We talk about Morocco's most infamous secret prison; about fathers and sons; about survivors who tell their stories and writers who borrow (or steal?) them. Show Notes: Johanna Sellman “ Memoirs from Tazmamart: Writing Strategies and Alternative Frameworks of Judgment ” gives an overview of the survivors' writing about Tazmamart through 2006. In 1999-2000, Mohamed Raiss published an account of his experiences serialized in Arabic. It was translated to French and published in book form in 2011 as...
Jun 18, 2020•57 min•Season 1Ep. 51
In this episode we explore the relationship between cooking and writing. With special guest Anny Gaul, we talk about the origins of national dishes such as couscous and koshary; medieval Arabic cook books; and representations of kitchens and cooking in Egyptian literature. Show Notes: Anny Gaul's writing and recipes, including the one on “bad translations” of hummus are online at cookingwithgaul.com . She wrote about Egyptian koshary as the dish we need right now for Eater . Her article on Abla ...
Jun 04, 2020•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 50
We talk about a few new books — ones that provide a welcome escape, and ones that seem particularly daunting — and about how hard it is to write, read, think and imagine the future right now. Show Notes: Noor Naga's novel-in-verse Washes, Prays was published this spring. You can read more about it on Mada Masr and ArabLit . Aziz Binebine's Tazmamart, Cellule 10 recently appeared in English as Tazmamart, translated by Lulu Norman . His brother Mahi Binebine's The King's Fool is forthcoming in Ben...
May 21, 2020•54 min•Season 1Ep. 49
In 1993, the Egyptian poet and writer Iman Mersal picked up an unknown novel by a forgotten writer from the 60s. And so began her long wanderings in search of Enayat El Zayat. El Zayat killed herself in 1963, four years before her book “Love and Silence” was finally published. Mersal's portrait of El Zayat is a remarkable work of research, empathy and imagination. Show Notes: This episode focuses on Iman Mersal's In the Footsteps of Enayat al-Zayyat ( في أثر عنايات الزيات) , published by Kotob K...
May 07, 2020•49 min•Season 1Ep. 48
للاستماع إلى بودكاست بعد أمس http://aj.audio/click We discuss an acclaimed novel set during the first Palestinian Intifada and one inspired by a tiny, legendary bookstore in Algiers. Show Notes: This year, the International Prize for Arabic Fiction—which went to Abdelouahab Aissaoui's The Spartan Court —and the Sheikh Zayed Book Award—which had winners in seven categories —both had awards ceremonies on YouTube. MLQ will also participate in the now-online Sant Jordi Literary Festival (April 23-25...
Apr 22, 2020•57 min•Season 1Ep. 47
للاستماع إلى بودكاست بعد أمس http://aj.audio/click We spend most of this episode discussing the work and life of the Syrian playwright Sa'dallah Wannous, and how strongly it relates to repression, resistance and art in the Arab region today. SHOW NOTES: A new Sa'dallah Wannous reader, Sentence to Hope (ed. and trans. Robert Myers and Nada Saab) brings together four translations of plays as well as essays by and interviews with the great Syrian playwright (1941-1996). Read more about reading Wann...
Apr 09, 2020•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 28
We talk about the Syrian writer Dima Wannous' haunting novel The Frightened Ones, translated by Elisabeth Jacquette. It's a book about fear, panic and anxiety -- in one's body and society, between generations and lovers -- that is also somehow a great pleasure to read. Show Notes: The Frightened Ones was shortlisted for the 2018 International Prize for Arabic Fiction ; its English translation is now out in the UK and forthcoming in the US . We discussed the work of Wannous' father, the brilliant...
Mar 26, 2020•51 min•Season 1Ep. 46
We take a look at a new book about the architecture of twentieth century Cairo, and discuss the Egyptian capital's past, present and future, and the way writers have shaped our view of it. Show Notes: Mohamed Elshahed's architectural survey Cairo Since 1900: An Architectural Guide is newly released from AUC Press, with a foreward by Mercedes Volait. Elshahed's longtime blog, Cairobserver , is a must-read for anyone interested in the built world. Another recent book that maps Cairo is Humphrey Da...
Mar 11, 2020•1 hr 7 min•Season 1Ep. 45
BULAQ is a podcast about contemporary writing from and about the Middle East and North Africa. We talk about books written in Aleppo, Cairo, Marrakech and beyond. We look at the Arab region through the lens of literature, and we look at literature -- what it does, why it matters, how it relates to society and history and politics -- from the point of view of this part of the world. BULAQ is hosted by Ursula Lindsey and M Lynx Qualey and co-produced by Sowt. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy...
