Ursula and MLQ look back at notable books from 2018 and at reads they are looking forward to catching up on over the holiday break. Show notes ‘Tis the season for “best of” lists. Ursula wrote about Notable Books of 2018 From and About the Arab World in Al-Fanar; a number of them are books we have discussed on the show. One that we haven’t is Casablanca, Nid d’artistes , ed. Leila Slimani and Kenza Sefrioui. Marcia was still working to compile the “Arab Authors’ Favorites” list that ArabLit runs...
Dec 19, 2018•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 25
This episode is almost entirely dedicated to the work of the Moroccan film-maker, novelist, artist, and poet Ahmed Bouanani – much of which has yet to be released, and much of which was censored or destroyed in his own life. Show notes Bouanani’s cult-classic novel L’hôpital was re-published in 2012 by DK Editions in Morocco and Editions Verdier in France. Muhammad al-Khudairi’s Arabic translation was published in 2016. Two of Bounanai’s books have been released this year in English translation:...
Dec 01, 2018•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 24
We overcame communication blocks and interrupting children to speak to the poet Zeina Hashem Beck about how she’s given herself permission to write poems that move between English and Arabic. We also discuss James Montgomery’s heart-breaking essay on grief, memory, trauma and translating a 7th century Arabic poet famous for her elegies. Show notes: Zeina Hashem Beck is a Lebanese poet who lives in Dubai. She won the 2016 May Sarton New Hampshire Poetry Prize for her second full-length collection...
Nov 17, 2018•55 min•Season 1Ep. 23
In this episode we talk about recent developments in Cairo, kids’ literature in Arabic, Naguib Mahfouz, and the launch of Marcia’s new project, the literary magazine ArabLit Quarterly. Show notes It was at the October 22 outreach symposium in Cairo that MLQ launched “ArabKidLitNow!” – a collective for the promotion of Arabic children’s literature in translation. The website is arabkidlitnow.com . We mention the extraordinary work of the Egyptian Mada Masr news site , including this ground-breaki...
Nov 04, 2018•50 min•Season 1Ep. 22
This week we talk to an old Cairo friend, acclaimed Egyptian artist Ganzeer, about art, propaganda, publishing and how much damn work it is to put out a graphic novel. Show notes The work of artist and writer Ganzeer can be found at ganzeer.com , thesolargrid.net , and timesnewhuman.com . You can sign up for his newsletter at restrictedfrequency.com and follow his YouTube channel, Ganzeer Says . The first four chapters of The Solar Grid are available for download at thesolargrid.net , and his ea...
Oct 20, 2018•1 hr 8 min•Season 1Ep. 21
We talk about looking down on dialect; passing literary theft off as “salvation”; the beginning of awards season; a book that is a fragmented portrait of Jerusalem; and our fellow podcasters in the region. Show notes The controversy over the appearance of some darija (Moroccan colloquial) words in a Moroccan school textbook reached the highest levels of government. Since we recorded Episode 20, Israel’s Resling Publishing has pulled a short-story collection, Horreya, in which they published wome...
Sep 23, 2018•51 min•Season 1Ep. 20
We talk about the relationships between education and literature; about a devastating entry in the prison memoir genre, from Syria; about the legacy of V.S. Naipaul; and about why Kuwait is the worst offender in the region for censoring books. Show notes This was our back to school episode, informed by the scholarship of Erin Twohig and Ursula’s “ Hard Lessons: North African Writers on Education ” at al-Fanar. We particularly talked about Mohamed Nedali’s Grâce à Jean de la Fontaine , a satiric ...
Sep 09, 2018•1 hr 10 min•Season 1Ep. 19
In our last episode before a summer hiatus, we discuss a graphic novel about the life and art of the stars of Arab music and cinema; Egyptian writer Radwa Ashour’s memoir of studying at university in the United States in the 1970s; and the Moroccan writer Ahmed Bouanani’s novel The Hospital , out in English (alongside a new poetry collection, The Shutters ) after nearly falling into oblivion. Show notes A record-breaking four of the 18 “PEN translates” prizes for 2018 are going to books translat...
Jul 14, 2018•57 min•Season 1Ep. 18
We talk to humorist Karl Sharro about the origins story of his Twitter alter-ego Karl ReMarks and about finding the ideal online nemesis. Marcia takes issue with a new book listing the “hundred best novels in translation.” Show notes Karl Sharro spoke about Karl ReMarks’ new book, And then God Created the Middle East and Said ‘Let There Be Breaking News ’ (and Analysis) . The book is forthcoming July 9. Boyd Tonkin’s The 100 Best Novels in Translation was released June 21. The two Arabic novels ...
Jul 01, 2018•1 hr 12 min•Season 1Ep. 17
In which Ursula and Marcia discuss how much innocence American can claim when abroad, and the urge to write expatriate diaries in one’s twenties; they also talk about the new collection Marrakech Noir; and about the never-ending debate over Classical versus Colloquial Arabic. Show notes: Ursula’s “ Innocence Abroad ” responds primarily to Suzy Hansen’s Notes on a Foreign Country : An American Abroad in a Post-American World. M arrakech Noir , ed. Yassin Adnan,is the third Arab city to join the A...
Jun 16, 2018•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 16
Inspired by a fiery essay by an Egyptian professor, Ursula and MLQ discuss cosmopolitanism, nostalgia, and literary representations of the city of Alexandria. Marcia also talks about three new books – from Iraq, Southern Sudan and Lebanon/London. She loved two of them. Show notes: May Hawas’s essay How Not to Write on Cosmopolitan Alexandria takes as its starting point Lawrence Durrell’s Alexandria Quartet and particularly the first book, Justine. The renowned poetry of Constantine P. Cavafy has...
