Is the ‘Zone of Translation’ a ‘War Zone’?
At the end of this month, a School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS)-organized translation conference will kick off in London with a discussion of Arabic-English “translation and the post-modern.”
Sinan Antoon
Iraqi Literature in Translation: A Brief Introduction
Yet Iraqi literature continues, somehow, to blossom. There are older writers Fadhil al-Azzawi and Muhammad Khudayyir still at work (although the former in exile), and much younger ones, too: Thirtysomething Iraqi Hassan Blassim has been called “perhaps the best writer of Arabic fiction alive.”
For Your Thursday Afternoon: (Arab and) Arabic Poetry
Adonis is still working on poetry, but next—his memoirs.
Poet Saadi Youssef on the Beauty of Arabic and Difficulties of Translation
“First of all, I can’t write poetry in any other language. Impossible. I have to write in Arabic because each language has its own history and Arabic is my history. I consider Arabic to be the most beautiful language.”
What is ‘Distinctive’ About Arab-American Writing?
On the heels of Banipal 38: Arab American Authors (although he doesn’t mention the collection), the HuffPost’s Anis Shivani asked 10 Arab American writers: “What is distinctive about Arab-American writing today?”
Excerpt of Sinan Antoon’s New Novel, The Pomegranate Alone, on Jadaliyya
The Pomegranate Alone, released this summer in Arabic, is Sinan Antoon’s second novel. Antoon has also published two collections of poetry (only Baghdad Blues is available in English) and translated Mahmoud Darwish’s In the Presence of Absence, which will be forthcoming from Archipelago next spring.
Where to Find the Best Arab American Poets…
If you’re looking for it, there are a number of places to seek out excellent Arab American poets. They are celebrated individually (Khaled Mattawa just won a major poetry award) and as a group, as in the most recent Banipal (38).
Summer (Arabic) Literary Events in Cairo and the U.K.
CAIRO I think tonight, June 11, I’m going to the signing of Khaled al-Berry’s new novel (I have strongly recommended his memoir, Life is More Beautiful Than Paradise). I don’t […]
Sinan Antoon’s New Novel Available ‘in the Next 2 Weeks’
Above is the beautiful cover of Sinan Antoon‘s new novel The Pomegranate Alone, designed by Mohammad Al-Shammarey. The book should be out in the next two weeks from al-Mu’assassa ‘l-`Arabiyya […]