Feb 27, 2020•59 sec
للاستماع إلى بودكاست بعد أمس http://aj.audio/click We talk about the landscape and history of independent publishing in the region, our own experiences working for and launching publications, the conundrum of funding, and the magic of little magazines. Show Notes: This episode is partly inspired by an exhibition at the MMAG Foundation in Amman: How to Reappear Through the Quivering Leaves of Independent Publishing The exhibition was curated by the publishing platform Kayfa ta , founded by artist...
Feb 27, 2020•55 min•Season 1Ep. 44
للاستماع إلى بودكاست بعد أمس http://aj.audio/click This episode focuses on Driss Chraibi's The Simple Past (Le Passé Simple) , a Moroccan novel about a very angry young man in revolt against his father's tyranny and the hypocrisies of his colonial education. Back in 1954, it was compared to an explosion – and it still packs a punch today. Show Notes: The Simple Past was newly re-issued from NYRB Classics in Hugh A. Harter's 1990 translation, with a new introduction from Adam Shatz. Shatz's intro...
Feb 11, 2020•56 min•Season 1Ep. 43
We recorded this episode in Cairo with author, translator, and Mada Masr culture editor Yasmine Zohdi. We talked about making art in difficult and precarious times; how to acknowledge the political context; censorship and self-censorship. “ What we talk about when we talk about trees ,” by Yasmine Zohdi, ran in Mada Masr in December of last year. We also spoke about the shrinking of cultural spaces in Cairo. Zohdi also translates, including her husband Muhammad al-Hajj's beautiful Nobody Mourns ...
Jan 29, 2020•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 42
This episode is 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jan 14, 2020•1 hr 4 min•Season 1Ep. 24
We talk about passion projects, the value of intellectual labor, and the ups and downs of making a living (sort of) writing about books. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jan 03, 2020•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 32
We discuss some of our favorite books from the past year, and some titles we're excited to get our hands on soon. Show Notes Our Women on the Ground: Essays by Arab Women Reporting from the Arab World , ed. Zahra Hankir Book of Disappearance by Ibtisam Azem, tr. Sinan Antoon Palestine + 100 , ed. Basma Ghalayini Palestine as Metaphor , by Mahmoud Darwish, tr. Amira El-Zein and Carolyn Forché Room 304 or How I Hid from My Dear Father for 35 Years by Amr Ezzat, tr. Nora Amin and Yasmine Zohdi Soul...
Dec 18, 2019•59 min•Season 1Ep. 41
We talk about a newly released collection of five compelling and highly quotable interviews with the great late Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, titled Palestine as Metaphor, translated by Amira El-Zein and Carolyn Forché. We also talk about recent protests in Lebanon and how they are being written about in Lebanese and international media, as well as the frightening day when the independent Egyptian news site Mada Masr’s offices were raided and editors detained. (All of Mada’s staff has now be...
Dec 04, 2019•56 min•Season 1Ep. 40
In the first half of the episode, we paid tribute to Jordanian poet, activist, novelist, travel writer, and editor Amjad Nasser (1955-2019), who died at the end of October. In the second, we talked about the political space occupied by Moroccan-French writers Tahar Ben Jelloun and Leïla Slimani, particularly in the wake of the trial against—and pardon of—Moroccan journalist Hajar Raissouni over an alleged abortion. What is a writer’s responsibility in a society, or between societies? And what ab...
Nov 20, 2019•59 min•Season 1Ep. 39
We discuss two novels set in Iraq -- one featuring a despondent policeman, and one featuring a determined grandma and her donkey. Also, how John Updike once dismissed the great Saudi writer Abdelrahman Mounif as "insufficiently Westernized" to write a novel. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Nov 06, 2019•59 min•Season 1Ep. 38
We talk about two festivals (one long-established, one brand new) that celebrate Palestinian literature; an author who was penalized for supporting BDS; and a book that asks the question: What would happen if Palestinians simply disappeared? (And once again we recorded this episode in the studio of the wonderful Sowt platform in Amman). Show Notes Jayne Cortez’s poem “There It Is” was performed by Sapphire at Palfest 2014 . Palfest was re-launched this year with a focus on knowledge production a...
Oct 23, 2019•54 min•Season 1Ep. 37
Ursula & MLQ open the new season of BULAQ -- recorded in Amman, under the auspices of the Sowt network -- with a focus on Egypt. This episode's reading is from Yasmine Zohdi's translation of Muhammad al-Haj's Sawiris-winning Nobody Mourns the City's Cats, available in the Summer 2019 issue of ArabLit Quarterly . Azzurra Meringolo Scarfoglio’s book of interviews with Egyptian exiles is Fuga dall’Egitto (“Escape from Egypt”). Ursula reviewed Peter Hessler’s The Buried: An Archaeology of the Eg...
