In the Chicago Tribune, I review Samah Selim’s new English translation of Jurji Zaydan’s Tree of Pearls. I also have a sidebar discussion with Selim on translating the novel (nearly) a century after its publication. As part of this, I spoke to… Read More ›
My review of Hadiya Hussein’s Beyond Love, beautifully translated by Ikram Masmoudi (chapeau Ikram) has been released from the Egypt Independent print edition into the wider world. Next, interviews with Masmoudi and Hussein, isA.
But this love is not just your typical boy-girl story: The novel is about the love of one’s country – specifically of Egypt at the height of its corruption.
From the Egypt Independent: How can a young Lebanese woman define — and defend — the borders of her body, as external forces push and pull, assault and seduce? While many recent Lebanese novels address sectarianism, war and large-scale violence, Alexandra… Read More ›
I was hanging out over at the poet Iman Mersal’s blog yesterday (hey, Iman!), and got to pondering the perennial question: Why do book reviewers exist? Aren’t they — er, we — just cruel jokesters who couldn’t write our way out of a paper lunch sack, and thus had to make it up to ourselves by pestering and/or fawning over someone who could?
From the Egypt Independent: The title of Bensalem Himmich’s 2008 novel, “Haza al-Andalusi!” (“This Andalusian!”), is as subdued in Arabic as it is attention-grabbing in English. In translation, it becomes “A Muslim Suicide,” a title that sprawls across the book’s cover… Read More ›
When I saw that Fadi Azzam’s Sarmada, trans. Adam Talib, had been reviewed recently in The National (“Heady stuff, but not for everyone“), I thought: Hunh. How did this book get so many reviews in the English-language press? Well, perhaps… Read More ›
From my review in the Egypt Independent: In her debut novel, British-Palestinian author Selma Dabbagh has set herself a very difficult task. “Out of It,” published by Bloomsbury UK, is a realist work that aims to portray life in Gaza… Read More ›
New in Al Masry Al Youm, a review of Khairy Shalaby’s The Hashish Waiter, trans. Adam Talib and published by AUC Press this year. For those interested, last month we also ran a Q&A with Talib.
Interested in the meditations of homicidal religious men revolting against wealth redistribution and threatening retribution? Tahir Wattar’s The Earthquake might be for you.
My review of Mona Prince’s So You May See has made its way to the Al Masry Al Youm culture pages:
A recently published “Global Translation Initiative Study,” conducted by Dalkey Press, surveyed Anglo bookstores, universities, publishers, media, and translators about attitudes toward translated literature.
