tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123102602024-03-06T08:13:20.441+00:00the tanjarasusannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17317101646265915200noreply@blogger.comBlogger664125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12310260.post-58366571080028533782022-05-09T12:12:00.006+01:002022-05-09T12:28:09.264+01:00<p>TEST</p><p><br /></p><p>mastering the walks around <a href="https://www.portobelloroad.co.uk/">Portobello Road Market </a></p><p>mastering the walks around <a href="Portobello Road">Portobello Road</a> </p><p><br /></p><p>Having another go - he went to <a href="https://www.sant.ox.ac.uk/">St Antony's College, Oxford </a></p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://bloggingtips.com/create-link/">For those of you who use Blogger</a> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjcQdqkuyiJn_2Jnt7BDzpBvy4QTWwkp9YrsiKDRYqCHoYoufJG9Px9wIRhUydeV-5-0otRubABARczBPTuLGKMSTtn2KTqXXf4oO-a7Qlhr2hEfbZFyYX_xeOod8migt9EgPkIom8OLlI9NuRy0L_1JE7EzqWM0QrPLNthQShldvT2GJ2_5A" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2592" data-original-width="1944" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjcQdqkuyiJn_2Jnt7BDzpBvy4QTWwkp9YrsiKDRYqCHoYoufJG9Px9wIRhUydeV-5-0otRubABARczBPTuLGKMSTtn2KTqXXf4oO-a7Qlhr2hEfbZFyYX_xeOod8migt9EgPkIom8OLlI9NuRy0L_1JE7EzqWM0QrPLNthQShldvT2GJ2_5A=w300-h400" width="300" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjLy1V4gF3-ezI4VdCd-RqWTJi8ubF53x2WI4udaNJEQABLvkpeI0L6iGz3p63BgglIZCy2uJm7ksRg-SMTUbcfSast2lxbqjySYiIZr2FwBgiIiZ5_IThYqN9ecLIvDIsoT_KVBm9s8vIAO6NqQuWlJX5hJKgswZlC1SnYtuYL82ZEfgGUIw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="180" data-original-width="193" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjLy1V4gF3-ezI4VdCd-RqWTJi8ubF53x2WI4udaNJEQABLvkpeI0L6iGz3p63BgglIZCy2uJm7ksRg-SMTUbcfSast2lxbqjySYiIZr2FwBgiIiZ5_IThYqN9ecLIvDIsoT_KVBm9s8vIAO6NqQuWlJX5hJKgswZlC1SnYtuYL82ZEfgGUIw" width="257" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrzwMpd_uN9bpjDeom9xBdedlybw35I3T2T4fQJ0c1xkwqC1kK2jEz8q1E_yt93adw_MGSi2x3aa0qJ_JID9vlcowRqXJ1ICTOkADNGOeubuVP37DZl2UpoCoOALcK6qdH6siRagykB1LUZOJn16bfjZ1q29GsQVG4Kgf4tojQfIGMEDRF5Q/s5184/003.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="5184" data-original-width="3888" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrzwMpd_uN9bpjDeom9xBdedlybw35I3T2T4fQJ0c1xkwqC1kK2jEz8q1E_yt93adw_MGSi2x3aa0qJ_JID9vlcowRqXJ1ICTOkADNGOeubuVP37DZl2UpoCoOALcK6qdH6siRagykB1LUZOJn16bfjZ1q29GsQVG4Kgf4tojQfIGMEDRF5Q/s320/003.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhUGa2k_P9T0Us3Cgi2jrL_RDm0b6ujpUJ_6Pcq95BX_PpgmlzGOaVr5toKxW4v74NK2wLNXMSUcLYLdb_NjNrrffaleUGj-Zk4X_jPU78hGWkEoGCadOGxwyQlBzCFGdsyfTRsC17eY5xNSSXqo428juXkoh0HWZ6pY3LFoH_oPhTg0F-aqg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="700" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhUGa2k_P9T0Us3Cgi2jrL_RDm0b6ujpUJ_6Pcq95BX_PpgmlzGOaVr5toKxW4v74NK2wLNXMSUcLYLdb_NjNrrffaleUGj-Zk4X_jPU78hGWkEoGCadOGxwyQlBzCFGdsyfTRsC17eY5xNSSXqo428juXkoh0HWZ6pY3LFoH_oPhTg0F-aqg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br /></div><p></p></blockquote><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br /><p></p>susannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17317101646265915200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12310260.post-41302491400426013292019-12-07T09:54:00.002+00:002019-12-07T10:06:56.897+00:00interview with the Lebanese-British poet Omar Sabbagh <br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Interview with the Lebanese-British poet, author, critic and academic Omar Sabbagh to mark the publication - </i></span><i style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">by Wales-based publisher Cinnamon Press - </i><i style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">of his fifth poetry collection </i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">But It was an Important Failure</span><i style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">. Sabbagh lives in the United Arab Emirates where he is Associate Professor of English at the American University in Dubai (AUD). </i></div>
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How do you
see this fifth collection, compared with the preceding four collections, in the trajectory of your output?<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif;">It’s in the main a confessional and
lyrical artefact, like all my preceding collections – barring the one collection
which was an absolute failure down to my own loss of perspective at the
time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, like my first, <i>My Only
Ever Oedipal Complaint, </i>and my fourth, <i>To The Middle of Love, </i>I do
think this collection is me, with the caveats below in mind, at closer to my
better (rather than best), on the whole anyway.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As per the highly ironic opening and closing prose entries of this 5<sup>th</sup>
collection, while in many ways parodic (which is not by any means to say,
comic, somehow) in some of this verse, I am in this collection as bare as I’ve
ever been.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I would say that I think
this collection hangs-together <i>as a collection </i>in the most effective way
among my poetry books.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nearly all the
verse was written very swiftly, and usually on impulse; however, that doesn’t
mean I invoke some romanticist notion of sudden, overwhelming
‘inspiration.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It merely means that due
to certain psychological fears that remain with me, in some subliminal way I
don’t tend to invest as much time in writing verse as perhaps a poet should, or
a better poet would.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is primarily
because I see the stakes as particularly high in poetry, and would rather avert
losing in that artistic game; that said, when I do succeed, as I feel I may
have done in over half this collection, I think the time spent means very
little.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In those places, as it were, the
brain was following the mind, or vice versa.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b><span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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How did
you decide on the title, which plays with <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">the</span> line "But for him it was not an important failure" from W H Auden<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s poem "Mus<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">é</span>e des Beaux Arts"?<br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Well, the collection being in the main
confessional and lyrical, and the life in the living for an individual in
today’s world, like me at least, meaning in the main suffering, it seemed like
a propitious play for the title.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Also,
failure is important to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is more
than just the gauge of success; <i>it is</i> in some significant way success,
when that failure is the right kind of failure, an ‘important’ one so to
speak.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t need to invoke (very)
late Beckett, to indicate how artistic endeavours are above all else like the
soul itself, processual, more than to do with some final end-product.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I suppose the process of trying, essaying
verse is itself the verse for me: as I suggest, too, in the closing ironies of
my 5<sup>th</sup>, ‘My Practice of Poetry, or, Not Bad’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All this means that poetry is indeed a part
of my behaviour, and not part of some tale I feel that really needs
telling.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That said, there may come a day
in the near or farther future when I begin to write verse about things beyond
my-self!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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Your
fourth collection <i>To The Middle of Love</i> was dedicated to your parents and to Faten, now your wife and
mother of little baby Alia. What impact have marriage and fatherhood had on
your poetry? Some of your particularly beautiful tender poems are for Faten or your
daughter.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Yes, true.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Even if I’m not quite, or don’t quite consider myself a truly
responsible poet, I am I think a responsive one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And relationships of tenderness are the
quickest spurs for my pen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Alia and
Faten are like my wings, a twinned and colourful surprise.</span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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Is your foreword to this new collection, <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">"</span>A Pretentious Man<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">",</span> a witty rebuke or riposte to certain
critics? Yusuf pops up again -<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yusuf
Ghaleez whom we remember from your first novella <i>Via
Negativa?</i> The foreword throws names around, eg <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“…</span> what
Hegel would have dubbed, probably in Findlay<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s
translation, <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">‘</span>looking-on<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’…”</span> And you observe: <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>However, though he was often seen as
a pretentious man, he knew himself to be merely pompous.<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span> <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Well, it’s a comic response to myself as a
critic of that same self.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Findlay wrote
prefatory material, but didn’t as far as I’m aware (at least not in my Oxford
translated editions) translate Hegel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That was a little red herring to amplify the comedy there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Throwing names around is kind of the
point.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I do it often, but most often
when I really do know the name’s works well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>However, I can see how others might be sceptical; hence, I took this
prose piece as an occasion in a way, if not to answer actual critics,
necessarily, the ones who populate the air, potential critics or others perhaps
with lambasting concerns.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yusuf is a
name I often use.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Father of Jesus in the
Christian mythos; and also a name I think Kafka uses</span>.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<o:p><i>Omar Sabbagh with his 2nd novella </i>Minutes from the Miracle City<i> (Fairlight Moderns, 2019) </i></o:p></div>
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The
collection ends with your essay <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">‘</span>My
Practice of Poetry, Or, Not Bad<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>. Is
your head for ever bubbling with poetry waiting to come out or do you have arid
spells? Does what comes out as you write sometimes surprise or baffle you? Do
you write by hand, or straight onto a screen? Do you feel sometimes the poetry comes
almost too easily?<br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Yes, the poetry does come too easily,
which is why I don’t, as yet at least, consider myself a responsible poet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I write, normally at will, and always onto a
screen (this is my one thoroughgoing concession to modern technology, along
with a few other things, like email).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because
I write so much, and at will, no, I rarely surprise myself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What is often missing in my verse, because my
‘will’ is quite a logical one, is what Wallace Stevens called the element of
the ‘irrational.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But sometimes I get
this, and when I do, logic and reflection (which in part may define my approach
to verse, in the main) meet and are surprised by successful lines on occasion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In other words, it’s not so much that
‘poetry’ comes too easily, but words (and thoughts) do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Poetry comes rarely to me, but when it does,
if not ‘easy’, it is swift.</span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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Dubai and
Lebanon (also Egypt & England) are very much presences in your poems, and
Dubai is the setting of your recent 2nd novella<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><i>Minutes
from the Miracle City</i> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">–</span> could you sum up the importance of place to
you? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">And also say something on your experience of teaching at AUD and before that at the American University of Beirut (AUB)? </span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">One of the first major influences on my
reading (and thus, writing) life was Lawrence Durrell, and for him the spirit
of place is key.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is not as powerful
a concern for me (I’m not Lawrence Durrell, as yet at least), but I do feel
like personae and places can and do interact in seamless, palpable and fruitful
ways.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And apart from issues of prose
style and more attitudinal concerns like voice, character is for me the root of
my love for and my love in trying at least to build my own narratives. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Teaching, in Beirut and Dubai, so far, has
been as it would be anywhere, at times a joy, at others a drain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, I should say that my teaching has
influenced and informed some of my prose publications.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In particular I have made use of insights
gained while teaching fiction or poetry in some of my papers, and the loci of
universities have figured centrally in some of my most successful fiction: not
only my Beirut novella, <i>Via Negativa: a Parable of Exile </i>(Liquorice
Fish, 2016)<i>, </i>but also such prize-winning fictions of mine as ‘Dye’
(later in Cinnamon Press’s <i>Ruins and Other Stories</i>) or ‘Bad Faith’ (in
Cinnamon’s first <i>The Cinnamon Review of Short Fiction</i>); or, as another
instance, my piece of creative nonfiction, ‘From Bourbon to Scotch: Extracts
from a Dubai Diary’, which was published some years ago in the Routledge
journal, <i>POEM.</i></span></span></b></div>
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A reviewer
of your previous collection (RoulaMaria Dib, writing in the Oxford Culture Review) noted
its various references to digging <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">–</span> in
tribute to Seamus Heaney - this is continued in your new collection with <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">“</span>On Digging<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">”</span>,
dedicated to your father. You pay tribute to various named figures in your poems and their dedications; are they kind of father figures and mentors?<br />
<b><span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Yes, father figures in craft and in life
loom large for me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, I was
