Alaa al-Aswany on Islam in the media

Another day, another novelist offering political analysis in The Guardian. Balancing out their recent contribution to the Amis Dental Reconstruction Fund, the paper has Alaa al-Aswany commenting -- rather more knowledgeably -- on the Western double-standard/standard-issue blindness where Islam is concerned. al-Aswany lived in Chicago (setting for his second novel) for several years, and his op-ed reflects his doubly-aware perspective, concluding

It is true that the west's policy treats us as colonial peoples who do not deserve to enjoy the rights of their citizens, and it is true that its media is mostly biased against Arabs and Muslims – but it is also true that the retrograde Wahhabi reading of Islam that is now widespread helps to entrench an unfair and mistaken image.

It is our duty to start with ourselves. We must save Islam from all the nonsense, falsehoods and retrograde ideas that have attached themselves to it. Democracy is the solution.

More on Beirut39 and the case of the disappearing judges

The Tanjara has an interview with Alaa al-Aswany that explores his reasons for resigning as chair of the judging panel. Aswany commented that

“One day after I accepted their offer, I received a list of 90 names of young writers who were candidates for the competition. I later learned that those names had been chosen by the literary magazine Banipal, which issued its own selection."

This narrowed the original criteria of the competition, which had declared it was open to all writers under 40 of Arabic origin. al-Aswany also felt the award had been compromised by a lack of awareness in the Arab world:

“In Egypt no one was aware of the mere existence of this literary contest, except people with good connections in the cultural field and a bunch of journalists".

The deadline for candidacies has been extended to August 24th and the nominations page remains open to all.

What's going on at Beirut39?

The Tanjara has a lead: an article from Al-Hayat [Ar] concerning Alaa al-Aswany's resignation as chair of the jury. It's a follow-up to her interview with the author after the recent publication of his short story collection, Friendly Fire.

Beirut39: Nominate writers & follow the judging!

The Hay Festival's Beirut39 competition announced a new judging panel:

Alawiyya Sobh - Lebanese novelist and Editor-in-Chief of the best selling women's magazine Snob Al-Hasnaa'
Seif Al Rahbi - Omani poet and prose writer, Editor-in-Chief of Nizwa magazine
Alaa Al Aswany (chair) - Egyptian journalist and writer of the famous 'The Yacoubian Building'
Abdo Wazen - Lebanese poet and cultural editor-in-chief of pan-Arab Al Hayat newspaper

There's still time to nominate your chosen writer(s): the Authors page has all the information you need. The Atlas features dozens of Arab/ic writers under 39 -- browse for suggestions or reminders...

I'll be keeping you updated as the judging proceeds -- and new profiles will appear on the Atlas as we discover new writers.

BBC World Book Club goes to Egypt

Today's book club sees Nawal El-Saadawi in conversation with Harriett Gilbert, discussing the still-controversial classic Woman at Point Zero. You can listen to the broadcast online here.

On the same page, there's the opportunity to submit questions for the forthcoming bookclub with Alaa al-Aswany, who will be talking about The Yacoubian Building on 28 May -- and to see the discussion take place, at 4.15 that day in Bush House in London. If you would like to put a question to Alaa Al Aswany, or be in the audience, please email worldbookclub@bbc.co.uk or call on 0207 557 2778.

Two from the Saloon on Contemporary Arabic Literature

The Literary Saloon has two -- perhaps contradictory -- offerings: an op-ed from UAE's The National bemoaning the lack of a coherent "culture of reading" in the Middle East, pointing out that top-down efforts are not connecting to actual readers:

The Emirates Foundation has launched the International Prize for Arabic Fiction as a way for Arab writers and Arab literature to gain exposure. But as The National on Saturday reported, most of the 16 titles nominated for the award cannot be found in Abu Dhabi bookshops.

But they've also put up a review of David Tresilian's very handy A Brief Introduction to Modern Arabic Literature, which focuses on fiction where

the contemporary scene now offers almost too much to choose from [...] Tresilian's discussion of works such as Miral al-Tahawy's Blue Aubergine and Ahmed Alaidy's Being Abbas el Abd, as well as Alaa Al Aswany (The Yacoubian Building, Chicago) brings things up to date fairly well.

It's true, as the Tresilian review points out, that

prose narratives, more or less modeled on the Western novel, … tend to get translated and attract the most attention among English-speaking readers

but the international outpouring of love and grief after the death of Mahmoud Darwish suggests some recognition of the traditional depth and ongoing significance and brilliance of poetry as a communitarian, national, personal, and political arena across the Arabic-speaking world.

Chicago's King of the Castle

The Complete Review have just put up a piece on Cell Block Five (although the Arabic title is The Fifth Castle - a Philip K. Dick reference?), a Kafka-esque prison novel first published in English this year by Arabia. It's a novel by the distinguished Iraqi novelist Fadhil al-Azzawi, a member of the controversial 'Kirkuk Group' of radical poets in the 1960s, and founder of Shi'r poetry magazine. He left Iraq in the 1970s (shortly after writing the novel) and has since lived in Germany. A novel about a neutral, unbreakable hero who finds himself trapped in the labyrinthine twists of Iraqi politics, it sounds like potential bedside reading for President-Elect Barack Obama.

And for a strong sense of the contemporary urban Middle East, he could delve into Al-Ahram's round-up of novels about contemporary Cairo. He may, of course, be familiar with the most recent -- Alaa al-Aswany's Chicago, named for the city where Obama began his political career and where he accepted the presidency last night. A lucky co-incidence, maybe, but we hope it's one that bodes well for the future of Arab-American relations.

"You cannot stop writing": Interview with Alaa al-Aswany

The Egyptian author of The Yacoubian Building and Chicago talks about his writing practice and offers advice to young writers in today's Guardian books blog.