10 Years, 10 Books: The Changes to the Landscape of Kuwaiti Literature in English
In the years since, the landscape of Kuwaiti literature written in English — or translated to English — has changed significantly.
Kuwait
Cover Talk: Ahmed Alrefaie, Artist Behind FOLK Issue Cover Art
The cover art of our Winter 2021 FOLK-themed issue, guest-edited by Ali Al-Jamri, is by Kuwaiti illustrator and graphic designer Ahmed Alrefaie.
An Excerpt from Eman Assad’s ‘No Sun in the Closed Room’
“And oh, he was so ready to see the look on his uncle’s face once he realized his magic wand had betrayed him.”
Novelist Eman Assad on Belonging and Identity in Kuwait
“Our identity was wholly attached [to our father’s], and a new duty was put in place, whereby you needed to express your loyalty to Kuwait. And how do you do that? By accepting the insulting names your country is called without objection.”
Post-Liberation Kuwait: Finding the Sun in the Summer of 1991
“Eman Assad successfully captures the complexities of this struggle between Kuwaitis and Palestinians, and the lives of the “halfsies”; those who fall in between, not knowing exactly where to land, as they’re being constantly pushed by one group toward the other. Eman doesn’t leave Ghassan in Kuwait’s glowing and beaming September sun; instead, she hints at a return.”
‘No Sun in the Closed Room’: An Exploration of Kuwaiti-Palestinian Identity and Belonging
Writer and translator Jenan Alhamli has put together a special section — with interview, excerpt, and review — to celebrate the 2021 release of Eman Assad’s debut novel, No Sun in the Closed Room, an exploration of Kuwaiti-Palestinian identity and belonging set in late summer, 1991.
Kuwaiti Parliament Votes to Abolish Censorship Committee for Books
“What the law means is that banning will no longer be the default position, whereby, like in the case of Mama Hessa’s Mice, the author has to go to court, at great personal expense, to get it unbanned. Instead the person who wants it banned would have to go to court for a ruling.”
Art Installation at Kuwait Book Fair Protesting Censorship Removed
According to AFP, Saad al-Anzi, who heads the fair, said the information ministry had banned 948 books from among those screened for the fair.
Review: Taleb Elrefai’s ‘Outclassed in Kuwait’
“No Arab writer ever makes that kind of money,” he says. Alrefai’s wife Shoroq also urges him to take payment. “What about our financial problems? My love, please forget about those wretched communist principles you believe in this one time.”
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