From Reem al-Kamali’s ‘Rose’s Diaries’
Yesterday, we talked with Chip Rossetti about his translation of Reem Al Kamali's International Prize for Arabic Fiction-shortlisted Rose's Diaries. Today, we have an excerpt from the middle of the novel, where the narrator recalls her lost nuclear family. 58. I sighed internally for your sake, Father. All my memories of you were of you putting to sea with sails white like a dove’s wing, but no sooner did the dāʿī winds spring up, each one ...
On Translating a Novel of Might-have-beens in ’60s Dubai
New publishing house ELF Publishing has brought out Emirati author Reem Al Kamali's International Prize for Arabic Fiction-shortlisted Rose's Diaries in Chip Rossetti's English translation. The novel, set in 1960s Dubai, is told through the eyes of a young woman named Ruza who wants a much larger life for herself -- of travel, scholarship, and adventure -- but is hemmed by family after the deaths of her parents. In this conversation, we talk about why ...
From Osama al-Eissa’s ‘The Madmen of Bethlehem’
Osama al-Eissa was shortlisted for this year's International Prize for Arabic Fiction, for his The Seventh Heaven of Jerusalem, awarded to fellow Palestinian writer Basim Khandaqji for his fourth novel, A Mask, the Color of the Sky. Al-Eissa's Madmen of Bethlehem was shortlisted for the 2015 Sheikh Zayed Book Award and has not yet appeared in English translation. This translation was first published on the SZBA website and appears here with permission. From 'The Madmen ...
Fiction
From Reem al-Kamali’s ‘Rose’s Diaries’
Yesterday, we talked with Chip Rossetti about his translation of Reem Al Kamali’s International Prize for Arabic Fiction-shortlisted Rose’s Diaries. Today, we have an excerpt from the middle of the novel, where the narrator recalls her lost nuclear family. 58. I ...
From Osama al-Eissa’s ‘The Madmen of Bethlehem’
Osama al-Eissa was shortlisted for this year’s International Prize for Arabic Fiction, for his The Seventh Heaven of Jerusalem, awarded to fellow Palestinian writer Basim Khandaqji for his fourth novel, A Mask, the Color of the Sky. Al-Eissa’s Madmen of ...
An Excerpt from Falah Raheem’s ‘Hedgehogs on a Hot Day’
In a recent interview, we asked Iraqi writer Duna Ghali which Iraqi writers she recommends; she pointed us to Falah Raheem, whose Hedgehogs on a Hot Day was published to great acclaim in Arabic in 2012. The novel is available now in ...
Poetry
‘Houses That Cling to the Tongue’: New Poetry by Mahmoud Kiralla
Houses That Cling to the Tongue By Mahmoud Kiralla Translated by Tamer Fathy Mabrouk When I was young, the train ...
‘They Prepare for their Weddings’: New Poetry by Atef Alshaer
We have one poem by Atef Alshaer in the Spring 2024 issue of ArabLit Quarterly, in partnership with Majalla 28, ...
When the War Parts: A Poem from Gaza by Heba Al-Agha
When the War Parts By Heba Al-Agha Translated by Julia Choucair Vizoso I won’t be the same might become a ...
Interviews
On Translating a Novel of Might-have-beens in ’60s Dubai
New publishing house ELF Publishing has brought out Emirati author Reem Al Kamali’s International Prize for Arabic Fiction-shortlisted Rose’s Diaries ...
Shakir Mustafa on the Obstacles to Translating Iraqi Literature into English
Shakir Mustafa was a scholar focused on Irish literature and drama in 2003 and 2004 when the invasion and occupation ...
Recommendations: On the New Wave of Memoirs from Iraq
Editor’s note: Publishers who are interested in Iraqi literatures will find more in our May Publishers Newsletter, out on May ...
Country Focus
From the archives
Reclaiming the Women of Arabic Popular Epics
This look at the women who seem to have disappeared in scholarship about the Arabic popular epics is a re-run from Women in Translation Month (#WiTMonth) last year.
‘When Darkness Falls’: On the Shortened, Brilliant Life of Iraqi Author Hayat Sharara
“The word eib rings in my head, it is eib to love, to sing, to get sick, to divorce, to show your emotions…and.…and. I felt these social chains were burdening me with fear, despair, and confusion, and I almost abandoned work on the book, but when I looked at the materials that I had collected, I knew that if I didn’t publish it now, it would never be published.”
For Valentine’s Day: The Many Loves of Nizar Qabbani
Your love has taught me… how to be sad.
And I have needed, for ages
A woman to make me sad
A woman in whose arms I could weep
Like a sparrow,