#WITMonth – ARABLIT & ARABLIT QUARTERLY

Fiction, From ArabLit Quarterly, WiTMonth

#WiTMonth Fiction: ‘The Sharp Bend at Al-Bakur’

This story, from Najwa Binshatwan’s acclaimed 2019 collection, An Ongoing Coincidence, won the ArabLit Story Prize that same year in Sawad Hussain’s translation. We re-run it this year as part of Women in Translation Month.

Lit & Found: Bushra al-Maqtari’s ‘What Have You Left Behind?’ tr. Sawad Hussain

The 2018 book, al-Maqtari said in an interview with al-Madaniya, was an attempt to “resist death through writing”; she added: “It was a simple attempt to document the narrative of the war and its dark memory based on those affected by it. It contains the memories of victims, whose suffering the warring parties insist on deepening and exploiting, and shows how all of the parties in the conflict, in the end, are murderers.”

Lit Lists, WiTMonth

9 Short Stories by Moroccan Women, in Translation

ArabLit Staff This week, we continue our Women in Translation Month (#WiTMonth) Wednesday series of “9 Stories” lists. In 2021, we featured short fiction by Sudanese and South Sudanese women, by Algerian women, by Egyptian […]

Poetry

New Poetry: Four by Aya Nabih, tr. Sara Elkamel

“I have discarded days in the wastebasket to make room for barrenness, and I seriously considered setting them on fire, to do my part in making the world a lighter place.”

Lit Lists, WiTMonth

9 Short Stories by Lebanese Women, in Translation

In this ad hoc anthology, we bring together an oral tale that’s been put to paper; classic stories by Emily Nasrallah and Layla Baalbaki; works by emerging writers like Batoul Fahs; and a graphic story by Lena Merhej.

From ArabLit Quarterly, Poetry

Three Translations of Asmaa Azaizeh’s ‘Dragonflies’

These three translations of Asmaa Azaizeh’s “Dragonflies” appeared in the first issue of ArabLit Quarterly, which came out in the fall of 2018.

Lit & Found: An Excerpt from Hawra Nadawi’s ‘Qismet’

Both novels, as the postscript on Y’alla notes, deal with themes of identity and alienation.

Lit Lists, WiTMonth

9 Short Stories by Palestinian Women, in Translation

#WiTMonth lists are necessarily idiosyncratic, reflecting not only the tastes and knowledge of the list-makers, but also what’s available in translation. In this case, our lists also reflect what’s accessible online.

Lit & Found, WiTMonth

Lit & Found: Three Poems by Taghrid Abdelal

“I will look at your back / if you come down a little closer.”