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Soft Power Feb 02, 2018

Show notes

We discussed our recent readings. This includes some early foreign reporting on Morocco, which is both vivid and prejudiced; a moving account of the way Moroccan political prisoners clung to their memories and their words and refused to be fully “disappeared” during the country’s decades of repression; and a collection of beautifully translate and unusual folktales, shared by Lebanese women with each other. We also discussed the Cairo Book Fair, whose official theme this year is “Soft Power…How?”

Show notes

Walter Harris’s (1866-1933) Morocco That Was is the book Ursula is considering “hate-teaching”. Harris was a British journalist and socialite who worked as a correspondent for The Times. The book can be read
The Performance of Human Rights in Moroccoby Susan Slyomovics looks at the words (literary and otherwise) that sent Moroccans to jail during the Hassan II years; the attempts to make peoples and their stories disappear; and the words that eventually exposed the terrible abuses of the “Years of Lead.”
The Return by Hicham Matar explores secret prisons in Libya under Ghaddafi, in search of a trace of the author’s kidnapped father.
Pearls on a Branch, by Najlaa Khoury, tr. Inea Bushnaqis forthcoming from Archipelago books March 2018. This ridiculously delightful folktale collection is based around work Khoury collected in Lebanon during the civil war, many of which became stage productions. A collection of them was published in Arabic in 2014, and soon they’ll be available in Bushnaq’s fun, luminous, inventive translation.
Moroccan Folktales, ed. Jilali El Koudia, translated by Jilali El Koudia and Roger Allen with a critical analysis by Hasan M. El-Shamy, is newly available as a paperback from Syracuse University Press this February 2018.
The Cairo Book Fair runs this year through February 10, 2018.
“The Rise and Fall of Egyptian Arabic” can be found on The Economist.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El Sisi’s ominous recent speech. Sisi is running for a second term against just one other candidate, who turns out to be a great fan of his.

"He had electoral tendencies and wanted to nominate himself.
But, thank God, he's back to feeling better!!"@abdalla_cartoon in today's Al-Masry Al-Youm, the privatey-owned Egyptian paper, where the jokes on the forthcoming presidential balloting have been riotous. pic.twitter.com/snyE7NKeqv
— Jonathan Guyer (@mideastXmidwest) January 30, 2018

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6: Court Jesters and Black Mirrors Jan 20, 2018

Show notes

In this episode we discuss Moroccan literature about the country’s “years of lead” and its formidable and ruthless former king Hassan II; and about the relationship between humour, fear and power. We look at literary awards and what they are good for, and why Arablit has decided to create a new award. And we ask: how much contemporary Arabic literature is “dystopian”?

Show notes

Youssef Fadel’s “Moroccan trilogy” will appear from Hoopoe Fiction. They have already brought out A Beautiful White Cat Walks with Me(translated by Alexander Elinson) and A Rare Blue Bird Flies with Me(translated by Jonathan Smolin), and Elinson is at work on the novel Farah, which would translate to Joy, but will instead be translated as A Shimmering Red Fish Swims with Me.
Mahi Binebine’s Le Fou du Roi(The King’s Fool) is, like A Beautiful White Cat Walks with Me, inspired by the figure of Hassan II’s court jester, Binebine’s father, as well as Binebine’s brother, who was imprisoned in the infamous Tazmamart prison. Aziz Binebine is one of a number of former Tazmamart prisoners to have written memoirs. His is Tazmamort.
Yassin Adnan’s Hot Marocwas longlisted for the 2017 International Prize for Arabic Fiction and is currently being translated by Alexander Elinson.
The ArabLit Story Prize is currently raising funds for its first edition.
The International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF) released its 2018 longlist on Wednesday, January 17. Many of the novelists are well-known authors; eight have been on previous IPAF longlists. The longlisted novel The Baghdad Clock, by Shahad El Rawi, has already been translated by Luke Leafgren and will appear in April from Oneworld. Amjad Nasser’s Here is the Rosehas been longlisted; his previous novel, Land of No Rain, was beautifully translated by Jonathan Wright. The shortlisted The Frightened Ones, by Dima Wannous, is already out in Italian translation, Quelli che hanno paura.
Sonallah Ibrahim’s famous refusal of the Arab Novel Award from the Egyptian Ministry of Culture is discussed in this profile.
Yasmine Seal’s article, “After the Revolution,” about three Egyptian novels she considers dystopian, in Harpers’ magazine.
It was Robin Moger who asked us to stop describing so much Arabic literature as “dystopian.” The (maybe-sometimes-dystopias) discussed were Basma Abdel Aziz’s The Queue, translated by Elisabeth Jaquette; Ezzedine Choukri Fishere’s No Exit; Mohamed Rabie’s Otared, translated by Robin Moger; Ahmed Naji’s Using Life, translated by Ben Koerber; Nael El-Toukhy’s Women of Karantina, translated by Robin Moger; and Ahmed Khaled Towfiq’s Utopia, translated by Chip Rossetti.

