I have a new translated short story online at K1N here !
The author, Somaya Ramadan, and I discussed its publication ages ago. It’s nice to have it see the light of day at last. This story comes from a fun volume titled Qalat al-Rawiya / قالت الراوية / What She Said, which consists of stories written by women in Cairo with the purpose of retelling tradition, reimagining canonized stories and telling new stories with traditional flavors and new ideas.
This month we have a Sufi love poem by Ibn Arabi, a chance to rest from your tasks and worries. This poem contains some of the most-quoted lines of poetry in Sufism and in anthologies of pre-modern Arabic literature. Usually only a few lines are included, as in these two examples: My heart is capable…
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…
I am delighted to announce my latest Special Project, developing the first English anthology of Moroccan Malhun poetry, building on my PhD dissertation and fieldwork and time spent in Morocco on and off, over more than a decade. Mbarek Sryfi, poet and professor at The University of Pennsylvania, is co-translator. Growing up in Morocco, he…
Ready for some adventure tales? Join us in reading “101 Nights” (Miit layla wa-layla). Like its most famous cousin, “1001 Nights” (also called Arabian Nights), this medieval story collection also includes the frame tale of Shahrazad saving her life with her storytelling. However, our text is shorter, older, and likely has North African or Andalusian…
I’m starting a list of publishers here for literature of the Middle East and North Africa. Tell me if you know of more that should be added…And here is another helpful list. Egypt CairoBookStop / محطة كتب القاهرة is a great tool for locating books in Cairo, designed by Nancy Linthicum and Michele Henjum Dar…
This is a list of recommendations for people (especially Americans) who want to educate themselves about the history and politics of Israel-Palestine. 1. Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter’s book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, which raised controversy for his description of the situation as apartheid. 2. Classic Fateful Triangle by Noam Chomsky. It can be dense due…
