“I was keen on exploring the theme of “new” personal and political realities being lived and confronted by women in the Arab world and the diaspora in recent years, especially in the aftermath of the wars and revolutions the region has undergone on multiple levels in the new century.”
“The project brings together ten poets from the Arab world, Spain and Catalonia, selected by a committee of experts from the Arab world and Spain, and invites them to compose works on a specified theme. These are then translated by a team of professional translators in a workshop that is held in Barcelona.”
“Only poetry submissions in English will be considered. However, translated works are accepted, with a percentage of the prize awarded to the translator.”
“There are only three non-Omani writers: Egyptian Mohammed Abdel Qahar, Moroccan Mohsen Akhrif, and Tunisian Nabil Gueddiche.”
“The further I got into the process of translating, the more important it began to seem that my text be able to do the work of topography — the writing of place — needed to make Beirut intelligible as a spatial configuration to Anglophone readers.”
The story is interesting for several reasons. It shows this Arabic cultural journal (marketed outside the US as much as within it) taking an interest in the American issues of the day – Prohibition had been brought in at the beginning of 1920. It is also an early example of modern Arabic speculative fiction. Most of all, it is a fun little story and glimpse into Jacob Raphael’s 1920s Arabic publishing venture.
Today, the book at the center of the case officially appears in Ben Koerber’s translation, published by University of Texas Press.
There will be one main prize, of $20,000 US, and three prizes of $1,000 each for the best stories in each of the remaining three languages.
“Massacre is a dead metaphor that is eating my friends, eating them without salt.”
