New Fiction in Translation: From Khaled Alesmael’s ‘Selamlik’
Selamlik, out this April from World Editions, is the story of a man finding love in Syria just as his world is shattered. This excerpt, from early in the novel, gives a sense of both the sexual heat and the fear of Syria's dictatorship that twine together to propel the novel forward. It is a scene marked by new beginnings, desire, and a lurking threat of unrest. In Room 333, Part 1 By Khaled Alesmael ...
New Short Fiction from Sudan: Abdulmajid Olesh’s ‘The Doctor’
A man is feeling dizzy, and goes to visit a doctor. The Doctor By Abdulmajid Olesh Translated by Nassir al-Sayied al-Nour There was only a little time left to get there, as the dizziness and light buzzing sensation started all at once. They told me there was a clinic, and I moved slowly and cautiously, to avoid falling. I stepped into a narrow lane. The walls of its old houses loomed high above me, and ...
A Look Back: Iconic Egyptian Writer Ihsan Abdel Kouddous
Yesterday, Ihsan Abdel Kouddous’s A Nose and Three Eyes appeared from Hoopoe Fiction, in Jonathan Smolin’s translation. In the foreword, which appeared yesterday on ArabLit, Hanan al-Shaykh writes about her relationship with the iconic Egyptian writer. This marks only the second time Abdel Kouddous (1919-1990), one of the most popular Egyptian authors of the twentieth century, has seen a book in wide English release. The first, I Do Not Sleep, was released in 2022. It was ...
Fiction
New Fiction in Translation: From Khaled Alesmael’s ‘Selamlik’
Selamlik, out this April from World Editions, is the story of a man finding love in Syria just as his world is shattered. This excerpt, from early in the novel, gives a sense of both the sexual heat and the ...
New Short Fiction from Sudan: Abdulmajid Olesh’s ‘The Doctor’
A man is feeling dizzy, and goes to visit a doctor. The Doctor By Abdulmajid Olesh Translated by Nassir al-Sayied al-Nour There was only a little time left to get there, as the dizziness and light buzzing sensation started all ...
New Short Fiction: Suheir Daoud’s ‘The Miracle’
The Miracle By Suheir Daoud Translated by Leonie Rau I was born after October 7, under the rubble. The cold was severe, and my mother’s voice was the only thing that covered me. I was about to start wailing, like ...
Poetry
New Poetry in Translation: Yahya Ashour’s ‘When a Missile Lands’
This poem appeared in the “THIS MOMENT” section of our Gaza! Gaza! Gaza! issue, produced together with Majalla 28. When ...
‘Every Time I Leave the House’: New Poetry by Haidar al-Ghazali
This poem was inadvertently left out of the THIS MOMENT section of ArabLit Quarterly’s “Gaza! Gaza! Gaza!” section. We will be correcting ...
‘Houses That Cling to the Tongue’: New Poetry by Mahmoud Kiralla
Houses That Cling to the Tongue By Mahmoud Kiralla Translated by Tamer Fathy Mabrouk When I was young, the train ...
Interviews
On Translating a Novel of Might-have-beens in ’60s Dubai
New publishing house ELF Publishing has brought out Emirati author Reem Al Kamali’s International Prize for Arabic Fiction-shortlisted Rose’s Diaries ...
Shakir Mustafa on the Obstacles to Translating Iraqi Literature into English
Shakir Mustafa was a scholar focused on Irish literature and drama in 2003 and 2004 when the invasion and occupation ...
Recommendations: On the New Wave of Memoirs from Iraq
Editor’s note: Publishers who are interested in Iraqi literatures will find more in our May Publishers Newsletter, out on May ...
Country Focus
From the archives
Safia Ketou: The First Algerian Sci-fi Novelist of Post-independence Algeria
For Women in Translation Month, our Algeria editor writes about one of her favorite discoveries, whose La Planète Mauve et Autres Nouvelles should ...
14th-Century Cookbook ‘Profoundly Rich Resource for Egyptian Culinary Heritage’
“Our anonymous author was most probably a gourmet cook himself but not necessarily a professional cook. He might have had a profession like those people to support his family, and wrote about cooking, his passion.”
A Talk with Poet Golan Haji: ‘Languages Never Draw Geographical Boundaries’
” Jaziri wrote poetry with one set of alphabets which at that time were used in four languages: Kurdish, Ottoman Turkish, Persian, and Arabic. Sometimes, he used the four languages in one couplet. His poems are still recited and sung by Kurds. That coexistence of languages was quite natural, the alluring music was convincing, although I sometimes understood almost nothing.”