tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6113597246003215519.comments2021-07-15T15:02:31.369+01:00English PEN World AtlasMalgohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14114876632410693197noreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6113597246003215519.post-68325036000108524832009-08-25T22:08:58.077+01:002009-08-25T22:08:58.077+01:00http://versobooks.com/books/cdef/d-titles/darwish_...http://versobooks.com/books/cdef/d-titles/darwish_mahmoud_mural.shtmlAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6113597246003215519.post-76544332053365711352009-03-05T02:46:00.000+00:002009-03-05T02:46:00.000+00:00I would love to see a transcript of the panel disc...I would love to see a transcript of the panel discussion as there were so many different things to take from it - the feminist issues, the writing ones, the censorship ones, the cultural ones, the difficulties reaching beyond the Arab world because of translation and finally one or two or the conversations post panel regarding Arab novels in general. I also found the facilator Hani very provocative and he set my teeth on edge several times with his comments. I stepped back from this as I didn't know it if was done deliberately or it was a cultural thing that i was unaware of.<BR/><BR/>Then I could go onto the audience which was packed.....<BR/><BR/>I hope that more people will blog/discussion this particular session as I think it is important and raised so many topics.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02744937536946299450noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6113597246003215519.post-87232973126122833072009-02-11T15:45:00.000+00:002009-02-11T15:45:00.000+00:00This is to let you know that we've recently discus...This is to let you know that we've recently discussed your work on Muslimah Media Watch, a website dedicated to critically analyzing media representation of Muslim women. <BR/>Here's the link: http://muslimahmediawatch.org/2009/02/09/jasad-sex-fetishes-and-the-erotic-in-a-new-arabic-glossy/<BR/>Please let us know your thoughts and feel free to participate in the discussion!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6113597246003215519.post-51794280384926631832009-02-03T19:57:00.000+00:002009-02-03T19:57:00.000+00:00That's an amazing book, thank you so much for reca...That's an amazing book, thank you so much for recalling it -- I wonder if Sarah's ever attempted a poem about the experience on the model of Keats' "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer," which she discusses in the article from the Guardian cited above. Poems in translation have such incredible power to engage the verbal and emotional imagination, especially when they arise from a location that is so fraught and storied.PEN Atlashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01475698916769985929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6113597246003215519.post-36822146720548532242009-02-03T09:45:00.000+00:002009-02-03T09:45:00.000+00:00For Palestinian writers of earlier generations in ...For Palestinian writers of earlier generations in English translation let's remember Salma Jayyusi's 1994 monumental 'Anthology of Modern Palestinian Literature' published by Columbia University Press, described as a unique and definitive anthology which offers the widest selection ever compiled of modern Palestinian literature. The British poet Sarah Maguire, who has encouraged and translated varoius Palestinian poets, as well as visiting Palestine (eg for the British Council) and writing about it in some of her own poems, recalls how enthralled she was when she first came across this anthology - her initiation into - Palestinian poetry, in a bookshop.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6113597246003215519.post-17828292891485001212009-01-25T19:29:00.000+00:002009-01-25T19:29:00.000+00:00Definitely Tayib Saleh! Over the whole list, I thi...Definitely Tayib Saleh! Over the whole list, I think North African literature fared even worse than Middle Eastern (for what those terms are worth). But as the list progressed, I thought more about just what an exclusionary category the novel is, as a Western form that depends on leisured readers -- and yet one that excludes and obscures sources such as The Arabian Nights....PEN Atlashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01475698916769985929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6113597246003215519.post-1608680365475594542009-01-23T08:30:00.000+00:002009-01-23T08:30:00.000+00:00Some suggestions: Ghassan Kanafani's "Men in the S...Some suggestions: Ghassan Kanafani's "Men in the Sun", Hanan al-Shaykh's "The Story of Zahra", Tayib Saleh's "Season of Migration to the North", Salwa Bakr's "The Golden Chariot". As for which Guardian categories of its "1000" these books fall into, one could argue about that for some time!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6113597246003215519.post-1025414939573522652008-12-15T13:32:00.000+00:002008-12-15T13:32:00.000+00:00It's a good point, Susie (and reminds me that ever...It's a good point, Susie (and reminds me that every year as the Orange prize shortlist is announced, various opinion-makers declare an all-female prize obsolete -- and then the Booker shortlist is often male-dominated. Even a female-dominated shortlist -- as for the Turner Prize this year -- doesn't necessarily mean a female winner). A Bortuqal prize would be an exciting idea...