recently re-reading in and about Lacan’s Seminar XX, which deals with female
sexuality and knowledge, among other things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And as ever, I used this recent bout of re-reading to garner a new batch
of inferences.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think I like to lend
myself authority in my writing – whether it’s by the use of capitalised
initials at the starts of my lines in my poetry, or an authoritative voice,
using at times well-nigh heroic syntax, or stagey punctuation in my prose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And all of these features of my mental life,
reflected directly in my writerly, are ways of me searching for the
law(s).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am both, I like to think
anyway, highly gifted at abstract thinking or ratiocination, and to boot, my
father, the best dad in the world, probably loved me, now as then, too much.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In other words, coded, I am like Kafka’s
‘hunger artist’ and like most narcissistic types, both too much myself and too
little.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And so on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Theodor Adorno, one of my favourite twentieth
century philosophical writers (in translation) cashes out in a serial manner
this kind of psychological phenomenon in one of his aphorisms, ‘Hothouse
Plant’, in what is my favourite of his works (in translation), <i>Minima
Moralia</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, to recoup, this
last aphorism was used as an epigraph at the start of my first collection of
poetry from 2010, <i>My Only Ever Oedipal Complaint</i> (Cinnamon Press).</span></span></b><br />
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You often
use colour words in your poetry and fiction <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">–</span> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>emerald eyes<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span> being a recurring motif. I remember reading in one of your group emails how the poem "For Vincent" in <i>But It was an Important Failure</i> was triggered by seeing the Schnabel film on Van
Gogh, Do you have painterly vivid
imagination? Like some people have with colour and music, a kind of
synaesthesia.<br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I’m not sure I suffer or prosper from
synaesthesia, but I do have a deeply-embedded relationship with words.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And this reaches between and through their
representative content and their materiality; both the way they denote and
connote, but I think anyway, in ways that synergise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Colours are examples of this, where they seem
to be to me (and seam to be) both abstract and concrete. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would say or guess that as well as being
quite good at descriptive writing, and from the inception of my writerly
attempts, I also have (and without any detailed or deep knowledge of music) a
quite musical imagination, and that, in many dovetailing senses. </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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Do you
think a reader of your poems need to be well versed in English literature so as
to get all the allusions? Or is it enough that they may be carried away by the
language, images and rhythms?<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Only the latter, yes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Especially in my verse, which is far less
sophisticated than my prose.</span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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Your two
novellas were well received. You are now working on a novel entitled <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>The Cedar Never Dies<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span> (which is also
the title of one of your earlier poems). Could you say something about this,
and about the current upheavals in Lebanon, which have inspired some of your most recent poetry? <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The plot of this projected novel, as per
the already worked-up synopsis, embodies by the end the notion of ‘at-one-ment’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both in its use of a Christian mythos,
married in signal ways to other presiding religious affiliations in Lebanon,
and in the way it hopes to enact a kind of Lebanese solidarity of sorts by its
close, in some respects very different to the current events in Lebanon, but in
some, strangely, uncannily, serendipitously relevant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Indeed, the novel was conceived and work was
begun this past spring, much before the onset of contemporary Lebanese events
in autumn of 2019.</span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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Anything
else you<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>d like to say? <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Plenty of things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But you’ll have to send me more questions at
another time!</span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>Interview conducted via email by Susannah Tarbush, London </b></i></span></span></div>
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<br />susannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17317101646265915200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12310260.post-89886456365649635272019-09-12T18:29:00.000+01:002019-09-18T17:37:27.080+01:00first-ever anthology of Palestinian science fiction to be launched at British Library <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
<i>report by Susannah Tarbush, London</i><br />
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Tomorrow evening at 19.00 the British Library in London is to host an event that
should warm the hearts of lovers of Palestine literature and of science fiction
alike <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">–</span> <a href="https://www.bl.uk/events/palestine-2048-science-fiction-and-the-future-past"><b>‘Palestine 2048: Science Fiction and the Future Past</b>’</a> . The event marks the London launch of <a href="https://commapress.co.uk/books/palestine-100"> <b><i>Palestine + 100: Stories from a century after the Nakba</i></b> </a> (Comma Press), said to be the first ever anthology of SF
from Palestine.<br />
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The British
Library describes the event as “an evening of Palestinian futurism celebrating
the power of Science Fiction to shed new light on historical events and
contemporary politics in the Middle East.”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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Manchester-based Comma Press published the book with assistance from Arts Council England and with an award from English Pen’s ‘PEN Translates’ programme. Six of the 12 stories were translated from Arabic, each by a different translator; the others were written in English.<br />
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At the launch Comma’s founder and editorial manager Ra Page and the anthology’s editor Basma Ghalayini will chair a panel including two contributors to the book: British-Palestinian novelist Selma Dabbagh, <span style="background: white;">author of <em><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Out of It,</span></em> and Palestinian-Hungarian poet, journalist and novelist <strong><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Anwar Hamed</span></span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">, </span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">author of eight Arabic novels</span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hamed’s </span></span></strong><span style="font-family: inherit;">novel</span> <i>Jaffa Makes the Morning Coffee</i> was longlisted for the 2013 International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF). <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: x-small;">Selma Dabbagh</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Ghalayini was born in Khan Younis, Gaza, and spent her childhood in the UK until the age of five before returning to Gaza. She has worked in various finance roles in the commercial and not-for-profit sectors, and is also </span><span style="background-color: white;">an Arabic translator and interpreter. She translated short fiction from Arabic for the KFW Stifflung series <i>Beirut Short Stories</i>, </span><span style="background-color: white;">and for Comma projects including </span><i>Banthology</i><span style="background-color: white;"> and </span><i>The Book of Cairo</i><span style="background-color: white;"> (edited by Raph Cormack).</span><br />
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The 12 Palestinian authors commissioned to write stories for the anthology have risen to the challenge of producing SF stories set in 2048 with zest, imagination and ingenuity. Some had written SF previously; for others it was a new field of writing. Of course, this raises the perennial question of what distinguishes SF from the closely related genres of speculative fiction, magic realism, fantasy, surrealism, ghost stories and so on.<br />
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The Nakba is the 1948 'catastrophe' in which more than 700,000 Palestinians – some 80 per cent of the total –were expelled from Palestine during the establishing of Israel. Ghalayini writes in her insightful introduction to the anthology that the Nakba did not end in 1948. “Since then, countless Israeli government policies have furthered this gradual ethnic cleansing." The ‘ongoing Nakba’ is “continually evolving. We are forever entering new stages of it…”<br />
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The anthology is dedicated to the memory of Tom Hurndall, the British photography student who was shot in the head by an Israeli sniper in Gaza in April 2003, dying in the UK in January 2004 without regaining consciousness.</div>
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The stories in <i>Palestine + 100</i> extrapolate from the often bizarre and disturbing reality in which Palestinians live today: advanced Israeli weapons, surveillance, cyber warfare, drones, separation walls, increasing pollution and attempts to stifle or wipe out history. To judge by the stories, the Palestinian predicament lends itself well to SF,and perhaps increasingly so. There has always been something surreal and fantastical about the Palestinians' history in the 20th and 21st centuries - for example in the condition of being "present absentees".<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Basma Ghalayini</span></div>
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As Ghalayini points out SF “uses the future as a blank canvas on which to project concerns that occupy society <i>right now</i> The real future - the <i>actual</i> future – is unknowable. But for SF writers, the mere idea of ‘things to come’ is licence to re-imagine, re-configure, and re-interrogate the present.” </div>
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However, she observes that the SF genre “has never been particularly popular among Palestinian
authors; it is a luxury, to which Palestinians haven’t felt they can afford to
escape. The cruel present (and the traumatic past)
have too firm a grip on Palestinian writers’ imaginations for fanciful ventures
into possible futures.”</div>
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She suggests that another reason SF has not been popular among Palestinian writers is
that it doesn’t offer an obvious fit with the Palestinian situation. “In
classic SF, the battle lines are drawn quickly and simply: the moral
opposition between a typical SF protagonist and the dystopia or enemy he finds
himself confronting is a diametric one.</div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">"But in Palestinian fiction, the idea of
an ‘enemy’ is largely absent. Israelis hardly ever feature as individuals, and
when they do they are rarely portrayed as out and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>out villains.” She cites as an example Ghassan Kanafani's novel <i>Returning to Haifa.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Anwar Hamed </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Anwar Hamed’s tale “The Key”, translated by Andrew Leber,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>is told from the perspective of Israelis anxious about the rusty old keys Palestinians in refugee camps retain from the homes in Palestine they were forced to leave. "My grandfather feared those photographs of people holding keys more then any arms deal being signed by neighbouring countries" says the main character of the story. His grandfather had developed the idea of a transparent "gravity wall" to keep out those without the right 'code'. But now, on the centenary of Israel's establishment, ghostly presences are making themselves felt through the sounds of keys turning in locks. </span><br />
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Selma Dabbagh's savvy and in places hilarious story "Sleep it Off, Doctor Schott" tells of a suspected emotional relationship between two middle-aged scientists, Gaza-born Professor Mona Kamal and her co-worker, Tel Aviv born Dr Eyal Schott, who are being spied on by young Layla in her capacity as a "Recorder". </span>The scientists work in the privileged 'Secular Scientific Enclave'. Professor Kamal had been a hero to Layla as a girl growing up in a refugee camp, for her creation of a "bot army" that burst through the borders in 2032. The story is written in the form of dialogue, and one could imagine it making an entertaining radio play.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Saleem Haddad </span></div>
The anthology's opening story is Saleem Haddad’s poignant“Song of the Birds”. Haddad gained international recognition with his debut novel <i>Guapa</i>, which has a gay central character. It won The 2017 Polari Prize and was awarded a Stonewall honour. "Song of the Birds" was written in memory of Mohannad Younis a Gazan writer and pharmacy postgraduate who killed himself in August 2017 at the age of 22. Younis was seen as a symbolic of the wave of young Gazans killing themselves over the hopelessness of their situation.<br />
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The main character of the story is 14-year-old Aya whose beloved brother Ziad killed himself the previous year. Ziad starts to appear to her in dreams, and she keeps having visions of war, destruction and ruined buildings. When she is swimming in the sea it suddenly becomes full of "bottles, soiled tissue paper, plastic bags and rotting animal carcasses". It is all a total contrast to her actual Gaza City neighbourhood with "its wide leafy streets, exquisite limestone buildings, quaint cafes and vintage furniture shops". Ziad reveals to her that the horrific visions she has been experiencing are the "real Palestine" and that what she ha been living in is in fact a simulation. "They've harnessed our collective memory, creating a digital image of Palestine. And that's where you live." While the older generation spend a lot of time asleep, "it is up to us to develop new forms of resistance."<br />
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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Like Haddad, Mazen Maarouf has a growing international profile, with his short story collection <i>Jokes for the Gunmen</i> (Granta Books), translated by Jonathan Wright, longlisted earlier this year for the International Booker Prize. Maarouf’s story "The Curse of the Mud Ball Kid", translated by Wright,
