Amina Zaydan

Review of Amina Zaydan’s Mahfouz Medal-winning ‘Red Wine’

Unfortunately, extra production time has not meant a smooth English version of this compelling and complex novel. The translation has too many strangely turned-out sentences, which mimic the Arabic but fail to clearly express the essence of the prose.Continue Reading

Nope, a Woman ‘Won’t Win the Arabic Booker’ in 2011

Yesterday, Youm 7 quoted Amina Zaydan—who has won the prestigious Naguib Mahfouz medal for her novel Red Wine—as saying you shouldn’t put your money on a female “Arabic Booker” winner this year.Continue Reading

An Excerpt from Faleeha Hassan’s ‘War And Me’
“From the events I recount in this memoir, you will understand that next to my name in the Unknown World or beside it at the moment I was born, the only comment inscribed must have been: ‘Faleeha Hassan will coexist with war for most of the years of her life.'”
Sudanese Writer Reem Gaafar Makes 2023 Island Prize Longlist
Organizers have announced the longlist for the 2023 Island Prize for a Debut Novel from Africa.
Rewriting National History from a Personal Perspective: Hiyem Cheurfa on Arab Women’s Life Writing
This March, Hiyem Cheurfa’s new book Contemporary Arab Women’s Life Writing and the Politics of Resistance appeared as part of Edinburgh Studies in Modern Arabic Literature series. In it, Cheurfa takes us on a journey through a number of women’s memoirs, written in the context of twenty-first century uprisings. In this conversation, the author talks about the challenges and the difficulties of writing this book and how the texts she studied changed her life.
Lit & Found: ‘Sudanese Novels Through Time’
Over at Kotobli, they have posted a new list; this time, of Sudanese novels through time. The list was curated by Sudanese-American writer Razan Idris.