In our third “BETWEEN TWO ARABIC TRANSLATORS” conversation, Yasmeen Hanoosh and Mona Kareem discuss translation work as “a ground to stand on,” the process of removing the “veil of innocence” from literary translation, the small-press and translators’ collectives that Mona is excited about, and more.
As Mona Kareem writes in her introduction to this interview with Egyptian writer Ahmed Naji for The Millions, he has been many types of writer already: “an anonymous blogger, a cultural journalist, […]
Last May, poet-translator team Mona Kareem and Sara Elkamel launched I Will Not Fold These Maps, a collection of Kareems poems translated to English by Elkamel. Among the launch events was one […]
“It doesn’t feel like an Arabic novel any more to me, now that it’s translated,” Hosam Aboul-ela said. “it feels like a really unique novel of Marxist international revolution.”
“If you are trying to avoid reproducing violence or trauma as it is, if you are trying to distill something in it that evokes something that makes it relatable, or accessible to a stranger—to make it vulnerable—humor plays a beautiful role there.”
On Sunday, May 14, ArabLit and the Poetry Translation Centre will co-host a launch event for Mona Kareem’s collection I Will Not Fold These Maps, translated to English by Sara Elkamel.
Join us for the launch of Mona Kareem’s poetry collection *I WILL NOT FOLD THESE MAPS*, with Mona Kareem, translator Sara Elkamel, editor Nashwa Nasreldin, and hosted by ArabLit’s M. Lynx Qualey. Co-organized by the Poetry Translation Centre and ArabLit, this will be an hour of brilliant poetry & vibrant discussion.
“Embrace your invisibility as a superpower.”
Mona Kareem curates the Brooklyn Rail’s 91st Radical Poetry Reading with Mirene Arsanios and Sara Elkamel.