is at 43 pages by far the longest story in <i>Palestine +100</i>. </span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">Mazen Maarouf </span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 107%;">The complex story portrays a dystopia in which the Palestinians had all been forced southwards and were no longer called Palestinians but Falasta. In 2037 a hitherto untested biological warfare munition was launched, programmed to identify and kill the Falastis and within three weeks there was no Falasti left except for the narrator of the story. </span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 107%;">The narrator says: “I’ve always wanted to be a superhero. I didn’t want to save the world, or even save all the children of Falasta. I just wanted to save my sister when they came to steal her imagination.” The stolen imaginations of Palestinian children are gathered into a satellite named the Dabraya Star. Being the last Palestinian the narrator is confined within a glass cube and transported on a motor bike by Ze’ev, whom he had fist met in an orphanage. “Every week we go to a primary school in a kibbutz or a town we haven’t visited before. Ze’ev puts me on display in front of the schoolkids in the playground for half an hour. None of them have ever seen a Palestinian before.”</span><br />
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In her story "Commonplace" Gaza-based Rawan Yagh conjures up a ghastly cityscape. Adam, a dealer in sedative drugs, known euphemistically as "grapes", lives in an area constantly under attack by swarms of drones from over the wall. The drones plant explosive devices on roofs, destroying whole buildings. Adam has been traumatised by the death of his quirky sister Rahaf. after she was attacked by a drone. The story sees him embarking on a desperate mission.<br />
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Questions of memory and history echo through the anthology. In Samir El-Youssef's story "The Association", translated by Raph Cormack, there has been a 2028 Agreement under which “the people of the country – all the different sects and religions, Muslim, Christian and Jewish – had decided that forgetting was the best way to live in peace. The study of the past is forbidden.” In 2048 an eager young journalist investigates the assassination of a Palestinian history professor. Those who oppose the Agreement and seek to investigate and record the past are regarded as extremists: they are said to have dozens of different groups such as the Jidar "who harboured evidence of the effects of the near 20-year blockade of Gaza." . It appears that the Professor's views on Palestinian history may be connected to his murder.<br />
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Abdalmuti Maqboul plays with time in his searing story "Personal Hero", translated by Yasmine Seale. Time runs in reverse, bodies arise from graveyards, and the great Palestinian was hero Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni comes back to life one hundred years after his death in battle on 8 April 1948. The story is skilfully unfolded towards an unexpected ending.<br />
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In "Vengeance" Tasnim Abutabikh combines environmental concerns with a story of revenge for a historical wrong involving land sales in Palestine. Carbon dioxide levels are rising and global temperatures have soared. In rich countries people live in air-filtered biospheres but in poorer areas such as Gaza people have to wear lifemasks with filtering systems, just a flick of a switch away from death.<br />
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The classic SF trope of a monster landing from outer space appears in Talal Abu Shawish's "Final Warning"in translation by Mohamed Ghalaieny. The creature lands in Ramallah, darkening the sky and knocking out power and communication systems. The local Christian Father, Muslim Imam and Jewish Rabbi join hands and chant to terrified crowds, with some people thinking that Judgment Day has arrived. Eventually the creature addresses the people and warns them they have one last chance to rectify their behaviour. "Your struggles in this tiny sector of the planet's surface have, for more than a hundred of your planet's orbits, cause more tension and conflict, directly and indirectly beyond its borders than any other area of its size in the known universe... By continuing to threaten the planet's stability as a whole, you also threaten the wider galaxy's stability... "<br />
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In “Application 39” UK-based Gazan novelist, dramatist and dance promoter Ahmed Masoud envisages a Palestine divided into independent statelets. After the collapse of the Oslo Accord and the 2025 Israeli invasion, each major Palestinian city had been forced to declare itself an independent state. These republics are linked by a network of tunnels and lifts. From time to time the cities fought each other, but in 2030 a peace deal between the states was signed.<br />
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In 2040 mischief makers Ismael and Rayyan, young friends in the Republic of Gaza, carry out a hoax they call “Operation Application 39”, in which they submit an application from the Republic to host the 39th Summer Olympic Games in 2048, forging the President of the Republic's signature. The hoax is uncovered after the IOC writes an enthusiastic letter of acceptance to the president, saying to hold the Olympics in the Republic of Gazawould seal the peace deal of 2030. But a woman official of the Republic warns Ismael and Rayyan that this "could lead to another war here...with Khan Younis, or Rafah, or even Ramallah." Nor will Israel be happy, and it might start a bombing campaign, leading to a regional war. Masoud fully develops the potential of this scenario in a lively narrative.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Majd Kayyal </span></div>
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Majd Kayyal was born in Haifa to a displaced family from the village of Birwa. His first novel T<i>he Tragedy of Mr Matar</i> (El Ahlia 2016) won the Qattan Young Writer of the Year Award, and his first collection of short stories <i>Death in Haifa</i> came out this year. In his compelling story "N" translated by Thoraya El-Rayyes Kayyal creates two separate worlds existing simultaneously, one Palestinian, the other Israeli.<br />
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The story focuses on a father, who lives in the Palestinian world, and his son "N". There has been a peace Agreement between the two sides under which only those born after the Agreement, such as "N", are allowed to travel between the two worlds. The father watches a PhotonTransit system which conveys his son back to Israel and produces "a spectacular flash of light. It's unlike any other light I've seen, a light we don't know the source or path of, which swallows our children to over there, to the other there."<br />
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The story references Palestinian director Elia Suleiman’s film <i>The Time that Remains</i>. “Father and son fishing at night under military surveillance. I grew to love that dialogue,” muses the father. "N" returns with his partner Nada to live in the Palestinian world “I don’t know if all the Palestinians who stayed in the Israeli world maintained their identity like this, but this Nada, she’s very special," the father thinks. "You can see a profound sadness in her that hasn’t healed.”<br />
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The Cairo-based academic, journalist and translator Emad El-Din Aysha was born in the UK to a Palestinian father from the Akka region. He is an avid fan of history and SF, and has published fiction and essays on Arab and Muslim SF. His humorous story "Digital Nation" is set as Israel's centenary Independence Day approaches. <br />
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The Palestinians “hadn’t had a single state to govern for a long time. Instead they made do with a series of banana republics. Literally, they grew bananas on the slopes of Ramallah – as well as mangos in Judea and pineapples in Samaria.”<br />
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The protagonist of story, the ageing Asa Shomer, is Director of the Israeli security service. Shabak. He faces a security crisis in that a highly sophisticated hacker Shabak has nicknamed Hannibal is "destabilising the stock market, hijacking media outlets, hacking servers... these are all issues of national security," an aide tells Shomer.<br />
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Old-fashioned Shomer is nostalgic for “good old fashioned-terrorism” rather than cybercrime.<br />
“But who could believe an Arab would be capable of such ingenuity: a vision of a united Palestinian State, simmed so perfectly and in such detail, then virus-leaked into every VR console on the Israeli market…” He is alarmed by the Palestinian Utopia portrayed by the hack: "Hope was contagious." and "who needed to 'liberate' Palestine if you could convert Israel into Palestine?"The virus spreads and spreads, right up to Israel's Independence Day.<br />
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The publication of <i>Palestine + 100 </i> follows Comma Press's first anthology of specially commissioned Arab SF - the acclaimed <i>Iraq + 100: stories from a century after the invasion</i> edited by Hassan Blasim and published in 2016. Comma has been making a major contribution to the translation and publication of Arabic literature, particularly short stories. It's newest collection of short stories from Palestine is <i>The Sea Clock & Other Stories </i>by Gazan author Nayrouz Qarmout ,winner of a 'PEN Translates' award. Comma is - most deservedly - currently shortlisted for the Arab British Centre Award for Culture, with the winner due to be announced on 26 September. <br />
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susannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17317101646265915200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12310260.post-1530112298722199492019-06-13T18:47:00.000+01:002019-06-13T18:47:08.906+01:00Two Arabic titles among recipients of latest batch of English PEN's translation awards <br />
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<b>English PEN
announces PEN Translates award-winning titles</b></div>
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<b>The awards go to books from sixteen countries, in eleven languages including Arabic. </b></div>
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Books from
sixteen countries and eleven languages make up the latest round of PEN
Translates award winners. They include fiction, non-fiction, poetry, short
stories and children<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s
literature and <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">–</span> for the first time <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">–</span> translations from the Burmese,
Vietnamese and Romanian.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The two titles translated from Arabic are <i>God 99</i> by Iraqi writer Hassan Blasim, translated by Jonathan Wright, due out from Comma Press in January 2020 and <i>Minor Detail</i> by Palestinian-German author Adania Shibli, translated f by Elisabeth Jaquette, to be published by. Fitzcarraldo Editions in May 2020. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz28zbw0-kunxym4VveGsn0s7tvD_Jjendusx2eIbRjNerVY_qvx-73Nl06fg11qEJunB45kHK8xoLXki4QOJfKvtee2jgMA-Q6QjbakhYhn88UVRwLFHmoLdqlTSOYMNg9TOp/s1600/Hassan+Blasim+launch+of+The+Iraqi+Christ+006.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1387" data-original-width="1600" height="277" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz28zbw0-kunxym4VveGsn0s7tvD_Jjendusx2eIbRjNerVY_qvx-73Nl06fg11qEJunB45kHK8xoLXki4QOJfKvtee2jgMA-Q6QjbakhYhn88UVRwLFHmoLdqlTSOYMNg9TOp/s320/Hassan+Blasim+launch+of+The+Iraqi+Christ+006.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Jonathan Wright (L) and Hassan Blasim in 2012 </span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Will
Forrester, Translation and International Manager, English PEN, said:</div>
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"These awards
go to seventeen books of outstanding merit and courage. In a moment where the
movement of art and ideas across borders is being challenged, translation is a
vital corrective. We are thrilled that PEN Translates continues to contribute
to literary accessibility and internationalism, and to ensure translators are
paid properly for their work. We<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">’</span>re
excited that the UK public will get to read these important books."</div>
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Sarah
Ardizzone, Co-chair of the English PEN Writers in Translation Committee, said:<o:p></o:p></div>
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"The depth of
field for these PEN Translates awards is breathtaking <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">–</span> from a hard-hitting memoir by a young Rohingya man, to a
poignant children<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">’</span>s illustrated work from
Slovenia, via a zany expos<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">é</span> of
colonised language in a Belarusian novel. We<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">’</span>re
proud to be supporting outstanding literary fiction from across Latin America,
as well as China, Vietnam, Palestine, Iraq and Romania; together with poetry
from Haiti, Cuba and Romania, and short story collections from Malaysia and
Myanmar. Dynamic and innovative models for international publishing are
especially to be saluted, in a list that is proactively both global and local."</div>
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Books are
selected for PEN Translates awards on the basis of outstanding literary
quality, strength of the publishing project, and contribution to literary
diversity in the UK. The award-winning books are featured on the English PEN
World Bookshelf website, in partnership with Foyles.<o:p></o:p></div>
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PEN
Translates award winners:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Alinarka<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s Children by Alhierd Bacharevic,
translated from Belarusian by Jim Dingley. Scotland Street Press, June
2019. Country of origin: Belarus.<o:p></o:p></div>
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God 99 by
Hassan Blasim, translated from Arabic by Jonathan Wright. Comma Press,
January 2020. Country of origin: Iraq.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Crossroads
and Lampposts by Tr<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">ầ</span>n D<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">ầ</span>n, translated from Vietnamese by David Payne. Oneworld
Books, September 2020. Country of origin: Vietnam.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Exodus by
Benjamin Fondane, translated from French by Henry King and Andrew Rubens. Carcanet
Press, Autumn 2019. Country of origin: Romania.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Chaophony by
Franketienne, translated from French by Andres Naffis-Sahely. Carcanet
Press, Autumn 2019. Country of origin: Haiti.<o:p></o:p></div>
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First They
Erased Our Names: A Rohingya Speaks by Habiburahman and Sophie Ansel,
translated from French by Andrea Reece. Scribe, August 2019. Country of
origin: Australia/Myanmar.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Lake Like A
Mirror by Ho Sok Fong, translated from Chinese by Natascha Bruce. Granta
Books, January 2010. Country of origin: Malaysia.<o:p></o:p></div>
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A Little
Body Are Many Parts by Legna Rodriguez Iglesias, translated from Spanish by
Abigail Parry and Serafina Vick. The Poetry Translation Centre, October 2019.