Court Jesters and Black Mirrors Jan 20, 2018

Show notes

Youssef Fadel’s “Moroccan trilogy” will appear from Hoopoe Fiction. They have already brought out A Beautiful White Cat Walks with Me(translated by Alexander Elinson) and A Rare Blue Bird Flies with Me(translated by Jonathan Smolin), and Elinson is at work on the novel Farah, which would translate to Joy, but will instead be translated as A Shimmering Red Fish Swims with Me.
Mahi Binebine’s Le Fou du Roi(The King’s Fool) is, like A Beautiful White Cat Walks with Me, inspired by the figure of Hassan II’s court jester, Binebine’s father, as well as Binebine’s brother, who was imprisoned in the infamous Tazmamart prison. Aziz Binebine is one of a number of former Tazmamart prisoners to have written memoirs. His is Tazmamort.
Yassin Adnan’s Hot Marocwas longlisted for the 2017 International Prize for Arabic Fiction and is currently being translated by Alexander Elinson.
The ArabLit Story Prize is currently raising funds for its first edition.
The International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF) released its 2018 longlist on Wednesday, January 17. Many of the novelists are well-known authors; eight have been on previous IPAF longlists. The longlisted novel The Baghdad Clock, by Shahad El Rawi, has already been translated by Luke Leafgren and will appear in April from Oneworld. Amjad Nasser’s Here is the Rosehas been longlisted; his previous novel, Land of No Rain, was beautifully translated by Jonathan Wright. The shortlisted The Frightened Ones, by Dima Wannous, is already out in Italian translation, Quelli che hanno paura.
Sonallah Ibrahim’s famous refusal of the Arab Novel Award from the Egyptian Ministry of Culture is discussed in this profile.
Yasmine Seal’s article, “After the Revolution,” about three Egyptian novels she considers dystopian, in Harpers’ magazine.
It was Robin Moger who asked us to stop describing so much Arabic literature as “dystopian.” The (maybe-sometimes-dystopias) discussed were Basma Abdel Aziz’s The Queue, translated by Elisabeth Jaquette; Ezzedine Choukri Fishere’s No Exit; Mohamed Rabie’s Otared, translated by Robin Moger; Ahmed Naji’s Using Life, translated by Ben Koerber; Nael El-Toukhy’s Women of Karantina, translated by Robin Moger; and Ahmed Khaled Towfiq’s Utopia, translated by Chip Rossetti.

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5: Sacred Cows Jan 05, 2018

Show notes

In this episode of BULAQ we highlight several new and forthcoming translations from Arabic to English. We also discuss the newly translated Concerto Al Quds by the renowned Syrian poet Adonis, as well as Adonis’ own status as an artist and public intellectual, and his stance on religion and revolution.

Show notes

ArabLit’s list of works forthcoming in translation Winter-Springis available online. Do keep in mind that, with smaller publishers, release dates can shift.

Banthology, ed Sarah Cleave, part of Comma Press’s “banned nations showcase,” is appearing this January 2018 in the UK, and from Deep Vellum in the US in March. The stories are by Anoud (Iraq), Wajdi al-Ahdal (Yemen), Ubah Cristina Ali Farah (Somalia), Najwa Bin Shatwan (Libya), Rania Mamoun (Sudan), Fereshteh Molavi (Iran) & Zaher Omareen (Syria).

