Yasmine Zohdi Makes Caine Prize Shortlist
Egyptian author-translator Yasmine Zohdi is one of five writers shortlisted for this year’s Caine Prize, which celebrates short stories by African authors.
Egyptian author-translator Yasmine Zohdi is one of five writers shortlisted for this year’s Caine Prize, which celebrates short stories by African authors.
This summer, we will run select pieces from summer issues of ArabLit Quarterly. This short story, by author Muhammad El-Hajj, tr. author-translator Yasmine Zohdi, ran in the summer 2019 SEA issue of the magazine, available as PDF, e-pub, and in print.
“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.”
Her mother’s old saying swung in her head like a pendulum: “Life is an unfortunate mess.”
Includes the perfect hot-and-sweet late-summer story from Muhammad al-Hajj, in pitch-perfect translation by Yasmine Zohdi.