Country of origin: Cuba.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Theatre of
War by Andrea Jeftanovic, translated from Spanish by Thomas Bunstead.
Charco Press, January 2020. Country of origin: Chile.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Felix and
His Suitcase by Dunja Jogan, translated from Slovenian by Olivia Hellewell.
Tiny Owl, May 2020. Country of origin: Slovenia.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The Past Is
an Imperfect Tense by Bernardo Kucinski, translated from Portuguese by Tom
Gatehouse. Latin American Bureau, November 2019. Country of origin: Brazil.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Loop by
Brenda Lozano, translated from Spanish by Annie McDermott. Charco Press,
November 2019. Country of origin: Mexico.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Holiday
Heart by Margarita Garcia Robayo, translated from Spanish by Charlotte
Coombe. Charco Press, May 2020. Country of origin: Colombia.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The Town
with the Acacia Tree by Mihail Sebastian, translated from Romanian by Gabi
Reigh. Aurora Metro, September 2019. Country of origin: Romania.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Minor Detail
by Adania Shibli, translated from Arabic by Elisabeth Jaquette.
Fitzcarraldo Editions, May 2020. Country of origin: Germany/Palestine.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Yezet by
various, translated from the Burmese by Alfred Birnbaum. Strangers Press,
November 2019. Country of origin: Myanmar.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Hard Like
Water by Yan Lianke, translated from the Chinese by Carlos Rojas. Chatto &
Windus, February 2020. Country of origin: China.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>:</div>
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English
PEN's Writers in Translation programme has been promoting literature in
translation since 2005. Overseen by a dedicated committee of literary
professionals, the programme includes a dynamic portfolio of activities, which
includes translation grants, events, and PEN Transmissions, an online magazine
of international writing.<o:p></o:p></div>
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susannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17317101646265915200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12310260.post-13197431400638786132019-05-27T12:00:00.000+01:002019-05-30T09:44:18.046+01:00Obituary of Libyan fiction writer, playwright and journalist Ahmed Fagih<i>Remembering Libyan writer Ahmed Fagih: b. 28 December 1942 d.28 April 2019 </i><br />
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<br />
<i>by Susannah Tarbush London</i><br />
<br />
The death of
the Libyan writer Ahmed Fagih in a Cairo hospital at the age of 76 has deprived
the Arab literary scene of a major and prolific figure whose work won
recognition in his native Libya and far beyond. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Born in 1942
in the small oasis town of MIzda in the Nafusa mountains, south of Tripoli,
Fagih pursued his literary ambitions from his teenage years. In a 60-year
career he was variously a journalist, columnist, short story writer, essayist,
novelist, dramatist, scholar, TV personality and diplomat. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Fagih never
left his Mizda roots behind. On the contrary, his writing was often inspired by
his intimate knowledge of rural life and by traditions of fable and folk tales.
He was concerned with the animal kingdom and with man<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s relationship with animals and the environment. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Fagih was a
master of both the short story and novel forms. His
writing tackled with humanity and humour many themes of relevance to Libyan
society: the legacy of the brutal Italian colonisation, urbanisation, social
justice, the impact of oil wealth, tradition vs modernity, and the oppression
of women. He pushed boundaries, in for example writing explicitly about sex.<br />
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His output
was so prodigious that it was hard to keep a full tally. He told the <i>Bookanista
</i>webzine<i> </i>in 2015: <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>I have
written 22 novels and 22 books of short stories, 40 short and long plays, as
well as 20 or so books of essays.<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span> Even when
seriously ill last year he continued his work routine and told me in an email
from Cairo last September that he was <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>writing
away on my bits and pieces and published this year five books in Arabic.<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span> His works were translated into many
languages, including Chinese (he was twice invited to China for academic events
on his work).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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Fagih<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s many friends, readers and
colleagues around the world now mourn the passing of a warm, original and
highly talented character with an irrepressible sense of humour. There was
something refreshingly unpretentious and down to earth about him. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Since his
death many tributes have appeared in the mainstream and social media. The
American scholar and former diplomat Ethan Chorin, author of <i>Translating
Libya: In Search of the Libyan Short Story</i>, tweeted: <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>Extremely saddened by the passing of
Dr. Ahmed Ibrahim al Fagih - the inimitable Libyan-Arab short story writer,
novelist and playwright. His work was a big part of my introduction to Libya in
the early 2000s. He will be sorely missed. Farewell, my friend.<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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The Libyan
lawyer and short story writer Azza Kamel Maghur (whose short story <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>The Bicycle<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span> appeared in <i>Banipal 40: Libyan Fiction</i>) ended her
eloquent obituary with: <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>Faghih remained
young in his heart, tender with his grandchildren, respectful with women and <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>their <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>status,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>a lover of his homeland, suffering from its pain, and a loving man to
his family.<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Azza is from
a younger generation of Libyan writers who were encouraged and influenced by
Fagih. She is the daughter of the lawyer and fiction writer Kamel Hassan Maghur
whose work was championed by Fagih in his writing and his PhD thesis on the Libyan
short story. <o:p></o:p><br />
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Fagih will
be missed by his many friends in London, which was to him a home from home. He
had lived in the UK for two periods in the 1970s and 1980s and submitted his
doctorate to Edinburgh University in 1983. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Fagih visited
London as often as he could. He loved to host mini-literary salons in caf<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">é</span>s, with a succession of friends and
acquaintances dropping by. He was particularly fond of the famous Whiteleys
department-store-turned-shopping-mall in Queensway, a busy thoroughfare in <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>Arab London<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span> where Arab <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">é</span>migr<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">é</span>s, intellectuals, tourists and refugees
congregate. For some years Fagih was a patron of the caf<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">é</span> in a large open space at the middle of Whiteleys ground
floor. When that closed down he migrated to the Costa coffee shop on the corner
of Whiteleys whose big windows allow one to see the world pass by. <o:p></o:p></div>
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After his
return to Cairo last year from Tunis, where he had sought medical treatment, Fagih
emailed that he was <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>practising
my life almost as normal, my daily session in Costa reading and writing.<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The Cairo branch of Costa was <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>wider
and more elegant and more friendly than the one in Whiteleys. It<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s not far from where I live, with
glass walls that overlook a large and modern street in Muhandisien area, in the
middle of Cairo.<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span> <o:p></o:p><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">English translation of Faagih's novel <i>Valley of Ashes</i> (Kegan Paul International) </span></div>
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Fagih was
supportive of <i>Banipal </i>from its founding in London in 1998. An excerpt
from his novel <i>Valley of Ashes </i>appeared in issue three and a lengthy
interview, conducted by Banipal<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s
co-founder and then editor Margaret Obank, was published in the fourth issue, Spring
1999, under the headline <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>Ahmed
Fagih: A writer at night<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span>. Fagih
explained that Arab authors often have to write at night because they cannot
live from their writing alone and have to be otherwise employed during the day.
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>Naguib Mahfouz, for instance, was
never a fully-time writer until he retired. He was a government employee from
the <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">‘</span>30s until he retired.<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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In the interview
Fagih described how at the age of 14 he left Mizda for Tripoli <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>which was a larger community, a place
where I could find the books I wanted to read, there was theatre, music, shows
films. There I was meeting people <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">–</span> a
little older than me <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">–</span> who
had already started writing and I took part in that literary world.<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span> <o:p></o:p></div>
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He started
writing and by the age of 17 had a regular newspaper column. He went to Egypt
on a scholarship when he was nearly 19. <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>That
put me in contact with so many Arab writers and the literary society. There I
really set out on my literary career<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Fagih<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s talent as a fiction writer was
recognised early when in 1965, aged 22, he won the first prize in a Higher Council
for Literature and Art literary competition with his first collection of short
stories <i>The Sea Has Run Dry</i>. <o:p></o:p></div>
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In 1968 Fagih
travelled to the UK to continue his education. Like other Arabs of his
generation, he had been traumatised by the Arab humiliation in the 1967 war and
he wanted a change of scene. He attended a tutorial college in the southern
coastal town of Brighton and then studied drama for two years at the New Era
Academy of Drama and Music in London. Among the stage roles he played were
those of Shakespeare<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s
Shylock and Othello. <o:p></o:p></div>
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After the
1969 revolution that toppled King Idris and brought Gaddafi to power Fagih returned
to Libya. He would over the years hold various positions, including serving as
director of the Institute of Music and Drama. He told <i>Banipal </i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>I wrote a musical, <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">‘</span>Hind and Mansour<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>, while I was there so that the
students, male and female, could work and perform together.<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span> <o:p></o:p></div>
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At one time
he was head of Arts and Literature at the Ministry of Information and Culture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He founded the Union of Libyan Writers and
was for a time its secretary general. And he was appointed as editor of <i>The
Cultural Weekly</i>. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He wrote for many
newspapers and spent four years working in Morocco. <o:p></o:p></div>
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In 1977
Fagih returned to Britain to do a PhD at Edinburgh University, but he put his
studies on hold when he was appointed head of the press department at the
Libyan Embassy (<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>People<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s Bureau<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span>) in
London. For four years I was a diplomat,<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span> he
told <i>Banipal</i>. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was only after this
that he had time to study full time at Edinburgh University for his doctorate. <o:p></o:p></div>
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During his
time in the UK <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>a group of us formed what we
called the Arab Cultural Trust. We put on a cultural season, produced a
magazine called <i>Azure</i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span>. Fagih
was editor-in-chief of this English-language glossy magazine, published first
as a quarterly and then twice yearly. There were in all 14 issues before
publication ceased in 1983. <o:p></o:p><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Libyan Stories: Twelve Short Stories from Libya</i> (Keegan Paul International)</span></div>
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<i>Azure </i>covered
a spectrum of Arab arts, from fiction, art and theatre to civilisation and antiquities.
