Arabic Literature for Young Readers: 10 Publishers to Know
On Music, Memory, and Damascus
On Shaping ‘The Book of Damascus’
Fiction
Stealing Sleep, Reclaiming Tomorrow
In the opening pages of The Sleep Thief by Ibtisam Azem (tr. Sinan Antoon), Palestinian protagonist, Gharib Haifawi, recounts how he was dubbed the “sleep thief” by his interrogators during his imprisonment.
‘By Candlelight’: Short Fiction by Latifa al-Zayyat
Part of our focus, this Women in Translation Month (#WiTMonth), is on classic Arabic works by women, especially those at the margins of (or neglected entirely by) critical and readerly attention.
Poetry
The Red Suns, Purple Moons, and Gun-Carrying Mice of Syrian Poet Da’ad Haddad
“In her poetry world, the sun is red. The moon is purple. Snow is ubiquitous. Winter is eternal.”
Poems of Whiskey and Regret by Rasha Omran
These poems, translated by Phoebe Carter, are from Rasha Omran’s sixth collection, “A Secret Wife of Absence.”
Interviews
On Music, Memory, and Damascus
“Music is one of the arts most connected to place, as it is a physical vibration in a space.”
On Shaping ‘The Book of Damascus’
The Book of Damascus, ed. Zaher Omareen, is a new anthology in their “Reading the City” series. Here, editor Zaher Omareen talks with Fifi Bat-hef about selecting ten stories to represent a city as complex and storied as Damascus.
Palestinian Sittis and the Inheritance of Memories
In this conversation, Hooda Shawa offers inspiring insight into her experience writing such a personal and powerful novel as well as herself as an author.
In Focus
From the archives
In Conversation: The Possibilities for Doing ‘Right’ in 14th Century Morocco & Spain
The Red Suns, Purple Moons, and Gun-Carrying Mice of Syrian Poet Da’ad Haddad
“In her poetry world, the sun is red. The moon is purple. Snow is ubiquitous. Winter is eternal.”
‘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.”