Bassma Sheikho’s ‘Scream’
“No electricity tonight. / Boredom is about to kill me.”
Alice Holttum
Samar Yazbek’s ‘The Silent Night-Dwellers of Damascus’
This essay, by the extraordinary Syrian writer Samar Yazbek, appears in our latest issue, SYRIA: Fall of Eternity, ed. Ghada Alatrash and Fadi Azzam.
Forthcoming in June: Poems and Essays from Gaza, Short Stories from Syria
As publication dates often slip — and new books surface — we try to have a glance at what’s really coming in translation from Arabic at the start of each month. If you have more books to add, please let us know.
Launching the MIRRORS Issue: Recovering Their Medieval Magic
In the pieces included here, men seem more likely to link mirrors to a past, while for women they are part of an encircling present.
Read Mustafa Taj Aldeen Almosa’s ArabLit Story Prize-winning ‘How Kind They Are,’ Tr. Maisaa Tanjour & Alice Holttum
“They arrested me yesterday evening. The patrol head greeted me in his own way, and I was very surprised: instead of shaking my hand, he warmly shook my face with his fist, causing one of my teeth to fly from my mouth and land on the street.”
Winner of 2021 ArabLit Story Prize Goes to ‘Fresh, Disquieting Translation’ of ‘Compelling and Haunting Tale’
Judge Leri Price said: “Absurd, grotesque, and unsettling, [this story] stays with you, ready at any moment to make solid ground feel that little more unstable beneath your feet.”
2021 ArabLit Story Prize Shortlisted Translators Maisaa Tanjour and Alice Holttum: On the Value of Co-translations
“We are both outsiders and insiders, readers and translators, hence approaching the text from various angles and perspectives which ultimately enriched the translation process and product.”
Judges Choose Inventive, Varied Shortlist for 2021 ArabLit Story Prize
ArabLit is delighted to announce that this year’s judges selected five stories for the shortlist of the 2021 ArabLit Story Prize, by five writers from four countries: Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, and Morocco.