I’m opening a space here for connections to more information about languages and cultures that neighbor Arabic: Persian, Turkish, and Hebrew to start. Feel free to send me any recommendations!
For Persian culture / art / history, see Caroline Mawer’s blog. For literature in translation, Words without Borders (July 2013) has an issue dedicated to literature post-(1979) revolution.
Today I learned of Emily Nasrallah’s passing. As a student at NYU, I used to shop at the Dahesh Heritage bookshop (since closed, sadly). The kind and helpful shopkeeper, Mike Masri, is the one who first mentioned her to me, placing her book Fi l-bal / In Mind, in my outstretched hands. This book of…
Melanie A. Magidow Receives NEA Literature Translation Fellowship Fellowship will support the translation into English of The Adventures of Dhat al-Himma (the Arabic epic Sirat al-amira Dhat al-Himma) Washington, DC — Today, the National Endowment for the Arts announced that Melanie Magidow has been recommended for an NEA Literature Translation Fellowship of $12,500. Magidow…
In this post, I’m delighted to introduce you to a major textile art happening today: Khayamiyya (Appliqué) of Egypt. Next month we’ll follow up with embroidery arts. Let me know if there are other arts you’d like to see in future posts. For example, anyone here want to write or read about caftan fashions of…
From the first time we worked together (on the translation of her novel Ashiyaʾ raʾiʿa / Wonderful Things, published in English as Mortal Designs, AUC Press 2016), Reem Bassiouney and I have maintained a shared understanding of the role of literature in society; the role of creativity in an individual’s life; and the role of…
Tarif Khalidi posted this with the intriguing comment that it’s “from an anthology of Arabic literature, ancient & modern, verse & prose, all my own translations, which should be completed in a couple of years or so.” Happy Saturday! ~ m. Al-Buhturi (d.897) The Poet and the Wolf What a night! Dawn at its tail-end…
Here are some sources that I can recommend that relate to Jews in the Arab World: Medieval Middle East Norman Stillman’s source book is excellent, especially for those seeking an overview of the earliest records regarding Jews and the spread of Arabic culture (from the 7th to 19th century). It gives access to primary sources…