It was an example of the way in which Fagih was a dynamic pioneer in bringing Libyan
and Arab culture to the UK. At the time there was little translation of Arab literature
into English. <i>Azure </i>published in translation stories by Libyan and other
Arab authors. All the stories in the anthology <i>Libyan Stories: Twelve Short Stories
from Libya </i>(Kegan Paul International, 2000) edited by Fagih, as well as his
introduction, were first published in <i>Azure</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The stories include Fagih<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>The
Last Station<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span>, Kamel Maghur<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>Crying<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span>, Ali Almisrati<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>Mussolini<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s Nail<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span>,
Ibrahim el Koni<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>She and the Dogs<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span> and
Khalifa Takbali<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>Dignity<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span>. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The renowned
Arabic translator Denys Johnson-Davies was among those involved with <i>Azure</i>.
In his book <i>Memories in Translation: A Life Between the Lines of Arabic
Literature</i> Johnson-Davies recalls translating and publishing in <i>Azure</i>
part of an early novel by Lebanese author Elias Khoury.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Among the
contributors to <i>Azure</i> was the English poet, critic and editor Anthony
Thwaite who had been a university teacher at the Benghazi campus of the
University of Libya in 1965-67 (his acclaimed book <i>The Deserts of
Hesperides: An Experience of Libya</i> was published in 1969 by Secker &
Warburg.).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Other
contributors included the journalist and writer Peter Mansfield, the Young
Liberal campaigner for Palestinian and gay rights Louis Eakes. critic and
publisher Timothy O<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>Keeffe and Arab writers and
critics such as Sabry Hafez. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Alongside
editing <i>Azure,</i> Fagih was making headway in the drama field. In 1982 his
two-act play <i>Gazelles</i> was performed at London<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s Shaw Theatre in an adaptation by the English poet,
novelist and playwright Adrian Mitchell. The staging was part of a Libyan
cultural season arranged by the Union of Libyan Writers and Artists. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Fagih first
made his name as a writer of short stories: his novels such as <i>Valley of
Ashes</i> came later. One of his most famous works, the trilogy of novels <i>I
Shall Offer Another City</i>, <i>These Are the Borders of My Kingdom</i> and <i>A
Tunnel Lit by One Woman </i>was published in 1991. The following year the
trilogy won Lebanon<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s premier literary award. The
trilogy appears in 16<sup>th</sup> place on the Arab Writers Union list of 100
best Arabic novels. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The English version
of the trilogy was published by Quartet in London in 1995, as <i>Gardens of the
Night,</i> in translation by Russell Harris, Amin al-Ayouti and Suraya Allam. The
trilogy traces the fortunes of a Libyan academic, Dr Khalil Al-Imam, from his
days at Edinburgh University preparing a doctorate on <i>The Thousand and One
Nights</i>, through a psychotic breakdown in which he embarks on hallucinatory
journey in an Arabian Nights-type setting, to his obsessive love for a woman in
modern-day Libya.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Fagih<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s presence in English translation
took another significant step forward in 2000 when London publisher Kegan Paul
International produced simultaneously five books he had written or edited. The
books were launched at an event with a panel discussion at the much-missed Kufa
Gallery near Queensway, in those days a centre of Arab culture. In addition to <i>Libyan
Stories: Twelve Short Stories from Libya</i> the books were the novel <i>Valley
of <a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_Hlk9493959">Ashes</a></i><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk9493959;">;
two volumes of his short stories, <i>Who</i></span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk9493959;"><i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s Afraid of Agatha Christie
and Other Stories</i> and <i>Charles, Diana and Me and Other Stories</i>, and <i>Gazelles
and Other Plays.</i></span><i> </i><o:p></o:p></div>
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In 2011 Quartet
published the English translation of Fagih<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s novel
Homeless<i> Rats</i>. The Arabic original of the novel had started life as a
serial in a Libyan journal before being published in Arabic in 2000 <i>as Fi</i><i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>ran bila Juhur</i>. The novel tells
of a titanic struggle in the Libyan desert between humans in a caravan from
Mizda and the hopping rats known as jerboas as they compete over scanty food
sources during a drought. <o:p></o:p><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Ahmed Fagih in Costa Cafe, Whiteleys, London with a copy of <i>Homeless Rats</i></span></div>
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The
translation of <i>Homeless Rats</i> happened to be publishing during the Libyan
revolution. The book<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s desert
battles, alliances, war crimes, emergency meetings, tribalism and waves of
refugees resonated strangely with the battles raging at that time in Libya. No
translator<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s name appears in the book,
which was competently edited by the young novelist and travel writer Anna
Stothard. <o:p></o:p></div>
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A landmark
was reached in the publication of Libyan literature in English in translation
when <i>Banipal 40: Libyan Fiction</i> appeared in spring 2011. Coincidentally
the issue was published just as the Libyan uprising was erupting. In an essay
on the Libyan Novel in the issue the Libyan short story writer and literary
editor Ibrahim Ahmidan writes that Fagih <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>opened
the way for the Libyan novel to make a genuine contribution to the revitalisation
of the Arabic novel through his own distinctive contribution, first with his
trilogy of novels (published in English as <i>Gardens of the Night</i>) and
more recently with his unique literary experiment <i>Maps of the Soul</i>.<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span> <o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div>
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<i>Banipal
40</i> included Fagih<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s vividly-realized
short story <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>Lobsters<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span> subtitled <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>In praise of lobsters and in mockery of men<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span> translated by Maia Tabet. The darkly
comic story was inspired by a true incident from the life of the French
philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre in which Sartre took the hallucinogenic drug
mescaline and suffered persistent hallucinations of crabs. which triggered a
nervous breakdown. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Fagih<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s most ambitious literary project,
intended as his masterwork, was the 12-volume cycle of novels <i>Maps of the
Sou</i>l published in 2009 by Darf in Libya and al-Kayyal in Lebanon. Fagih saw
this series as a Libyan counterpart to the famous 12-novel sequence of novels <i>A
Dance to the Music of Time</i> by English novelist Anthony Powell. <o:p></o:p></div>
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In 2014 Darf
Publishsers published the first three novels - <i>Bread of the City</i>, <i>Sinful
Pleasures</i> and <i>Naked Runs the Soul</i> - in a bumper volume of 656 pages
under the title <i>Maps of the Soul</i>. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The preparation of the English text was very
much a team effort with the initial translation by Soraya Allam and Brian Loo
revised and edited by Ghazi Gheblawi and Graeme Estry. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The first
three novels of <i>Maps of the Soul</i> trace the life of Othman al-Sheikh,
driven from his desert village by a sexual scandal in which he is fact
innocent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In Italian-occupied Tripoli
Othman takes every opportunity to climb the ladder, using his charm and wits. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Fagih told
the <i>Tanjara</i> blog that he envisaged the 12 books as four trilogies <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>which deal with the life and soul of
Othman through its ups and downs<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span>. One striking
feature of the first trilogy is that it uses the second person <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>you<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span>
throughout.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fagih noted that over the 12
books he used a variety of viewpoints including <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>third
person, first person, second person, and the all knowing god-like authority<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span>. <o:p></o:p></div>
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One of the
most significant recent contribution sin recent years <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to the body of Libyan literature in English
translation is Ethan Chorin<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s book <i>Translating
Libya</i>, first published by Saqi in 2008 and republished by Darf Publishers
in 2015, updated and expanded in light of the changes brought by the Libyan
revolution. <o:p></o:p></div>
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In his
introduction to the first edition Chorin explained that the idea for the book
came after he arrived in Libya and asked his Libyan colleague Basem Tulti if he could
recommend any good local authors. Tulti produced a paperback containing Fagih<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s story <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>The Locusts<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span> (<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>Al-Jarad<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span>) which Chorin loved and translated to English. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The first
edition of the book consisted of 16 stories, newly translated by Chorin (in
three cases jointly with Tulti), combined with Chorin<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s accounts of his travels around Libya and his search for
stories. It was a highly enjoyable mixture of travelogue, scholarly study and
personal encounters.<o:p></o:p><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
second edition of <i>Translating Libya </i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><br /></i></div>
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For the
revised second edition, Chorin invited Fagih to write a foreword. Chorin
describes meeting Fagih for the first time, in a Cairo hotel in 2012. <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>Fagih was more or less as I imagined
him from his writing, and the occasional dust cover photo: a strong
personality, witty and humane with an artist<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s
appreciation for the absurd.<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span> <o:p></o:p></div>
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In his
introduction Fagih wrote: <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span><i>Translating
Libya</i> is an expression of Libyan culture, but also a lesson in how writers
communicate in a repressive regime, where heavy censorship and random, severe
punishments are common. The stories reflect society, past and present.<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span> One story was added for the second
edition: Azza Kamel Maghur<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>The Olive Tree<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span>. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Over the
decades, in tandem with his writing career, Fagih continued his life as a
diplomat and in the 2000s was Libyan ambassador to Greece and then Romania.
While ambassador to Romania he performed his one-man show <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>A Portrait of a Writer Who Wrote
Nothing<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span> at the 2009 Sibiu
International Theatre Festival. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
dreamed of one day performing on a stage in London. <o:p></o:p></div>
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At the time
of the 17 February 201 Libyan revolution Fagih was serving as part of the Libyan
delegation to the Arab League. In the early days of the uprising the delegation
denounced Gaddafi and Fagih defected to the rebel government. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thereafter he wrote many articles and columns
condemning Gaddafi and his regime. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Fagih told <i>Bookanista</i><i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s </i>Freddie Reynolds in an
interview to mark the 2015 publication of the second edition of <i>Translating
Libya</i>: <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>Now the country is liberated
from the chains of dictatorship, and that should be reflected in the soul of
every creative writer and artist. We all regret the aftermath of the
revolution, yet there was a sense of relief at the ousting of the rule of
terror, combined with a sense of achievement at being able to defeat it. As a
writer, I felt like a long-distance swimmer who was restricted to swim in a
little pond and suddenly saw that the ocean is open for him.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>As for Libyan literature as whole,
and how it is affected by these developments, it is perhaps too early to judge.
