On ‘Fighting Ideological Fantasy with Fiction’
Several authors who contributed short stories to the collection spoke about their thoughts on the collapse of time, historical continuities and the notion of fighting ideological fantasy with fiction.
Shrinking Language, Bursting Memory
“Under siege, time is stolen piece by piece, and language shrinks to match the narrow space it is allowed. People abandon long sentences because every additional word must justify the power it consumes, the battery it drains, the risk it takes in that particular minute.”
Listening to Voices with Hoda Barakat
This is part of an interview with the Lebanese author Hoda Barakat that took place on September 30 2025. It has been translated from French and edited for clarity and length. You can also listen to the BULAQ episode based on this interview, in which we also discuss Barakat’s unique life journey and works.
In Translation: Blurring the Line Between the Real and the Ludicrous
This December 15, Dar Arab is set to publish Belal Fadl’s The Completely True Tales of Um Mimi and Shari The Adulterer, brought to English by first-time translator Osama Hammad. This darkly humorous coming-of-age is set in a grittily, over-the-top, darkly funny 1990s Cairo. It was originally published in Arabic in 2021 and longlisted for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction in 2022. Here, Hammad talks about how he came to translate this novel, the challenges of translating humor, and what makes this novel so special.
A Single, Slow Exorcism: The Nakba Dreamed Backwards
From the very first lines of her introduction, editor Basma Ghalayani thrusts us right into a hurried, pulsing Gaza. A passerby asks a Gazan sprinting down the street if something has happened. He answers, “no, but it might.”
Short Fiction in Translation: ‘Child’s Tears’ by Yasmeen Hanoosh
“Even language began to fade. The family forgot the words for their old routines and couldn’t replace them with new ones fast enough.”
Banipal Prize Announces 2025’s 6-book Shortlist
Today, the Banipal Trust for Arab Literature announced the six-book shortlist for their 2025 prize: “two comic works, an historical epic, a dystopian fiction, a prison memoir, and an eco-novel from the Gulf.”
Forthcoming December 2025: Satire and Contemporary Arab Theater in Translation
As publication dates often slip — and new books surface — we try to have a glance at what’s really (to the best of our knowledge) coming in translation from Arabic at the start of each month.
Starting Tomorrow: Read Palestine Week
As in previous years, the 2025 READ PALESTINE WEEK will run from November 29-December 5.