The Iraqi author Hassan Blassim has published several collections of stories with Comma Press, and edited the collection Iraq +100.

Frankenstein in Baghdad, by Ahmed Saadawi, translated by Jonathan Wright, is forthcoming from Penguin Random this month, as we celebrate the 200-year anniversary of the publication of Frankenstein. It won the 2014 International Prize for Arabic Fiction.

Arwa Salih’s Stillborn,translated by Samah Selim, is forthcoming from Seagull Books this month.

Jabbour Doauihy’s Printed in Beirutis forthcoming from Interlink this March, in Paula Haydar’s translation. His great liar-narrator referred to is Eliyya in June Rain (also translated by Haydar)and the Christian-Muslim confusion is in his Homeless, sometimes translated as Chased Away.

Pearls on a Branch: Tales From the Arab World Told by Women, collected by Najla Jraissaty Khoury, translated by Inea Bushnaq, is forthcoming from Archipelago. Used copies of Bushnaq’s delightful Arab Folktales, published in 1986, can still be found.

Concerto al-Quds, by Adonis, translated by Khaled Mattawa, was released this month by Yale University Press. Two essays we mentioned were “The Man Who Remade Arabic Poetry,” by Robyn Creswell, and Sinan Antoon’s “The Arab Spring and Adonis’s Autumn.” You can also read Kareem James Abu-Zeid’s response to Antoon’s essay, and Antoon’s critique of Mattawa’s previous translation, Adonis: Selected Poems.

Sacred Cows Jan 05, 2018

Show notes

ArabLit’s list of works forthcoming in translation Winter-Springis available online. Do keep in mind that, with smaller publishers, release dates can shift.

The Iraqi author Hassan Blassim has published several collections of stories with Comma Press, and edited the collection Iraq +100.

Arwa Salih’s Stillborn,translated by Samah Selim, is forthcoming from Seagull Books this month.

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4: No Happy Endings Dec 23, 2017

Show notes

In this episode, we look back at 2017 about talk books published in the past year: notable books, favorite books, books we felt were overlooked, books we don't quite agree on, and books we can't wait to read. We also discuss how not to write about "discovering" Arabic and the Arab world.

Show notes

ArabLit's "Arab Authors' Favorites of 2017" list is available online. Some of the most frequently mentioned books on the list were works of non-fiction: Haitham al-Wardany's Book of Sleep, Iman Mersal's How to Heal: Motherhood and Its Ghosts, and Charles Aql's Coptic Food.
A translation of Mersal's book was funded by Mophradat as part of their Kayfa Ta series and brought to English-language life by Robin Moger, although the publisher is still TBA.
Maan Abu Taleb's All the Battles was also translated by Robin Moger.
Zeina Hashem Beck's poetry collection Louder than Hearts was one of MLQ's biggest discoveries of 2017.
Ezzedine Choukri Fishere's Embrace at Brooklyn Bridge, translated by John Peate, was one of the underappreciated novels of 2017. Fishere's Exit Door has been signed by Hoopoe Fiction, and an excerpt from Fishere's 2017 novel All That Rot, translated by Jonathan Smolin, appeared at Words Without Borders.
Omar al-Akkad's American War has already been translated to Arabic and published by the UAE-based Rewayat.
American War was on the list of 2017 books of note Ursula made for the web site Al Fanar. Also on the list, Bad Girls of the Arab World, a collection of scholarly writing and essays edited by Nadia Yaqub and the late Rula Quawas, published by University of Texas Press.
Mustafa Khalifa's devastating prison novel The Shell has been translated by Paul Starkey and was published by Interlink.
"The Fine Art of Learning to Say Nothing in Arabic," by Adam Valen Levinson, excerpted from the Abu Dhabi Bar Mitzvah and recently published on LitHub, has come in for considerable criticism online.
On the other hand, there is writing about learning Arabic that we have loved: "Matthew McNaught's Yarmouk Miniature," published in N+1; Amitav Ghosh's In an Antique Land; and I.Y. Kratchovsky's wonderful Among Arabic Manuscripts, translated from the Russian by Tatiana Minorsky.
The Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature was presented on December 11 to Palestinian novelist, poet, and short-story writer Huzama Habayeb, for her 2016 novel Velvet. You can read a short profile and interview with the author in The National.

