A crowd assembled in NYC to watch a reading of a new theatrical translation by Marvin Carlson and Safi Mahfouz, the first in the “The Ibn Daniyal Trilogy,” which organizers called one of the “earliest secular plays known to humankind.” The exceptional night began with translator Marvin Carlson walking out, boycotting the event.
First, it was Jonas Hassen Khemiri’s Obie-winning play, “Invasion!”, in NYC; then it was the Tunisian-Swedish author’s fun, fast-paced novel Montecore, which was longlisted for the 2012 “Best Translated Book Award.” Early in 2013, he was in McSweeney’s 42, the translation issue; now it’s Asymptote, and later this month his play “I Call My Brothers” will be in London.
My apologies for not hearing of this sooner: Hekayat Amina, or Amina’s Stories, is a new translated stage adaptation of Hossam Fakhr’s short-story collection, which took the Sawiris Prize for short stories in 2008. According to organizers, “Amina’s Stories” combines: …traditional Egyptian… Read More ›
Sandpit Arts announces: Following the sell-out success of Bulbul 2012, we’re really excited to announce Bulbul 2013 our second annual playwriting competition for new writers. We’re looking for four 30-minute plays that engage with the Arab world. This year’s theme is:… Read More ›
This year’s WTD message (from Dario Fo) is available in YouTube videos in many different languages. It was not so when Saadallah Wannous wrote his World Theater Day (WTD) message in 1996. Then, they were translated and read aloud in… Read More ›
Several contributors to the collection Doomed By Hope: Essays on Arab Theatre (as well as playwright Mohammad al-Attar) will be at Yale this week to lead workshops, presentations, and discussions: There will also be a screening of “There Are Still So Many… Read More ›
The collection Doomed by Hope: Essays on Arab Theatre, ed. Eyad Houssami, comes at a time of renewed interest in its guiding light, Saadallah Wannous (1941-1997): Ali Ali ‘Ajil Naji al-Anezi, in a 2006 dissertation on Wannous, lamented that “Wannous’s name is… Read More ›
A 2012 collection, Doomed by Hope: Essays on Arab Theatre (ed. Eyad Houssami) takes Syrian playwright Saadallah Wannous as its guiding light: But the collection, which proves to be a wonderfully noisy big tent, with essays by academics, theater practitioners, and… Read More ›
Thanks to blogger and erstwhile ArabLit contributor Nora Lester Murad for passing this along: The event, hosted by the American University’s Arab World Studies program, will be held on March 7 in the Hughes Formal Lounge (that’s the Hughes Building,… Read More ›
PLEASE NOTE that, “Because of the situation near AUC Tahrir Campus, please note that the location for today’s lecture by Mahmoud El Lozy has been moved to the AUC Zamalek Residence, 16 Mohamed Thakeb St. off Almaraashli St., near Almaraashli Church[.]“ If you’re… Read More ›
In London, the Swivel Theatre Company is looking for “ambitious writers to submit one-act plays about Arab Women in the Arab Spring to be showcased during a 4 week run in June 2013 at the White Bear Theatre”: According to… Read More ›
Playwright Omar El-Khairy has made use of the fraud-fictional narrative spawned by Tom McMaster, the once-upon-a-time “Gay Girl in Damascus,” to explore, I’d think, reality and unreality and all the places in between: According to a mention today in The Guardian,… Read More ›
