"For me it’s a little bit like cooking; people say, “if you’re following a recipe then you’re not creating anything.” I don’t agree; you are creating something, you’re creative even if you’re following a recipe."
Rula J. Abisaab on Writing a Novel of Faith, Skepticism, and Violence Through a Camera’s Lens
"I treat my novels and poetry as forms of art, in which I explore all that I do not want to articulate in academic arguments and proofs."
Rula Jurdi Abisaab Wins Khayrallah Prize for Her Novel ‘Camera Obscura’
The Khayrallah Center yesterday announce that the 2020 Khayrallah Prize had been awarded to two artists: novelist Rula Jurdi Abisaab and filmmaker Zayn Alexander.
Friday Finds: Excerpt from Rula Jurdi’s ‘Camera Obscura’
Near the end of the excerpt, as Nour falls asleep, she thinks about how her own father "in a matter of days, transformed into an entirely different person."
maia tabet: Translation and Cooking, Context and Failure
"I'm very, very careful; there are ways that we say things in Arabic which if one were to translate them closely or literally would sound to an English ear as being either sectarian, or religious, or 'backwards,' if you want to put it that way."
Footnoting Arabic Literature (in English): Yay or Nay?
I recently finished reading Elias Khoury's Little Mountain (1977), as translated by the able and lovely Maia Tabet.* The translation, published in 1989, is full of footnotes. (It wasn't until … Continue reading Footnoting Arabic Literature (in English): Yay or Nay?
5 Arabic Books (in English) to Read ‘Before You Die’
Well, perhaps this one was a bit morbid: The "Five Before You Die" was a feature we ran back in the summer 2010; by now, there are now many more … Continue reading 5 Arabic Books (in English) to Read ‘Before You Die’
The Stories of Luay Hamza Abbas
There are two stories by Luay Hamza Abbas in Banipal 37: Iraqi Authors, "The Pictures" and "Ali the Red," and I think they're well worth discussing. The prose---translated by the … Continue reading The Stories of Luay Hamza Abbas