Literature Without Borders

A few news items on the free movement and translation of literature across borders:

Iraqi novelist Fadhil al-Azzawi's novel The Last of the Angels is published has been translation by The Free Press [US], and the first review is out in the Quarterly Conversation.

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Knesset Member Yuli Tamir has proposed a draft bill that would challenge the Israeli embargo on books published in Syria or Lebanon, making books in Arabic more available in Israel. Yuval Azoulay's article in Ha'aretz looks at the challenges facing readers coming through Israeli customs or looking to obtain books in Israel, with an update on the campaign against the embargo launched by Adalah, as the Atlas reported in February.

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Emirati newspaper The National offers a global overview of its summer reading recommendations with a nifty hotspotted map. Recs include Rawi Hage's De Niro's Game and Bahaa Taher's Sunset Oasis. Chad at Three Percent suggests turning this format into a social networking app like Cities I've Visited on Facebook...

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And Three Percent also put up this short video of the Big Think's interview with Alane Salierno Mason, founder of the brilliant Words Without Borders, discussing literature in translation. In other videos (the Big Think seems to work on one idea per short film), Alane discusses the continuing fortunes of publishers of translation, the guiding impulse for WWB and her thoughts on the power of Oprah.

Arabic Literature & the Internet: Debate opens Dubai festival

Writing in Gulf News, Abbas al Lawati reports from the Dubai literary festival on two sides to a debate about how the internet has affected Arabic literature:

It is often argued that the advent of the internet led to an evolution in Arabic literature that is unprecedented.

While some argue that the internet weakens the Arabic language, others say that it has enabled Arabic literature to reach an audience much larger and farther than ever.

The panel members at the debate included Samuel Shimon, who commented that:

"Arabic writing was isolated and geographically restricted until the internet came along. Now an Arabic writer in Abu Dhabi can have an audience from Casablanca to Australia," said Shimon, who is also the founder of the Banipal online magazine on Arabic literature.

He said that he was also introduced to many new Arabic writers courtesy of the internet.

"We can actually call it Arabic literature now because it can finally reach all parts of the Arab world," he said.

The article concludes in favour of the internet's global reach, with an interesting point about its liberalising effect not only on readers who can now access books from around the world, but also on writers.

The writers said the internet helped Arabic writing free itself from political and social restrictions that had plagued pre-internet era Arabic writing, saying it was a platform for free thought and the unrestricted exchange of ideas.

They also credited the internet with introducing Arab authors to the non-Arab world and helping globalise Arabic writing.

It was also argued that the internet had even helped promote gender equality.

"We all know that women aren't afforded many opportunities in Saudi Arabia. The internet has helped introduce the Saudi literary scene to more women, who now constitute 60 per cent of Saudi writers thanks to the internet, as opposed to the previous 40 per cent. They can become writers sitting at home now," said Turki Al Dakhil.

More Writing from Gaza

I hope you've been enjoying this past week's pieces by Atef Abu Said and Soumaya Susi.

The process of collating this portfolio has been exhilarating, but abstract, circulating through the myriad loops of the web, with poems and stories flying to and fro between Gaza, London, the US, and the ether. The 'net creates the illusion of a nationless globe in which information, emotion and creativity can flow -- and yet it also reinforces national boundaries. Issues of censorship, access, language, and politics all delimit and define individuals' roles in the worldwide web -- we are not equal netizens. And as in nations, so online: in the last few weeks I've read about teams of Israeli and Zionist hackers working to take down Palestinian websites, and vice-versa. Blogs boil over: too often, they serve as mouthpieces preaching to the converted and provoking the unconvertable, rather than fora for the kinds of discussion that can change minds and create alliances.

There are also amazing sites online like Poetry International Web that use the network of global connections to increase the flow of creativity between readers and writers around the world, and to give hope to the argument that the internet can provide a voice for those who would otherwise be silenced. In doing so, it's an extension of what poetry and song have always done: like a news ballad circulating from mouth to ear, the web has come to provide us with globally common expressions (such as shoe-throwing) that speak truth to power, as well as a place to gather (virtually) and speak them. Many writers are eager for any space that allows their words to enlarge, to echo back from readers.

The next two upcoming writers are no exception: Nasr Jamil Shaath is, at 29, not only a widely-published and award-winning poet, but also a critic and editor who promotes the work of other writers of his generation in international journals, while Najah Awadallah has the experience of reaching out to large audiences as a documentary filmmaker and programme designer for the Palestinian Television and Broadcasting Authority.

There's still work to come from Khaled Jumaa, Fatena al-Gharra, Khaled Abedallah, Yousef Alqedra and Naser Rabah, from translators including Sarah Maguire, Isis Nusair, Ali Issa, Fady Joudah, and Randa Jarrar. Keep checking iN.

No Frontiers? Free Speech and the Internet conference

Describing itself as

A conference for bloggers, policy makers, human rights activists, internet moguls, educationalists, and parents

, this three-day event (no horse-riding, though) kicks off tomorrow at Cumberland Lodge conference centre in Surrey, UK. It's presented in association with the 21st Century Trust and English PEN and has a sterling line-up of speakers, including pioneering online journalist Isobel Hilton, Index on Censorship editor Jo Glanville, and Guardian Readers' Editor Siobhan Butterworth. As well as discussions and presentations, there are opportunities for in-depth conversations at meals -- or while walking in Windsor Great Park.