in English […]

The winner of the Sheikh Zayed Award for Children’s Literature was announced (yesterday?). It’s the “Arabic-manga” series Gold Ring. I can’t quite tell what it’s about from this or this, […]

I assume that Ian Jack is exaggerating a bit when he speaks of the violent intimacies of European book fairs. Jack probably has not experienced the intimacies of the Cairo […]

I really don’t like it when organizations in the Middle East “unveil” something new. I realize there’s no subtext intended…but…. Anyhow, all seems in order (Yousef Ziedan and Bahaa Taher, […]