Arabic Literature, Malayalam Readers
Abu Dhabi-based translator S.A. Qudsi has translated a wide range of Arab authors -- Nawal al-Saadawi, Ghada Samman, Naguib Mahfouz, Salwa Bakr, Ghassan Kanafani, Najwa Barakat -- into Malayalam. He also translates from English, Indonesian, and Farsi. He answered a few questions about the Arabic-Malayalam relationship for our Arabic Literature, World Readers series ...
Boullata on Badr Shakir al-Sayyab: ‘Arabic Poetry Has Not Been the Same Ever Since’
Badr Shakir al-Sayyab is one of the most important names in modern Iraqi poetry -- and indeed modern Arabic poetry. The poet, who died in 1964 at just 38, shook the poetic world with his verse. Translator, scholar, and author Dr. Issa Boullata, whose PhD dissertation became a book on al-Sayyab, answered a few questions about the poet's life and work ...
Science Fiction in Arabic: ‘It Was Not Born All of a Sudden’
ArabLit's sister-site in Italian -- editoriaraba, curated by Chiara Comito -- shares an interview with Ada Barbaro, author of the new book La fantascienza nella letteratura araba or Science Fiction in Arabic Literature. Comito also translated this interview from the Italian ...
On Nazik al-Mala’ika’s Revolutionary Romantic Poetry
Iraqi poet Nazik al-Mala'ika is best known for the important role she played in the development and popularization of Arabic "free verse" (or taf'ila poetry) in the 1950s. But while she is well known as a pioneer, her verse itself is less well-known, and largely absent in translation. Emily Drumstra has translated one of al-Mala'ika's poems for Jadaliyya, "Revolt Against the Sun," and is currently at work on another translation. She talked about translating al-Mala'ika ...
Selected Works: On the 5th Anniversary of Mahmoud Darwish’s Death
Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish died on August 9, 2008: I particularly appreciate this 2002 interview Darwish gave to Raja Shehadeh: Raja Shehadeh: Do you build on the work of others? Mahmoud Darwish: Yes. Very much so. I feel that no poem starts from nothing. Humanity has produced such a huge poetic output, much of it of a very high caliber. You are always building on the work of others. There is no blank page from which to start. All you can hope for is to find a small margin on which to write your signature. # RS: What sort of continuity is there in your own poetry? MD: I have found that I have no poem that does not have ...
Salwa Bakr on ‘Women and Arabic Literature’
Novelist Salwa Bakr spoke to CASA students this past week about women and Arabic literature, beginning with the 1980s, when, "Every day you would open the window and find a female author writing a new book" ...
Six Arab Novelists on Why They Write
During recent visits to Jordan and Syria, Boston librarian Diane D’Almeida (pictured) videotaped short interviews with a dozen different Arab authors. She also has since interviewed a dozen Boston-based authors, asking similar basic questions: Why do they write? For whom (if they imagine an audience)? How do they imagine "inspiration"? Do they offer advice to young and emerging authors? D’Almeida hasn't yet posted the second set of interviews, and adds that a third set of interviews is also forthcoming: "I have also interviewed translators who can give an idea as to what is involved in translating from the Middle East." All the interviews of Arab writers save one (Haddiya Hussein's) were conducted in English, so I foresee an imbalance between ...