<BR/><BR/>The Tanjara has more facts on this year's IPAF: http://thetanjara.blogspot.com/2008/12/arab-booker-shortlist.html, including that 10 books submitted for consideration were declared "unsuitable" (why?) and that five of the six books on the shortlist come from Beiruti publishers (the last, Azazel, from Dar al-Shorouk in Cairo).PEN Atlashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01475698916769985929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6113597246003215519.post-27945087617491374932008-12-14T17:55:00.000+00:002008-12-14T17:55:00.000+00:00But actually the female representation among our M...But actually the female representation among our Man Booker authors isn't vastly better than among the Arab Booker. The Man Booker longlist this year had 3 women on the 13-book longlist, the Arab Booker longlistof 16 had 2. Both shortlists have/had one woman. Surely the difficulty in women getting shortlisted for the Booker was one reason for the founding of the Orange prize. Maybe there could be a Bortuqal equivalent for Arab women writers. In 1993 or so Pat Barker spoke bitterly at Ways for Words at Dartington about the difficulties women writers were having with the Booker. (Mind you, she then went and won it for The Ghost Road in 1995). <BR/>So far the juries for the Arab Booker have been heavily male, so to speak. The chairman for 2009 is Youmma El Eid, but her four fellow judges are men. For IPAF 2008 there was only one female judge, Syrian writer Ghalia Kabbani. Man Booker's five judges regularly include two or three women. Not that the gender of judges necessarily implies anything about the gender of writers long- or shortlisted.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6113597246003215519.post-60804867900746216752008-12-14T14:32:00.000+00:002008-12-14T14:32:00.000+00:00Good question. I haven't seen anything in Arabic n...Good question. I haven't seen anything in Arabic newspapers.<BR/>So, let's ask what readers in the Arab world think!!Malgohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14114876632410693197noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6113597246003215519.post-12891304568645077362008-12-13T16:17:00.000+00:002008-12-13T16:17:00.000+00:00Are the Arabic papers naming any favourites? With ...Are the Arabic papers naming any favourites? With the Nobel and Booker it's always fun to see who gets it right (and, this year, mostly wrong ;). My bet, knowing nothing about any of the novels, would be either Hunger (because it sounds drily witty from the write-up on the Atlas, and because a film with the same title won the Camera D'Or this year at Cannes) or Ibrahim Nasrallah's novel. Just because.<BR/><BR/>Also, on a tangent, any translator of "The Unfaithful Translator" has a real challenge ahead of them, working under that title!Delirium's Librarianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13213875721316857164noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6113597246003215519.post-87403694162255622302008-11-30T09:22:00.000+00:002008-11-30T09:22:00.000+00:00Ali Bader is an Iraqi novelist, poet, critic and s...Ali Bader is an Iraqi novelist, poet, critic and script writer.<BR/><BR/>Bader was born in Baghdad, where he studied French Literature. He is working as editor in chief for Al-Mada literary magazine . In 2001 he published his novel "Papa Sartre" in which he attacked the 60s generation that dominated the cultural sphere in the Arab region. The novel won him the state award for literature in Baghdad in 2001, and the Tunisian Abu Al-Qassem Al-Shabi award.[citation needed]<BR/><BR/>In 2002, his novel "The Family's Winter" appeared that dealt with the decay of the Iraqi aristocracy in the 1950s, and three years later he published his novel "The Naked feast" on the emergence of the Iraqi intelligentsia at the beginning of the 20th century. This one was followed by another novel titled "The Road to Mutran Hill" that highlights the problems plaguing the Iraqi society and its division, prophesying the disintegration of the system. Bader's novel "Tumult, Women and a Sunken Writer" is his most popular piece that depicts the marginalized generation of Iraqi poets and novelists in the 90s and their lives under the dictatorship and the international sanctions. One of the essays he published is called "Mid-night Maps", that revolves around a journey to Iran, Turkey and Algeria and for which he was given the Ibn Battuta prize for contemporary journeys. His last novel called Jerusalem lantern, about the life and thoughts of Edward Said.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6113597246003215519.post-61914055073907065902008-11-20T19:03:00.000+00:002008-11-20T19:03:00.000+00:00Not only that (thanks for the excellent link, SUsa...Not only that (thanks for the excellent link, SUsannah -- definitely one for the blogroll!), but blogger Abu Kareem makes a great point about why the blogosphere is becoming such a great school and showcase for emerging writers:<BR/><BR/><I>Anyone who reads Robin's blog knows what a talented writer he is. I still remember the first post of his that I read. What impressed me most was not so much his writing style but the anecdote and the insights it gave me about the writer... It also became clear, on reading his posts, that he was an exceptional writer.