No Happy Endings Dec 23, 2017

Show notes

ArabLit's "Arab Authors' Favorites of 2017" list is available online. Some of the most frequently mentioned books on the list were works of non-fiction: Haitham al-Wardany's Book of Sleep, Iman Mersal's How to Heal: Motherhood and Its Ghosts, and Charles Aql's Coptic Food.
A translation of Mersal's book was funded by Mophradat as part of their Kayfa Ta series and brought to English-language life by Robin Moger, although the publisher is still TBA.
Maan Abu Taleb's All the Battles was also translated by Robin Moger.
Zeina Hashem Beck's poetry collection Louder than Hearts was one of MLQ's biggest discoveries of 2017.
Ezzedine Choukri Fishere's Embrace at Brooklyn Bridge, translated by John Peate, was one of the underappreciated novels of 2017. Fishere's Exit Door has been signed by Hoopoe Fiction, and an excerpt from Fishere's 2017 novel All That Rot, translated by Jonathan Smolin, appeared at Words Without Borders.
Omar al-Akkad's American War has already been translated to Arabic and published by the UAE-based Rewayat.
American War was on the list of 2017 books of note Ursula made for the web site Al Fanar. Also on the list, Bad Girls of the Arab World, a collection of scholarly writing and essays edited by Nadia Yaqub and the late Rula Quawas, published by University of Texas Press.
Mustafa Khalifa's devastating prison novel The Shell has been translated by Paul Starkey and was published by Interlink.
"The Fine Art of Learning to Say Nothing in Arabic," by Adam Valen Levinson, excerpted from the Abu Dhabi Bar Mitzvah and recently published on LitHub, has come in for considerable criticism online.
On the other hand, there is writing about learning Arabic that we have loved: "Matthew McNaught's Yarmouk Miniature," published in N+1; Amitav Ghosh's In an Antique Land; and I.Y. Kratchovsky's wonderful Among Arabic Manuscripts, translated from the Russian by Tatiana Minorsky.
The Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature was presented on December 11 to Palestinian novelist, poet, and short-story writer Huzama Habayeb, for her 2016 novel Velvet. You can read a short profile and interview with the author in The National.

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3: Palestinian literature: regrets, tough choices and teen adventures Dec 08, 2017