Oct 09, 2019•51 min•Season 1Ep. 36
In our last episode before half our team moves and we take a summer break, we discuss a brilliant essay on the downsides of being a professional translator; the Shubbak literary festival; and our plans for the future. Show Notes We read from Lina Mounzer’s ” Trash Talk: On Translating Garbage ,” which recently appeared on the Paris Review and struck a nerve among translators, editors, and various other word-jobbers. You can also another essay of Mounzer’s on life as a translator: “ War in Transl...
Jul 20, 2019•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 35
We have novelist Ruqaya Izziddien as our guest in this episode, to discuss her debut novel The Watermelon Boys , her blog Muslim Impossible and the need for more narratives in English that accurately represent Arab voices and history. We also talk about George Orwell’s 1939 essay “Marrakech.” Show Notes Our guest this episode was Ruqaya Izzidien , author of The Watermelon Boys , which was shortlisted for this year’s Betty Trask Prize. Ruqaya will also be appearing June 30 at the Shubbak Festival...
Jun 23, 2019•1 hr 16 min•Season 1Ep. 34
We spend most of today’s episode talking about a forthcoming collection of essays by female journalists from the region. Guilt, anger, recklessness, determination. There are many different and movingly honest takes on reporting while Arab and female. SHOW NOTES Omani novelist Jokha al-Harthi and translator Marilyn Hacker won the 2019 Man Booker International with Celestial Bodies (Sayyidat al-Qamr). We talked about the book on Episode 29 and MLQ spoke to al-Harthi and Booth the morning after the...
Jun 10, 2019•50 min•Season 1Ep. 33
This week we talk about how MLQ’s latest passion project, the Arab Lit Quarterly , and the ups and downs of making a living (sort of) writing about books. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
May 19, 2019•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 32
MLQ is back from Abu Dhabi, and we talk about the recently awarded International Prize for Arabic Fiction — and an unfortunate controversy this year, involving leaks, no-shows, and calls for prosecution — and the book fair. We also share excerpts from the winning book and from several of the short-listed ones. Show Notes The International Prize for Arabic Fiction announced the prize’s 2019 winner, Hoda Barakat’s The Night Post, on April 23 . The name of the winner, and a few apparent details abo...
May 06, 2019•58 min•Season 1Ep. 31
We talk about the career of the best-selling Egyptian novelist Alaa al-Aswany – who like many other artists is on the outs with the country’s military regime now. Also, about Shakespeare productions and censorship in Gulf countries; and book reviews in the age of online algorithms and the culture of positivity. Show notes At the end of February, Youm7 reported that a lawyer submitted a complaint to the Prosecutor-General (No. 2697 of 2019) against Egyptian novelist Alaa al-Aswany, in which he ac...
Apr 07, 2019•1 hr 14 min•Season 1Ep. 30
In this episode we rave about an Omani novel – a multi-generational saga that is “anti-romantic and anti-nationalistic.” We also discuss a dark family road trip through Syria, and works from Lebanon and Morocco. And we delve into the larger question of how much a writer’s identity and experience gives him or her the right, or the ability, to tell certain stories. Show notes: The Man Booker International announced their 2019 longlist last Wednesday, and there were two Arabic novels : Jokha al-Har...
Mar 17, 2019•1 hr 10 min•Season 1Ep. 29
We spend most of this episode discussing the work and life of the Syrian playwright Sa’dallah Wannous, and how strongly it relates to repression, resistance and art in the Arab region today. SHOW NOTES: A new Sa’dallah Wannous reader, Sentence to Hope (ed. and trans. Robert Myers and Nada Saab) brings together four translations of plays as well as essays by and interviews with the great Syrian playwright (1941-1996). Read more about reading Wannous in Syria in Matthew McNaught’s essay “ Yarmouk ...
Mar 01, 2019•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 28
What should you recommend to someone who is interested in exploring Arabic literature? We tackle this big question this week; we also talk about the authors short-listed on the International Prize for Arabic Fiction and about North African literature in English translation. Show notes: There are many opinions on where you should start with Arabic literature. Back in 2010, Ursula’s five-to-read-before-you-die were: Memory for Forgetfulness , Mahmoud Darwish; Season of Migration to the North , Tay...
Feb 11, 2019•56 min•Season 1Ep. 27
We're back! And ready to talk about two poets who have moved into prose: the Egyptian Iman Mersal and the Palestinian Mazen Maarouf, who have written books that explore the bonds between children and parents, among other things. We also talk about the Cairo book fair's recent make-over, and about the vibrant but struggling cultural scene in Casablanca. Show notes Iman Mersal's How to Mend: Motherhood and Its Ghosts was translated by Robin Moger and published by the Kayfa Ta initiative. It's avai...
Jan 26, 2019•57 min•Season 1Ep. 26
