The novel is a caper with a serious bent, an ecocritical story from a context where life was never anthropocentric enough to need "posthumanism."
From the Archives: Safia Ketou, the First Algerian Sci-fi Novelist of Post-independence Algeria
"– You are on the Mauve Planet."
‘The Lion of Basra’: Muslim, Jew, and Christian
"In the last week of our series on Iraq’s diverse literary scene — curated by Hend Saeed — we focus on Diaa Jubaili's The Lion of Basra, which is set amongst the fragmentation of Iraq's different religious communities."
The Art of Practical Translation and Al-Razi’s ‘Zīnat al-Kataba’
Although, one must note, "Take it out when maggoty" is a delightful sentence.
Ahmed Bouanani and Morocco’s Seventh Art
"It was the only book that Ahmed Bouanani wanted to publish, but he died believing that the manuscript had been destroyed when his house burned down."
‘Conceptions of Justice in the 1001 Nights’
"We do not bring medieval works to light, when we read them, we are creating them anew with every interpretation. So today, my reading is one of many."
‘Awlad al-Nas’: Transforming our View of Mamluk Egypt
Awlad al-Nas (literally Children of the People) offers insight into Egyptians’ lives during the Mamluk period (1250–1517), which played a key role in Egypt’s history.
Fathia Debech’s Katara Prize-winning ‘Melanin’: A Look at Racism and Identity
With her debut novel, Tunisian author and translator Fathia Debech won a prestigious Katara Prize for the Arabic Novel.
A Search for Beauty and Appreciation: Kay Heikkinen on Translating ‘Velvet’
" I will never look at rain the same way I used to; the author talks about it as if it were a living being with a will, attacking the earth, and how it has an effect on the streets."
‘Hara Hotel’: On Centering the Western Narrator and Stories About Syrian Refugees
"It reminds us of the colonial narratives advancing how the colonized people are in desperate need of saving."
‘Heaven is Not with Us’: War Criminals or Victims?
"But when it comes to war crimes in civil wars, what is judged as sinful, and what heroic?"
The Iraqi ‘Irvine Kafka Poe’
The comparison is both oddly specific and also strangely unhelpful: Blasim is “Iraq’s Irvine Welsh.” Yes, yes, Irvine Welsh is a name I should instantly recognize. But to be honest, I had forgotten why. Irvine, my brain said. Irvine, California? Worse, my brain had linked the name "Irvine Welsh" to novels and screenplays by the American writer Peter Hedges.