But the new era should open new avenues for writers, and will definitely result
in a prosperous literary movement in the near future.<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span><o:p></o:p><br />
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Fagih<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s final book to be translated into
English was the unexpected <i>Lady Hayatt</i><i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s
Husbands and other erotic tales, </i>published by Quartet in 2016. The slender
volume contains seven stories by Fagih plus a story from <i>One Thousand and
One Nights</i>. The red cover of the book is an illustration by the English
illustrator and author Aubrey Beardsley (1872-98). Beardsley<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s distinctive erotic illustrations
and decorative elements, influenced by Japanese woodcuts, are scattered throughout
the book.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Last August Ahmed
emailed me to say he was suffering from the serious lung condition pulmonary
fibrosis. He had tried to come to London to see the doctors at the London
Clinic who had first diagnosed his condition but the British had refused him a
visa, despite his two periods spent living in the UK and his frequent visits
there.<o:p></o:p></div>
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He asked me
if I could find out information on possible new treatments for his disease. He
wrote: <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>Somebody says <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">‘</span>sharks are attacking fibrosis<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span> meaning that a medicine is taken
from the fat of sharks. One can entertain himself with such news in order to
absorb and take in the shock till he gets used to the illness. Some sort of
psychological trick.<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span> <o:p></o:p></div>
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There was
some irony in the thought that a shark might come to the rescue of someone
whose writing had been so intimately linked with the animal world. Alas, although
there is indeed research in Australia research on using substances found in
sharks<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span> blood to treat pulmonary
fibrosis, trials are only in their early stages. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Fagih was understandably
frustrated and hurt by the refusal of the UK to give him a visa for medical
purposes and he pleaded with the UK to reconsider. The Libyan authorities
contacted the British embassy in Tripoli on his behalf and the Secretary
General -designate of the Arab-European Center of Human Rights and
International Law, Dr. Ramadan Benzeer, publicly urged the British authorities
to grant Fagih a visa, but all was in vain. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Fagih<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s literary legacy will endure. Much
of his vast body of writing in Arabic has yet to be translated, or retranslated,
into English. For example, it is an open question whether any of the nine as
yet untranslated novels of his 12-volume <i>Maps of the Soul</i> will
eventually appear in the English translation. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Fagih<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s works will continue to be an
important source of information on Libya. The other day I happened to pick up a
copy of the newly-published novel <i>The</i> <i>Fourth Shore</i> by the prizewinning
British author Virginia Baily. The novel is centred around the Italian colonisation
of Libya. Baily lists numerous sources in the acknowledgements section
including just two novels by Libyans - one of which is <i>Maps of the Soul</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
susannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17317101646265915200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12310260.post-20936179456659795632019-05-17T09:44:00.002+01:002019-05-17T09:45:37.861+01:00'A New Divan - a lyrical dialogue between East and West' to be launched at British Library with an evening of poetry and music <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNhRHAK_8srzyxlRMZrZx2wUakgK8xKsFerYXu8N31PooU0cR1H-z8Ww5J-8Tms4uemreKqV_oizbnyCOBsWxuDZirEICiZbI723cNmzY-q5C5A0jFRL0lM0CKSoJ5Brij43PW/s1600/GINGKO+logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="791" data-original-width="1600" height="158" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNhRHAK_8srzyxlRMZrZx2wUakgK8xKsFerYXu8N31PooU0cR1H-z8Ww5J-8Tms4uemreKqV_oizbnyCOBsWxuDZirEICiZbI723cNmzY-q5C5A0jFRL0lM0CKSoJ5Brij43PW/s320/GINGKO+logo.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">PRESS RELEASE<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">British Library, </span></b><span style="background: white; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">96 Euston Road, St Pancras, London NW1 2DB</span><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">, 23 May, 7pm<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">‘The
Poet and Suleika: a West-Eastern Dialogue in Poetry and Music’<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">with
Nujoom
Alghanem, Paul Farley and Don Paterson reading poetry from <i>A New Divan
</i>and</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Simon Wallfisch
singing Hafiz and Goethe Lieder
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Gingko
will mark the occasion of the 200<sup>th</sup> anniversary of the first
publication of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">West-Eastern
Divan </i>with two new books: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A New Divan
– A lyrical dialogue between East & West </i>and a new annotated
translation of the complete <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">West-Eastern
Divan, </i>including Goethe’s original ‘Notes and Essays for a Better
Understanding’. Both volumes will be launched at a series of public events,
starting with an evening at the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">British
Library on 23 May at 19:00 - 20:30</b>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">‘</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">This reimagining of Goethe’s seminal work gives us the
opportunity to re-engage with his thoughts – a much needed exercise, given the
state of the world today.’ – D</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">aniel
Barenboim (from his Foreword to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A New
Divan</i>)</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">‘The
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">West-Eastern Divan </i>represents nothing
less than a decisive reconfiguration of German, an indeed European, poetry.’ –
Eric Ormsby (from his Introduction to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">West-Eastern
Divan</i>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">In 1814 Goethe read the poems of the great
fourteenth-century Persian poet Hafiz in a newly published translation by
Joseph von Hammer. The book was a revelation. He called Hafiz his twin and was
immediately inspired to create a </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Divan </i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">of
his own. Not long afterwards Goethe met Marianne von Willemer, with whom he
rapidly fell in love. She became Suleika to his Hatem and the conversation
begun with Hafiz blossomed also into a duet for two lovers, which became the </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Suleika Nameh </i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">(the ‘Book of Suleika’),
the most beautiful part of Goethe’s </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">West-Eastern
Divan</i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"> (published in 1819). At the centre of the Book of Suleika are at
least five poems, which Goethe published as his own but were in fact composed
by his young lover Marianne von Willemer; it is these poems that were set to
music by Franz Schubert and Felix Mendelssohn.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">In this anniversary year
Gingko want to redress this appropriation and move the historical and the
poetic Suleika firmly into the centre of our celebration of our West-Eastern
dialogue in poetry and music. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">‘The Poet
and Suleika’</b> is the first of a series of events and will feature three
prominent participants in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A New Divan – A
lyrical dialogue between East & West</i>: Don Paterson is one of Scotland’s
greatest contemporary poets, writers and musicians; the Emirati poet and
filmmaker Nujoom Alghanem wrote a modern version of the love duet between
Suleika and Hatem; while Paul Farley produced the English version of the Raoul
Schrott’s poem ‘suleika spricht’. This<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>lyrical
dialogue between East and West will be matched by a musical one, with Hafiz
poems, set to music by 20<sup>th</sup> century German composers<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Gottfried von Einem, Viktor
Ullmann and Richard Strauss, and Goethe Lieder sung by Simon Wallfisch
accompanied by Craig White. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">‘The
poem was his ode to friendship and symbolised the union between old and young,
man and woman, human and the Divine, literature and scholarship, East and West
– a union which in his mind was inseparable.’ – Barbara Schwepcke (about
Goethe’s poem ‘Gingko Biloba’, Book of Suleika, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">West-Eastern Divan</i>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">‘Poetry
thrives and develops by cross-fertilisation.’ – Bill Swainson (from his
Editor’s Note to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A New Divan</i>)</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">More
information about both publications and the accompanying tour can be found at </span><a href="https://www.gingko.org.uk/new-divan/"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">https://www.gingko.org.uk/new-divan/</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">For press
enquiries or more information please contact Clare Roberts: </span><a href="mailto:clare@gingkolibrary.com"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">clare@gingkolibrary.com</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">/ 0203 637 9730</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">To
book tickets for the first event at the British Library on the evening of 23
May please go to </span><a href="https://www.bl.uk/events/the-poet-and-suleika-a-west-eastern-dialogue-in-poetry-and-music"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">https://www.bl.uk/events/the-poet-and-suleika-a-west-eastern-dialogue-in-poetry-and-music</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></i></b></div>
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<b><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">West-Eastern Divan </span></i></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Translated and annotated by Eric Ormsby <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Goethe’s <i>West-Eastern Divan </i>was a
very personal attempt to broaden the horizons of European readers by entering
into a lyrical yet scholarly dialogue with the Other. From the time of the
Persian Wars, the Orient had been seen as alien, as a threat to the West; a
threat that was central to the formation of Western identity. This new prose
translation by the poet and scholar, Eric Ormsby, includes for the first time a
complete translation of the poet’s remarkable prose commentary on the Islamic
world (‘Notes and Essays For A Better Understanding . . .’). With this
bilingual edition Gingko hopes not only to make a significant contribution to
the study of this quintessential German poet, but also, at a time of renewed
western unease about the Other, to open up the rich cultural world of Islam.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Publication date: September 2019 · ISBN:
978-1-909942-24-0 <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">A New Divan </span></i></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">A Lyrical Dialogue between East and West </span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Edited by Barbara Schwepcke and Bill
Swainson <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">A New Divan </span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">is an ambitious anthology bringing together new poems
by twenty-four leading poets – twelve from the ‘East’ and twelve from the
‘West’ – in a truly international poetic dialogue inspired by the culture of
the Other. The poets come from across the East (from Morocco to Turkey, Syria
to Afghanistan) and from across the West (from Germany to the USA, Estonia to
Brazil). The new poems respond to the titles of the twelve books <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">of Goethe’s original Divan, including ‘The
Tyrant’, ‘Suleika’, ‘Love’, ‘Paradise’ and ‘Ill-Humour’, and draw on the
distinctive poetic forms of the cultures of the poets taking part. Twenty-two
English-language poets have been com- missioned to create English versions of
the poems not originally written in English, either by direct translation or by
working with a literal translation. Three pairs of essays in English enhance
and complement the poems, mirroring Goethe’s original notes and commentary,
which he called ‘Notes and Essays For A Better Understanding . . .’.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Publication date: June 2019 · ISBN:
978-1-909942-28-8 <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">
Forewords by<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"> Daniel
Barenboim and Mariam C. Said<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">
POETS <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Adonis <i>The Poet </i> Khaled Mattawa <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Khaled Mattawa <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Abbas Beydoun <i>Hafiz</i> Bill
Manhire <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Durs Grünbein Matthew
Sweeney<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Iman Mersal <i>Love</i> Elaine
Feinstein<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Homero Aridjis Kathleen
Jamie<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Amjad Nasser <i>Ill-Humour</i> Fady Joudah<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Don Paterson <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Reza Mohammadi <i>Reflections </i>Nick Laird<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Antonella Anedda Jamie
McKendrick <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Fatemeh Shams <i>Proverbs</i> Dick
Davis<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Gilles Ortlieb Sean
O’Brien<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Mourid Barghouti <i>The Tyrant </i>George
Szirtes <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Jaan Kaplinski Sasha
Dugdale <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Nujoom al-Ghanem <i>Suleika </i> Doireann Ní Ghríofa<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Raoul Schrott Paul
Farley <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Mohammed Bennis <i>The Cup-Bearer</i> Sinéad Morrissey <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Aleš Šteger <i> </i>Brian
Henry <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Gonca Özmen <i>Parables</i> Jo
Shapcott<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Angélica Freitas Tara
Bergin<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Hafez Mousavi <i>Faith </i>Daisy
Fried <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Clara Janés Lavinia
Greenlaw<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Fadhil Al-Azzawi <i>Paradise</i> Jorie
Graham <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Jan Wagner Robin
Robertson<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">
ESSAYISTS<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Sibylle Wentker Rajmohan
Gandhi <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Robyn Creswell Narguess
Farzad<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Stefan Weidner Kadhim J. Hassan<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Gingko </span></b><span style="color: #191919; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">promotes
and facilitates dialogue between the Middle East and the Western world through
conferences, events and publications. Its aim is to enable constructive,
informed and open discussion, giving a voice to a new generation of thinkers
and opinion formers. <i>A New Divan</i> extends this conversation into the
realm of poetry.</span><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="background: white; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Dr Barbara Schwepcke</span></b><span style="background: white; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"> is the
founder of Gingko as well as the chair of its board of trustees. After