Jun 01, 2018•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 15
We discuss Marcia’s recent interviews with professors teaching Arabic literature in translation; an essay by Lebanese novelist Rabih Alameddine’s in which he picks apart “world literature” and foreign writers – such as himself – who act as “tour guides”; and a book that is an ambitious overview of modern art in the Arab world. Show notes An overview of the “Teaching with Arabic Literature in Translation” series appeared on the website al-Fanar. The whole series – which will consist nineteen inte...
May 18, 2018•54 min•Season 1Ep. 14
Ursula and Marcia talk about the novel Tales of Yusuf Tadros – about a Coptic Christian and aspiring artist living in the provinces -- and the playful, genre-bending Kayfa Ta (“How To”) series. They also discuss sexism in literature and whether we can do without the Nobel Prize for Literature. Show notes The Center for Translation Studies at The American University in Cairo will be celebrating its tenth anniversary in 2020, and to commemorate nine years of CTS lectures—MLQ gave one in 2013—the h...
May 06, 2018•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 13
In this episode, we talk about debates surrounding Western military intervention in Syria; about Arab American writer Randa Jarrar and her Twitter rant against the late Barbara Bush; and about whether there is any alternative to the term “Arab world.” Also Ursula has a squeaky chair. Show notes At the recent Yale symposium on translation , Samah Salim discussed the relationship between translator, text, and paratext in “Paratext and Political Translation,” with a focus on the introduction, footn...
Apr 23, 2018•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 12
We spend most of this episode talking about two books: the late Arwa Salih’s Stillborn, a memoir of and reckoning with her time as a leftist student militant in Egypt in the 1970s; and Rabai al-Madhoun’s novel Fractured Destinies -- about lives constrained, conflicted and divided in Palestine. Show notes Arwa Salih’s The Stillborn , tr. the brilliant Samah Salim and published by Seagull Books as part of their “Arab List,” curated by Hosam Aboul-ela. Rabai al-Madhoun’s International Prize for Ara...
Mar 31, 2018•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 11
In which Marcia talks about her difficulties being interviewed; we discuss genre (sci-fi, fantasy, and especially noir) writing in Arabic; and we question whether translation into English “empowers” women writers from the Arab region. Show notes The Asymptote interview with MLQ, conducted by Claire Jacobson. On voices at various margins: Midaq Alley , by Naguib Mahfouz (recently re-translated by Humphrey Davies); Kamal Ruhayyim’s Muslim Jew trilogy (tr. Sarah Enany); the film Marock ; The Others...
Mar 18, 2018•56 min•Season 1Ep. 10
In which we discuss the validity and necessity of the negative review (or what we like to simply call critical engagement); how rare it is to find negative reviews these days; and the shift that has seen Western reviewers of Arabic literature move from one extreme to another. But is it more condescending to dismiss outright or to offer all-around encouragement? Show notes Hisham Aidi's lovely portrait and critical re-evaluation of Juan Goytisolo was published by MERIP “ Juan Goytisolo: Tangier, ...
Mar 03, 2018•1 hr 10 min•Season 1Ep. 9
Ursula and MLQ discuss a moving new book documenting the suffering and the resourcefulness of Yazidi women taken captive by Daesh, and the efforts to help them escape; and the perversely dull newspaper columns of the great Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahfouz. Show notes Dunya Mikhail’s The Beekeeper: Rescuing the Stolen Women of Iraq is coming out in March 27, 2018 from US publisher New Directions and as The Beekeeper of Sinjar from the UK’s Serpent’s Tail in August 2018. Both were translated by Du...
Feb 17, 2018•1 hr 10 min•Season 1Ep. 8
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?...
Feb 02, 2018•57 min•Season 1Ep. 7
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...
Jan 20, 2018•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 6
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-Spring is available online. Do keep in mind that, with smaller publishers, release dates can shift. Banthology , ed Sarah Cleav...
Jan 05, 2018•1 hr 4 min•Season 1Ep. 5
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 Mers...
Dec 23, 2017•1 hr 13 min•Season 1Ep. 4
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 notes Raja Shehadeh is a Ramallah-based author and attorney who has written a number of celebrated books, including...
Dec 08, 2017•1 hr 17 min•Season 1Ep. 3
In which we discuss the fictional underworlds of Rabee Jaber and other Lebanese novelists; and explore Saudi poetry, from a new translation of a famous pre-Islamic collection to the satirical poems of “a grumpy old man” in the Najd in the 18th century. At this time when women are denouncing male abuses of power the world over, we look at two Moroccan female writers who are critical of their societies and who face the question of how their work is received and represented at home and abroad. Asma...
Nov 24, 2017•1 hr 11 min•Season 1Ep. 2
In the midst of a crackdown on gay men in Egypt, we discuss Mohammed Abdel Nabi’s novel about being gay in Cairo, In The Spider’s Room . Also: a portrait of a love-hate relationship with a Cairo neighborhood, an award for Arabic Young Adult and children’s literature, a Saudi novelist under attack online, and a Palestinian poet whose trial hinges on translation. Show notes In the Spider’s Room, by Mohamed Abdelnabi, was on the shortlist for the 2017 International Prize for Arabic Fiction . The no...
Nov 08, 2017•41 min•Season 1Ep. 1
