In this “BETWEEN TWO ARABIC TRANSLATORS” conversation, Yasmeen Hanoosh and Michelle Hartman discuss how the conceptual framework of solidarity raises important questions about translation, what it means to share (or not share) political commitments with an author, and ways of making co-translation equitable.
This week, chief editor Danae Fonseca announced the launch of ARABLITe (arablite.org), a Spanish language magazine of Arabic literature in translation.
This is the story of Zafaran, a young man trying to escape the labels slapped on Sabeans, who leaves Baghdad hoping to find freedom in a small village. Yet, as soon as he arrives, he is recognized as the “Sabean,” and his life takes a new turn, such that he not only faces the myths about Sabeans but the village’s inner darkness.
“In Makhzangi’s world, existence unfolds through affection, love, and memory, all leading toward that last serene surrender. Death is therefore not an end but the ultimate form of belonging, the moment when everything returns to the vast, breathing rhythm of life itself.”
This sharply satirical short story, published in Sidqi’s 1962 short-story collection of the same name, is a satire that follows the story of a real-life fellow Arab Communist from Haifa who returned from Russia and got rich profiteering off a war-relief charity.
“After the genocide, / the genocide.”
Three months ago, ArabLit contributor Asmaa Dwaima lost her sister, who was martyred along with her little son. This poem is for her sister, Rewaa.
Nineteen-year-old poet Marah Muhammad Al-Khatib is a student in data science in Gaza who is one of the laureates of ArabLit’s Summer 2025 Gaza Literary Translation Series; her work has appeared in Spanish with Elvantodelsuimangr and Gaza Tarevista.
A classic office farce from Al-Sahhar’s collection “Being a Civil Servant,” published in 1944.