receiving her doctorate from the London School of Economics she worked as a
publisher of <i>Prospect</i> magazine. In
2003 she founded Haus Publishing.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Bill Swainson</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"> is a freelance editor and
literary consultant. Since 1976 he has worked for leading literary publishers,
including John Calder Publishers, Allison & Busby, Harvill Press and
Bloomsbury, where he was Senior Commissioning Editor for fifteen years. In 2015
he was awarded an OBE for services to literary translation.</span><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br />susannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17317101646265915200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12310260.post-32168506846564980852019-03-13T12:10:00.001+00:002019-03-13T12:10:24.947+00:00Man Booker International Prize 2019 longlist features two titles translated from Arabic <br />
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<b>Man Booker International Prize </b><b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">13-book l</span>onglist announced </b></div>
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<b>Includes </b><b>two titles translated from Arabic.</b></div>
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The Man Booker International Prize is awarded annually for a single book of fiction - novel or short-story collection - translated into English and published in the UK or Ireland. Authors and translators are considered to be equally important, with the <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">£</span>50,000 prize being split between them. In addition, each shortlisted author and translator receives <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">£</span>1,000. The judges considered 108 books for the longlist.</div>
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<b>Jonathan Wright</b> is longlisted for his translation of Palestinian-Icelandic writer <b>Mazen Maarouf</b>'s collection of short fiction<b> Jokes For The Gunmen</b>, published by the Granta imprint Portebello Books. Wright has enjoyed previous success with the Man Booker International Prize and its predecessor, the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, which he won in 2014 for his translation of Iraqi writer Hassan Blasim's The Iraqi Christ. He was shortlisted for the 2018 Man Booker International for his translation of Iraqi writer Ahamed Saadawi's Frankenstein in Baghdad. The translation was also shortlisted for the 2018 Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation.<br />
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<b>Marilyn Booth</b> is longlisted for the first time, for her translation of Omani author <b>Jokha Alharthi's </b>novel <b>Celestial Bodies</b> published by Sandstone Press.</div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Highlights of the 2019 longlist:</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"></span> The 13 books have
been translated from nine languages, hailing from 12 countries across
three continents </div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span> Olga Tokarczuk, who won the
prize in 2018, appears again alongside her other translator into English,
Antonia Lloyd-Jones </div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span> Samanta
Schweblin and her translator Megan McDowell, previously shortlisted in 2017,
are longlisted </div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span> The list includes 8 women -
over half of this year<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s
longlist </div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span> Longlist dominated by
independent publishers: only two are from the larger conglomerates <o:p></o:p></div>
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Award-winning historian, author and broadcaster Bettany Hughes, chair of the judging panel, says: <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">‘</span>This was a year when writers plundered the archive, personal and political. That drive is represented in our longlist, but so too are surreal Chinese train journeys, absurdist approaches to war and suicide, and the traumas of spirit and flesh. We<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>re thrilled to share 13 books which enrich our idea of what fiction can do.<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span></div>
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<b>The longlist </b></div>
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<b>Celestial Bodies</b> by Jokha Alharthi (Arabic - Oman)</div>
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translated by Marilyn Booth </div>
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Sandstone Press <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Love In The New Millenniu</b>m by Can Xue (Chinese - China) <o:p></o:p></div>
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translated by Annelise Finegan Wasmoen <o:p></o:p></div>
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Yale University Press <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>The Years by Annie Ernaux </b>(French - France)</div>
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translated by Alison L. Strayer <o:p></o:p></div>
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Fitzcarraldo Editions <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>At Dusk</b> by Hwang Sok-yong (Korean - South Korea) <o:p></o:p></div>
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<span lang="NO-BOK" style="mso-ansi-language: NO-BOK;">translated by Sora
Kim-Russell </span></div>
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<span lang="NO-BOK" style="mso-ansi-language: NO-BOK;">Scribe, UK <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b>Jokes For The Gunmen</b> by Mazen Maarouf (Arabic - Iceland and Palestine) <o:p></o:p></div>
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translated by Jonathan Wright <o:p></o:p></div>
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Granta, Portobello Books <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Four Soldiers </b>by Hubert Mingarelli (French - France) <o:p></o:p></div>
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translated by Sam Taylor <o:p></o:p></div>
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Granta, Portobello Books <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>The Pine Islands</b> by Marion Poschmann (German - Germany) <o:p></o:p></div>
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translated by Jen Calleja <o:p></o:p></div>
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Profile Books, Serpent's Tail <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Mouthful Of Birds</b> by Samanta Schweblin (Spanish - Argentina and Italy) <o:p></o:p></div>
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translated by Megan McDowell<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
Oneworld <o:p></o:p></div>
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<span lang="SV" style="mso-ansi-language: SV;"><b>The Faculty Of Dreams</b> by Sara Stridsberg
(Swedish - Sweden) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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translated by Deborah
Bragan-Turner</div>
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Quercus, MacLehose Press</div>
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<b>Drive Your Plow Over The Bones Of The Dead </b>by Olga Tokarczuk (Polish - Poland) <o:p></o:p></div>
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translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones <o:p></o:p></div>
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Fitzcarraldo
Editions</div>
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<span lang="ES" style="mso-ansi-language: ES;"><b>The Shape Of The Ruins</b> by Juan Gabriel V</span><span lang="ES" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: ES; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">á</span><span lang="ES" style="mso-ansi-language: ES;">squez (Spanish - Colombia) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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translated by Anne McLean <o:p></o:p></div>
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Quercus, MacLehose Press <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>The Death Of Murat Idrissi</b> by Tommy Wieringa (Dutch - The Netherlands) <o:p></o:p></div>
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translated by Sam Garrett <o:p></o:p></div>
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Scribe, UK</div>
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<b>The Remainder </b>by Alia Trabucco Zer<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">á</span>n
(Spanish - Chile and Italy) <o:p></o:p></div>
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translated by Sophie Hughes <o:p></o:p><br />
And Other Stories</div>
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The longlist was selected by a panel of five judges: chair, Bettany Hughes; writer, translator and chair of English PEN Maureen Freely; philosopher
Professor Angie Hobbs; novelist and satirist Elnathan John, and essayist and
novelist Pankaj Mishra. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The shortlist of six books will be announced on 9 April at
an event at Somerset House,London, and the winner will be
announced on 21 May at a dinner at the Roundhouse in London. </div>
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<b>Man Booker International Prize events:<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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The shortlisted and winning authors and translators will take part in a number of events, including: </div>
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<b>Southbank Centre</b> Monday 20 May, 7pm<o:p></o:p></div>
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The night before the 2019 prize winner is unveiled, join this year<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">’</span>s shortlisted authors and translators for an evening of readings in both English and the native languages of the books, and conversation around their books. Plus, a Q&A and book signing.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Waterstones Piccadilly</b> Thursday 23 May, 7pm</div>
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Join us for an evening celebrating the winner of the Man Booker International Prize 2019. A byword for the finest fiction in translation, the prize celebrates literature from all over the world.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Following the announcement of the 2019 prize winner on Tuesday 21 May, join this year<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">’</span>s winning author and translator for an evening of readings in both English and the native language of their book. This will be followed by a discussion about writing the book and experience of winning the prize, an audience Q&A and book signing.<o:p></o:p></div>
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More events will be announced in due course. </div>
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<b>Book synopses and biographies</b></div>
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<b>Celestial Bodies<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> by </span>Jokha Alharthi </b><br />
<b>Translated by Marilyn Booth from Arabic, published by
Sandstone Press <o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Celestial Bodies is set in the village of al-Awafi in Oman,
where we encounter three sisters: Mayya, who marries Abdallah after a
heartbreak; Asma, who marries from a sense of duty; and Khawla who rejects all
offers while waiting for her beloved, who has emigrated to Canada. These three
women and their families witness Oman evolve from a traditional, slave-owning
society which is slowly redefining itself after the colonial era, to the
crossroads of its complex present. Elegantly structured and taut, it tells of
Oman<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">’</span>s coming-of-age through the
prism of one family<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">’</span>s losses and loves. The
judges said: <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">‘</span>A richly imagined, engaging
and poetic insight into a society in transition and into lives previously
obscured.<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">’</span></div>
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<b>Jokha Alharthi </b>was born in Oman in July 1978. She is the
author of two previous collections of short fiction, a children<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s book, and three novels in Arabic.
Fluent in English, she completed a PhD in Classical Arabic Poetry in Edinburgh,
and teaches at Sultan Qaboos University in Muscat. She has been shortlisted for
the Sahikh Zayed Award for Young Writers and her short stories have been
published in English, German, Italian, Korean, and Serbian. She lives in Oman. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Marilyn Booth </b>was born in Boston, USA in February 1955. She
holds the Khalid bin Abdallah Al Saud Chair for the Study of the Contemporary
Arab World, Oriental Institute and Magdalen College, Oxford. In addition to her
academic publications, she has translated many works of fiction from Arabic,
most recently, The Penguin<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s Song
and No Road to Paradise, both by Lebanese novelist Hassan Daoud. She lives in
Oxford. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Love In The New Millennium by Can Xue </b><br />
<b>Translated by Annelise Finegan
Wasmoen from Chinese, published by Yale University Press</b></div>
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A group of women inhabits a world of constant surveillance,
where informants lurk in the flowerbeds and false reports fly. Conspiracies
abound in a community that normalises paranoia and suspicion. Some try to flee<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">—</span>whether to a mysterious gambling
bordello or to ancestral homes that can only be reached underground through
muddy caves, sewers, and tunnels. Others seek out the refuge of Nest County,
where traditional Chinese herbal medicines can reshape or psychologically
transport the self. Each life is circumscribed by buried secrets and
transcendent delusions. Love In The New Millennium traces love's many guises<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">—</span>satirical, tragic, transient,
lasting, nebulous, and fulfilling<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">—</span>against
a kaleidoscopic backdrop drawn from East and West of commerce and industry,
fraud and exploitation, sex and romance. The judges said: <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">‘</span>Jolts the reader from the real to the
surreal. A meditative experience that opens up a fever dream of contemporary
Chinese writing.<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span> <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Can Xue </b>was born in Changsha, Hunan, China in May 1953. She
is a Chinese avant-garde fiction writer, literary critic, and tailor. Xue began
writing in 1983 and published her first short-story in 1985. She has written
novels, novellas, and works of literary criticism about the work of Dante,
Jorge Luis Borges, and Franz Kafka. Regarded as one of the most experimental
writers in the world by some literary scholars and readers, her writing, which
consists mostly of short fiction, breaks with the realism of earlier modern
Chinese writers. She lives in Buffalo, NY, USA.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<b>Annelise Finegan Wasmoen</b> was born in Philadelphia, USA, in
September 1981. She is Academic Director and Clinical Assistant Professor of
the MS in Translation and oversees the Translation and Interpreting open
enrolment programme at The Center for Applied Liberal Arts at NYU. Her
translations from Chinese into English include Can Xue<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s novel The Last Lover, which received the Best Translated
Book Award from Three Percent and was longlisted for the National Translation
Award from the American Literary Translators Association. She also has a
background in academic and textbook publishing. Annelise is a Ph.D. candidate
in Comparative Literature at Washington University in St. Louis, where she
completed a Graduate Certificate in Translation Studies, and she holds a B.A.
in Literature from Yale University. She lives in Buffalo, NY, USA.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>The Years by Annie Ernaux </b><br />
<b>Translated by Alison Strayer from
French, published by Fitzcarraldo Editions <o:p></o:p></b></div>
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The Years is a narrative of the period 1941 to 2006 told
through the lens of memory, impressions past and present, photos, books, songs,
radio, television, advertising, and news headlines. Local dialect, words of the
times, slogans, brands and names for ever-proliferating objects are given voice.
