‘Have You Seen Afifa, Have You Seen Latifa?’ Recovering History Through Folktales
Every year, we run a special holiday gift on December 25. This year, it’s an essay from our most popular edition, the ArabLit Quarterly FOLK issue,
Ali al-Jamri
New Short Fiction: Mariam Qahtani’s ‘Heavensent Huriyya’
“Suspicion’s bite trailed her gaze as the lazy air played across her vision. She straightened her back as she inspected the grim and miserable faces before her. For those who watched, her matted hair, ragged clothes, and very long fingernails foretold no good will.”
Mariam Qahtani on the Slow Process of Building ‘On Love and Isolation’
“I have what I like to call an “ideal” reader. I write for that reader. I wouldn’t be able to lift a pen if I had to think of every type of reader.”
Launching the FOLK Issue: The Ordinary and Extraordinary That ‘Refuse to Be Erased’
“This issue, our last of the year, is a celebration of stories and poetry that are oral, anti-professional, transgressive, strange, and fantastical. In it, the ordinary and extraordinary people at the margins, as Alaa Murad writes, ‘refuse to be erased.'”
Lit & Found: Three YouTube Panels on Arabic Literature and Translation
“Three recent panels on Arabic literature and translation have appeared on YouTube.”
Between Two Islands: Live
Between Two Islands is an evening of poetry and conversation, exploring the relationship between Bahrain, Britain and the British Bahrainis caught with a foot on either island, co-produced by guest editor of ALQ WINTER 2021, Ali Al-Jamri.
Knowing the Self: Diaspora and Identity through Arabic poetry
If Arabic is a poetic language, what poetry do Arabic-speaking diasporas need to know to understand their identities?
Remembering Bahraini Poet Ghazi Al-Haddad (1961-2021)
“If my tongue was cut, / let it grow back and call out ‘Jamri’”