Show notes

President Trump just recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel – a move that acknowledges only a single Israeli narrative. We discuss Palestinian writers and how they write about their relationships with Israelis; about living with trauma and danger; about coming of age under occupation. We also look at the emerging field of children’s and young adult literature in Arabic. Show notesRaja Shehadehis a Ramallah-based author and attorney who has written a number of celebrated books, including Strangers in This House (2002), Palestinian Walks (2008), winner of the Orwell Prize; A Rift in Time: Travels with My Ottoman Uncle (2010), and the book that was at the focus in this episode, Where the Line is Drawn: Crossing Boundaries in Occupied Palestine (2017). Ursula wrote recently about his life and his work for The Nation The Palestine Festival for Literature, created by writers Adhaf Soueif and Omar Robert Hamilton, brings authors, bloggers and journalists from around the world to Palestine every year. You can learn about it here: http://palfest.orgIbrahim Nasrallah is a prolific Jordanian-Palestinian poet and novelist who has won numerous awards. His Time of White Horses, translated by Nancy Roberts, was shortlisted for the 2009 International Prize for Arabic Fiction, and his Gaza Weddings, also tr. Roberts, has just been released in English. An excerpt is available online.The Drone Eats With Me, by Atef Abu Saif, was written during the summer of 2014, when Gaza was under siege. Abu Saif did a 2015 residency in London through the Delfina Foundation.Mahmoud Darwish’s Memory for Forgetfulness was translated by Ibrahim Muhawi, who has a gift for finding the rhythms in Darwish’s prose.Mazen Maarouf, Palestinian-Icelandic poet and short-story writer,won the inaugural Almultaqa Prize for the Arabic Short Story in 2016 for his Jokes for the Gunmen, forthcoming in Jonathan Wright’s translation from Portobello Books. This year’s prize, announced December 4, went the Syrian author Shahla Ujayli’s Bed of the King’s Daughter. Sam Wilder’s luminous translation of Ghassan Zaqtan’s Describing the Pastwas, disappointingly, not on this year’s four-book Banipal Translation Prize shortlist. Palestinian authors have also been leaders in the new movement toward Arabic Young Adult literature. Sonia Nimr is a past winner of the Etisalat Award for Arabic Children’s Literature, in the Young Adult category, and Palestinian YA writer Ahlam Bsharat has also been shortlisted. Bsharat’s Code Name: Butterflywas translated by Nancy Roberts and shortlisted fort this year’s Palestine Book Awards. The two other Arabic YA novels that have been translated into English are Fatima Sharafeddine’s Faten, translated by the author as The Servantand Emily Nasrallah’s What Happened to Zeeko, translated by the late Denys Johnson-Davies. Other works discussed include Rania Amin’s Screaming Behind Doors, winner of the 2016 Etisalat Prize for Arabic Children’s Literature in the YA category, Sonia Nimr’s Thunderbird and Taghreed Najjar’s One Day the Sun Will Shine,Sitt al-Koll, and Mystery of the Falcon’s Eye. It was 2003 when Sonallah Ibrahim famously and publicly turned down the Egyptian Ministry of Culture’s 100,000LE State Prize, saying that the government hadn’t the credibility to grant it. Sidewalk Salon is the book of 1001 Cairo street chairs. Marcia was incorrect; editors raised half of their $19,000 crowdfunding goal.Books mentioned in this podcast Palestinian Walks: Forays into a Vanishing Landscape By Raja Shehadeh Buy on Amazon Strangers in the House: Coming of Age in Occupied Palestine By Raja Shehadeh Buy on Amazon Where the Line Is Drawn: A Tale of Crossings, Friendships, and Fifty Years of Occupation in Israel-Palestine By Raja Shehadeh Buy on Amazon Time of White Horses: A Novel (Hoopoe Fiction) By Ibrahim Nasrallah Buy on Amazon Gaza Weddings: A Novel (Hoopoe Fiction) By Ibrahim Nasrallah Buy on Amazon The Drone Eats with Me: A Gaza Diary By Atef Abu Saif Buy on Amazon Memory for Forgetfulness: August, Beirut, 1982 (Literature of the Middle East) By Mahmoud Darwish Buy on Amazon Describing the Past (The Arab List) By Ghassan Zaqtan Buy on Amazon Ghaddar the Ghoul and other Palestinian Stories (Folktales from Around the World) By Sonia Nimr Buy on Amazon A Little Piece of Ground By Elizabeth Laird Buy on Amazon Code Name: Butterfly By Ahlam Bsharat Buy on Amazon The Servant By Fatima Sharafeddine Buy on Amazon What Happened to Zeeko By Emily Nasrallah Buy on Amazon Sidewalk Salon Cairo: 1001 Street Chairs of Cairo (OMP) By Manar Moursi and David Puig Buy on Amazon

