Why Bring May Ziadeh into English? Why Now?
On Arabic Young Adult Literature in Translation
Standing Tall Like Trees: From Gaza to Canada
Fiction
From Mohammed Alyahyai’s ‘The War’
It’s publication day for Mohammed Alyahyai’s The War, in Christiaan James’s translation. In this opening passage, Issa Saleh prepares for an evening gathering—only to find that something, or someone, has slipped out of reach.
From ‘The Country Doctor’s Tale’
At this point in ‘The Country Doctor’s Tale,’ the titular country doctor is returning from a house call when he suddenly discovers political posters everywhere, even on the walls of the clinic.
Poetry
Two New Poems by Marah Muhammad Al-Khatib
“Alone / on a balcony with no air / I suffocate, grow intoxicated / Coffee cups multiply / stained with lipstick, overflowing with disappointment / taking me to a fresh bout of insomnia / and thoughts, buried before they could ever see the light.”
‘The South, The Last Day’: A Poem for Amal Khalil
Interviews
Mohamed Mansi Qandil, on Medicine and Writing
In this conversation with acclaimed Egyptian novelist Mohamed Mansi Qandil, we discuss his latest novel to reach English, The Country Doctor’s Tale, the relationship between doctoring and writing, the novels that shaped him, and why he’d like to see The Country Doctor’s Tale as a film or TV series.
On Translating the Omani Natural Landscape
Marilyn Booth reflects on her experience translating Zahran Alqasmi’s work and provides insight on greater questions of translation.
Translating Oman
The”Translating Oman” event, hosted by Syracuse University Press, featured a discussion about Omani literature and translation.
In Focus
From the archives
‘Writing in Gaza’: by Yousef el-Qedra
Jonathan Smolin on the Relationship Between Ihsan Abdel Kouddous’s Politics and His Novels
“My book really is an examination of how he participated in the coup ,and how he believed fundamentally that the Free Officers were going to install democracy, and—once he realized that they were actually installing military dictatorship—the way he dissented, in the editorials and in person, the way that he was jailed, and the way he turned to fiction to express his dissent directly to Nasser.”
A Talk with Poet Golan Haji: ‘Languages Never Draw Geographical Boundaries’
” Jaziri wrote poetry with one set of alphabets which at that time were used in four languages: Kurdish, Ottoman Turkish, Persian, and Arabic. Sometimes, he used the four languages in one couplet. His poems are still recited and sung by Kurds. That coexistence of languages was quite natural, the alluring music was convincing, although I sometimes understood almost nothing.”