"Usefully, the Banipal list is not just a list, but also includes brief introductions to both the works and their authors, as well as some contextualization."
Egypt’s Sixties Generation Novelists on the Nation and Revolution
In his essay yesterday about "State Culture, State Anarchy," Elliott Colla very briefly touched on author Sonallah Ibrahim's 2003 put-down of the Egyptian state cultural apparatus.
Shorouk-Penguin Partnership Inked: Project Seeks to Improve Translations in Arabic, English
Last night at Cairo's Manial Palace, Penguin International President Andrew Phillips and Dar El Shorouk Chair Ibrahim El Moallem formally signed themselves into a partnership that was more than a year in the making: a joint Shorouk-Penguin project that will bring out both Penguin classics and local titles in Arabic.
Gamal al-Ghitani to Arabic Booker Nomination: No, Thank You
August Egyptian author Gamal al-Ghitani (Zayni Barakat, The Zafarani Files) announced last week that he's rejected a nomination for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction, or the "Arabic Booker."
/Re:Viewing Egypt/ and More on Photography, Literature and Egypt
Re:Viewing Egypt, a book of photographs by Xavier Roy (pictured, with a copy) and text by Gamal al-Ghitani (Zayni Barakat, Zafarani Files), is now available in the U.K. from Haus Press.
Notes: Portal for Arabic iBooks Coming Soon, ‘Jordan Festival’ Eschews Lit, Abu Dhabi Fair Cuts Back Invites
In the last few days, a number of stories have seemed worth mentioning---but they're stories about which I don't have enough knowledge to comment. So I thought I'd do as others do, and make a list of links.
Gamal al-Ghitani on the 1,001 Nights and the Egyptian Cultural Scene
Gamal al-Ghitani is interviewed in this week's Qantara, mostly on the topic of the latest legal wrangling over 1,001 Nights. With all due respect to a greater literary mind, I must disagree with al-Ghitani's statement that there is no government censorship of media (newspapers can, for instance, criticize Hosni now?). However, I certainly agree that … Continue reading Gamal al-Ghitani on the 1,001 Nights and the Egyptian Cultural Scene
Taha Hussein on the Debate over Banning 1,001 Nights
All right, the dean of Arabic literature died in 1973, so I couldn't have asked his opinion on the matter. And no, Taha Hussein did not appear to me in a dream, a vision, or a puff of smoke in order to weigh in on the proposed ban of this literary classic. But there is … Continue reading Taha Hussein on the Debate over Banning 1,001 Nights
