Two New Works by Iraqi Writers (Now in English)
Two new works of Iraqi lit—one a collection of poetry, one a book of short stories—have come out this fall from small indie presses in the U.K. (There’s also a […]
Poetry
Translate This Book!
Let me enthuse, for a moment, about this new feature on Quarterly Conversation. Of course, I am a sometimes-contributor to QC, so not completely pure in my applause, but you […]
‘Egypt’ to translate Mahmoud Darwish?
I came across this somewhat strange headline in Bikya Masr. Certainly, five or ten years ago I would have cheered it—oorah, more Darwish in English! But, these days, poet-translator Fady […]
What Does Roger Allen Teach?
Google is such a strange thing: You can find out about Allen’s 2010 summer seminar through a letter to his colleagues. Allen has been in the Arab-lit field since the […]
Egyptian Books Now in English: Nov/Dec 2009
Fiction Cairo Swan Song, Mekkawi Said. This book was shortlisted for the Arabic Booker in 2007-2008; Said has said in part because of a blog campaign for the book. I […]
MLA Translation Award Will Go to Haydar, Beard for Translation of Adonis (Ali Ahmad Said)
The MLA apparently will present a major translation award to Dr. Michael Beard (University of North Dakota) and Adnan Haydar (University of Arkansas) for their transation of Adonis’s Mihyar of […]
Beyond Prurience
My interest in Arabic literature follows my interest in all literature: it’s artistic, it’s sympathetic, it’s aesthetic. My ideal book could be Sonallah Ibrahim’s (Egyptian) Stealth, could be W.G. Sebald’s […]
Eid Mubarak, Eid Sayeed
Naguib Mahfouz’s Eid al-Adha reminiscences.
Mahmoud Darwish, on Writing
RS: Do you build on the work of others? MD: Yes. Very much so. I feel that no poem starts from nothing. Humanity has produced such a huge poetic output, […]