Full show notes at the publisher

Palestinian literature: regrets, tough choices and teen adventures Dec 08, 2017

Show notes

President Trump just recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel – a move that acknowledges only a single Israeli narrative. We discuss Palestinian writers and how they write about their relationships with Israelis; about living with trauma and danger; about coming of age under occupation. We also look at the emerging field of children’s and young adult literature in Arabic.Show notesRaja Shehadehis a Ramallah-based author and attorney who has written a number of celebrated books, including Strangers in This House (2002), Palestinian Walks (2008), winner of the Orwell Prize; A Rift in Time: Travels with My Ottoman Uncle (2010), and the book that was at the focus in this episode, Where the Line is Drawn: Crossing Boundaries in Occupied Palestine (2017). Ursula wrote recently about his life and his work for The Nation The Palestine Festival for Literature, created by writers Adhaf Soueif and Omar Robert Hamilton, brings authors, bloggers and journalists from around the world to Palestine every year. You can learn about it here: http://palfest.orgIbrahim Nasrallah is a prolific Jordanian-Palestinian poet and novelist who has won numerous awards. His Time of White Horses, translated by Nancy Roberts, was shortlisted for the 2009 International Prize for Arabic Fiction, and his Gaza Weddings, also tr. Roberts, has just been released in English. An excerpt is available online.The Drone Eats With Me, by Atef Abu Saif, was written during the summer of 2014, when Gaza was under siege. Abu Saif did a 2015 residency in London through the Delfina Foundation.Mahmoud Darwish’s Memory for Forgetfulness was translated by Ibrahim Muhawi, who has a gift for finding the rhythms in Darwish’s prose.Mazen Maarouf, Palestinian-Icelandic poet and short-story writer,won the inaugural Almultaqa Prize for the Arabic Short Story in 2016 for his Jokes for the Gunmen, forthcoming in Jonathan Wright’s translation from Portobello Books. This year’s prize, announced December 4, went the Syrian author Shahla Ujayli’s Bed of the King’s Daughter. Sam Wilder’s luminous translation of Ghassan Zaqtan’s Describing the Pastwas, disappointingly, not on this year’s four-book Banipal Translation Prize shortlist. Palestinian authors have also been leaders in the new movement toward Arabic Young Adult literature. Sonia Nimr is a past winner of the Etisalat Award for Arabic Children’s Literature, in the Young Adult category, and Palestinian YA writer Ahlam Bsharat has also been shortlisted. Bsharat’s Code Name: Butterflywas translated by Nancy Roberts and shortlisted fort this year’s Palestine Book Awards. The two other Arabic YA novels that have been translated into English are Fatima Sharafeddine’s Faten, translated by the author as The Servantand Emily Nasrallah’s What Happened to Zeeko, translated by the late Denys Johnson-Davies. Other works discussed include Rania Amin’s Screaming Behind Doors, winner of the 2016 Etisalat Prize for Arabic Children’s Literature in the YA category, Sonia Nimr’s Thunderbird and Taghreed Najjar’s One Day the Sun Will Shine,Sitt al-Koll, and Mystery of the Falcon’s Eye. It was 2003 when Sonallah Ibrahim famously and publicly turned down the Egyptian Ministry of Culture’s 100,000LE State Prize, saying that the government hadn’t the credibility to grant it. Sidewalk Salon is the book of 1001 Cairo street chairs. Marcia was incorrect; editors raised half of their $19,000 crowdfunding goal.Books mentioned in this podcast Palestinian Walks: Forays into a Vanishing Landscape By Raja Shehadeh Strangers in the House: Coming of Age in Occupied Palestine By Raja Shehadeh Where the Line Is Drawn: A Tale of Crossings, Friendships, and Fifty Years of Occupation in Israel-Palestine By Raja Shehadeh Time of White Horses: A Novel (Hoopoe Fiction) By Ibrahim Nasrallah Gaza Weddings: A Novel (Hoopoe Fiction) By Ibrahim Nasrallah The Drone Eats with Me: A Gaza Diary By Atef Abu Saif Memory for Forgetfulness: August, Beirut, 1982 (Literature of the Middle East) By Mahmoud Darwish Describing the Past (The Arab List) By Ghassan Zaqtan Ghaddar the Ghoul and other Palestinian Stories (Folktales from Around the World) By Sonia Nimr A Little Piece of Ground By Elizabeth Laird Code Name: Butterfly By Ahlam Bsharat The Servant By Fatima Sharafeddine What Happened to Zeeko By Emily Nasrallah Sidewalk Salon Cairo: 1001 Street Chairs of Cairo (OMP) By Manar Moursi and David Puig Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Full show notes at the publisher