‘He Dies for As Long As Possible’
This short piece appeared, in a slightly different form, in the SONG issue of ArabLit Quarterly in the Spring of 2021.
Najwa Bin Shatwan
From Najwa Bin Shatwan’s ‘Tree of Soap’
Libyan writer Najwa Binshatwan’s latest novel, شجرة الصابون (Tree of Soap, Dar Arab 2026) unfolds with her signature sarcastic-surrealism. In this world, the State encourages citizens to express themselves, ensures their participation, and provides them everything necessary to practice democracy. Nothing is forced, exactly; it’s just that absence is unwelcome and silence requires explanation.
New Frontiers for Arabic Literature & Translation
This special event taking place as part of the Dubai Expo is for literary translators, publishers, writers and other professionals involved in Arabic literature and translation.
The American Way: Stories of Invasion, with Fariba Nawa and Bina Shah
The American Way: Stories of Invasion re-examines US foreign policy with stories that explore the human cost of these interventions on foreign soil, by writers from that soil. It features, among many other writers, stories by Najwa Bin Shatwan, Hassan Blasim, and Lina Meruane.
On Poets and Stadiums: Announcing the Fall 2021 FOOTBALL-themed Issue of ArabLit Quarterly
“When Naguib Mahfouz was a boy, he tells us, two paths lay before him. There was the path of the literature he loved to read and write. He could take that path and become a distinguished author. There was also the path of the football he loved to play and the footballers he admired. He could take that, it was said, and become a member of the Egyptian Olympic football team.”
Winner of 2019 ArabLit Story Prize: ‘The Sharp Bend at Al-Bakur’
“The story suggests that the innocent dead were sacrificed for the vanity of those in power and those who seek it.”
Shortlist for 2019 ArabLit Story Prize
After a good deal of debate, the judges of the 2019 ArabLit Story Prize settled on a four-story shortlist, with works by Mahmoud Hosny, Najwa Bin Shatwan, Mohamed Al-Ashry, and Samar Nour.
An Excerpt from Najwa Bin Shatwan’s International Prize for Arabic Fiction-shortlisted ‘Slave Pens’
“Why scrape off my scabbed wound now, Haj Ali? Why prolong tales after the season of their telling has passed?”