</I>PEN Atlashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01475698916769985929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6113597246003215519.post-52875188338182053812008-11-20T09:25:00.000+00:002008-11-20T09:25:00.000+00:00I now find that the Levantine Dreamhouse (good tit...I now find that the Levantine Dreamhouse (good title!) blog had an interesting take on the novel from the perspective of a New Yorker of Syrian origin who regularly follows Robin Y-K's qunfuz blog. Robin left a lighthearted comment on the 'Sami/Robin' angle.<BR/>http://tinyurl.com/633p6wAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6113597246003215519.post-61311632457348262372008-11-19T17:59:00.000+00:002008-11-19T17:59:00.000+00:00"Live" book clubs have a lot going for them, but t..."Live" book clubs have a lot going for them, but they are limited to people who can make one place, one time. What's great about the Guardian book club is that it provides a structure for *lots* of live clubs reading simultaneously, having face-to-face discussions, and joined into a bigger network that stimulates further discussion and ideas via the newspaper and the web...<BR/><BR/>Could this blog do something similar??? Different clubs (from all over the world!) could post about their take on the book over the month of reading...PEN Atlashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01475698916769985929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6113597246003215519.post-69918933925376181272008-11-16T09:57:00.000+00:002008-11-16T09:57:00.000+00:00I'd like to join the book club, Sophie, although a...I'd like to join the book club, Sophie, although an online one sounds like less fun than a real one - I'd rather talk then type...<BR/><BR/>How would it work?<BR/><BR/>How about Cell Block Five by Fadhil Al-Azzawi, one of your previous recommendations?Lee Henshawhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12205924522680804815noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6113597246003215519.post-14080980924715930042008-11-13T09:59:00.000+00:002008-11-13T09:59:00.000+00:00That's very good of them. Next week, I'm doing a v...That's very good of them. <BR/><BR/>Next week, I'm doing a video interview for the Atlas with Sama, a young Palestinian poet and photographer. <BR/><BR/>You can see some of her work here. <BR/><BR/>http://olahadasha.typepad.com/ola_hadasha/2008/02/a-stranger-in-m.html<BR/><BR/>I need your help with questions, Sophie. <BR/><BR/>xLee Henshawhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12205924522680804815noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6113597246003215519.post-20359435617229831502008-11-11T19:03:00.000+00:002008-11-11T19:03:00.000+00:00Cell Block Five is a brilliant work, a masterpiece...Cell Block Five is a brilliant work, a masterpiece at only just over 100 pages, and well chosen by Arabia Books as one of its first titles. A great addition to world prison literature!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6113597246003215519.post-55710057043430823342008-11-06T14:15:00.000+00:002008-11-06T14:15:00.000+00:00A good tip, Sophie, thank you. I've added to my Ch...A good tip, Sophie, thank you. <BR/><BR/>I've added to my Christmas reading list. <BR/><BR/>Lee.Lee Henshawhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12205924522680804815noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6113597246003215519.post-71578736157920370482008-11-04T13:18:00.000+00:002008-11-04T13:18:00.000+00:00"If you can't make it to San Francisco..."That'll ..."If you can't make it to San Francisco..."<BR/><BR/>That'll be most of us. <BR/><BR/>I am very jealous that you're out there. You've reminded me how good City Lights is - I'm going to check out that website. <BR/><BR/>xLee Henshawhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12205924522680804815noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6113597246003215519.post-20065488791352762982008-10-11T22:44:00.000+01:002008-10-11T22:44:00.000+01:00thanks for providing such a wonderful link to Lati...thanks for providing such a wonderful link to Latifa's life..<BR/><BR/>thats highly appreciated :)Lasto-adri *Blue*https://www.blogger.com/profile/10976887703405470041noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6113597246003215519.post-14255397248056263902008-09-27T21:56:00.000+01:002008-09-27T21:56:00.000+01:00Absolutely a fair point (and thanks for the commen...Absolutely a fair point (and thanks for the comment) -- but as Eliot Weinberger discusses in the afterword to What Happened, the internet (and blogs in particular) have made it possible to circulate printed texts in a way that was a challenge even for widespread print media: the article can be read for free (practically, not to ignore the expense of the technology, power, broadband access, etc), almost instantaneously, and onscreen. I think it's a transitional case, perhaps -- but it suggests that the blog form can accommodate (and alter) the essay. Or maybe not?PEN Atlashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01475698916769985929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6113597246003215519.post-33123303792813765512008-09-27T16:50:00.000+01:002008-09-27T16:50:00.000+01:00you're right -- it's a beautiful article. but wasn...you're right -- it's a beautiful article. but wasn't it published in a newspaper, and only then reposted on a blog? i don't really see how this says anything about new media, then...Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11938147651808134550noreply@blogger.com