The author<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s voice continually dissolves
and re-emerges as Ernaux makes the passage of time palpable. Time itself,
inexorable, narrates its own course, consigning all other narrators to
anonymity. A new kind of autobiography emerges, at once subjective and
impersonal, private and collective. The judges said: <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">‘</span>An elegant portrait of an age; a much needed riposte to
the ever-narrowing trajectory of auto-fiction.<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span> <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Annie Ernaux</b> was born in Seine-Maritime, France, in
September 1940. She grew up in Normandy, studied at Rouen University, and later
taught in secondary schools. From 1977 to 2000, she was a professor at the
Centre National d<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>Enseignement par
Correspondance. Her books, in particular A Man<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s Place
and A Woman<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s Story, have become
contemporary classics in France. The Years won the Prix Renaudot in France in
2008 and the Premio Strega in Italy in 2016. In 2017, Annie Ernaux was awarded
the Marguerite Yourcenar Prize for her life<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s work.
She lives in Paris, France.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>Alison Strayer</b> was born in Saskatchewan, Canada, in July
1958. A writer and translator, her work has been shortlisted twice for the Governor General<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s Award for Literature and for
Translation. She has also been shortlisted for the Grand Prix du Livre de
Montréal and the Prix Littéraire France-Québec, and longlisted for the
Albertine Prize. Her translation of The Years was awarded the 2018
French-American Translation Prize in the non-fiction category. She lives in
Paris, France. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
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***</div>
</div>
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<b>At Dusk by Hwang Sok-yong </b><br />
<b>Translated by Sora Kim-Russell from
Korean, published by Scribe <o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Park Minwoo is, by every measure, a success story. Born into
poverty in a miserable neighbourhood in Seoul, he has ridden the wave of
development in a rapidly modernising society. The successful director of a
large architectural firm, when his company is investigated for corruption he is
forced to reconsider his role in the transformation of his country. At the same
time, he receives an unexpected message from an old friend, Cha Soona, a woman
whom he had once loved, and then betrayed. As memories return unbidden, Minwoo
recalls a world he thought had been left behind <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">―</span> a
world he now understands that he has helped to destroy. The judges said: <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">‘</span>A delicately drawn, vividly peopled
and deftly plotted exploration of profound shifts in Korean society.<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span> <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>Hwang Sok-yong</b> was born in Changchun, China in January 1943.
In 1993, he was sentenced to seven years in prison for an unauthorised trip to
North Korea to promote artistic exchange between the two Koreas. He was
released five years later on a special pardon by the new president. He has been
shortlisted for the Prix Femina <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">É</span>tranger
and was awarded the <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">É</span>mile
Guimet Prize for Asian Literature for At Dusk. His novels and short stories are
published in North and South Korea, Japan, China, France, Germany, and the
United States. He lives in Seoul, South Korea. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>Sora Kim-Russell </b>was born in Florida, USA, in March 1976.
She is a poet and translator, and teaches at Ewha Women's University. She lives
in Seoul. <o:p></o:p></div>
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***</div>
</div>
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<b>Jokes for the Gunman by Mazen Maarouf </b><br />
<b>Translated by Jonathan
Wright from Arabic, published by Granta, Portobello Books <o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A brilliant collection of fictions in the vein of Roald
Dahl, Etgar Keret and Amy Hempel. These are stories of what the world looks
like from a child's pure, but sometimes vengeful or muddled, perspective. These
are stories of life in a war zone, life peppered by surreal mistakes, tragic
accidents and painful encounters. These are stories of fantasist matadors, lost
limbs and voyeuristic dwarfs. This is a collection about sex, death and the
all-important skill of making life into a joke. These are unexpected stories by
a very fresh voice. These stories are unforgettable. The judges said: <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">‘</span>A beautifully textured and absurdist
gaze on human inventiveness and defiance in the midst of war<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s traumas.<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<b>Mazen Maarouf</b> was born in Beirut, Lebanon, in January 1978.
He is a Palestinian-Icelandic writer, poet, translator and journalist. He has
published three poetry collections and two shortstory collections. He currently
lives between Reykjavik and Beirut. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Jonathan Wright</b> was born in Andover, UK, in December 1953.
He is a British journalist and literary translator.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He joined Reuters news agency in 1980 as a
correspondent, and has been based in the Middle East for most of the last three
decades. He has served as Reuters' Cairo bureau chief, and he has lived and
worked throughout the region, including in Egypt, Sudan, Lebanon, Tunisia and
the Gulf. From 1998 to 2003, he was based in Washington, DC, covering U.S.
foreign policy for Reuters. For two years until the autumn of 2011 Wright was
editor of the Arab Media & Society Journal, published by the Kamal Adham
Center for Journalism Training and Research at the American University in
Cairo. He lives in London. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
***</div>
</div>
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<b>Four Soldiers<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> by </span>Hubert
Mingarelli </b><br />
<b>Translated by Sam Taylor from Frenchm published by Granta, Portobello
Books <o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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A narrator remembers the harsh winter of 1919, fighting in
the Russian Civil War on the Romanian front.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Setting up camp in a forest, he and his three closest friends from the
battalion discover a pond which becomes a secret place for the four young men
to smoke, rest, wash and talk. Four Soldiers is about those precious months of
waiting for spring to come, for their battalion to move on and for the
inevitable resumption of war and its horror. It is a short, beautiful novel
about friendship and the fragments of happiness that illuminate the darkness.
The judges said: <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">‘</span>An oblique, deceptively
simple evocation of friendship and resilience in the Russian Civil War, which
builds to a haunting tribute to lives carelessly cast aside.<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Hubert Mingarelli </b>was born in Mont-Saint-Martin in Lorraine,
France, in January 1956. He is the author of numerous novels, short-story
collections and fiction for young adults. In 2003, Four <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Soldiers won the Prix M<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">é</span>dicis.
His novel A Meal in Winter was also shortlisted for the Independent Foreign
Fiction Prize. He lives in Grenoble.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Sam Taylor</b> was born in Nottinghamshire, England, in August
1970. He is a translator, novelist and journalist, and began his career as a
journalist with The Observer. His translated works include Laurent Binet's
award-winning novel HHhH and Leila Slimani's Lullaby. His own novels have been
translated into ten languages. He lives in Texas. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
***</div>
</div>
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<b>The Pine Islands by Marion Poschmann </b><br />
<b>Translated by Jen Calleja
from German, published by Profile Books, Serpent's Tail <o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When Gilbert Silvester, a journeyman lecturer on beard
fashions in film, awakes one day from a dream that his wife has cheated on him,
he flees - immediately, irrationally, inexplicably - for Japan. In Tokyo he
discovers the travel writings of the great Japanese poet Basho. Suddenly, from
Gilbert's directionless crisis there emerges a purpose: a pilgrimage in the
footsteps of the poet to see the moon rise over the pine islands of Matsushima.
Falling into step with another pilgrim - a young Japanese student called Yosa,
clutching a copy of The Complete Manual of Suicide - Gilbert travels across
Basho's disappearing Japan with Yosa, one in search of his perfect ending and
the other the new beginning that will give his life meaning. The Pine Islands
is a serene, playful, profoundly moving story of the transformations we seek
and the ones we find along the way. The judges said, <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">‘</span>A quirky, unpredictable and darkly comic confrontation
with mortality.<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Marion Poschmann</b> was born in Essen, Germany, in December
1969. A prize-winning poet and novelist, she has won both of Germany's premier
poetry prizes, has been shortlisted for the German Book Prize on three
occasions and won the 2013 Wilhelm Raabe Literature Prize. She lives in Berlin.
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Jen Calleja</b> was born in Shoreham-by-Sea, UK, in December
1986. She is a writer, musician and literary translator from German. She has
translated works by authors including Wim Wenders, Michelle Steinbeck, Kerstin
Hensel and Gregor Hens, and her translations have been featured in The New
Yorker and The White Review. She was the inaugural Translator in Residence at
the British Library and writes a column on literature in translation for the
Brixton Review of Books. Her debut poetry collection Serious Justice (2016) is
published by Test Centre. She lives in London.<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
***</div>
<b>Mouthful of Birds by Samanta Schweblin </b><br />
<b>Translated by Megan McDowell from Spanish, published by Oneworld</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The crunch of a bird<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s wing.
Abandoned by the roadside, newlywed brides scream with rage as they<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>re caught in the headlights of a
passing car. A cloud of butterflies, so beautiful it smothers. Unearthly and
unexpected, Mouthful of Birds is a collection of stories that burrow their way
into the psyche with the feel of a sleepless night. Every shadow and bump in
the dark takes on huge implications, leaving the pulse racing; blurring the
line between the real and the strange. The judges said, <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">‘</span>Spritely and uncanny, this is a beautifully imagined and
skilfully executed collection of short stories.<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Samanta Schweblin</b> was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in
March 1978. She is the author of three story collections that have now been
translated into 20 languages. The recipient of numerous awards including the
prestigious Juan Rulfo Story Prize, her debut novel Fever Dream was shortlisted
for the Man Booker International Prize 2017. She lives in Berlin. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Megan McDowell</b> was born in Mississippi, USA, in October
1978. She has translated books by many contemporary South American and Spanish
authors. Her translations have been published in The New Yorker, Harper's and
The Paris Review. She received the 2013 PEN Award for Writing in Translation.
She lives in Santiago, Chile. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
***</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>The Faculty of Dreams by Sara Stridsberg </b><br />
<b>Translated by Deborah
Bragan-Turner from Swedish, published by Quercus, MacLehose Press </b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In April 1988, Valerie Solanas - the writer, radical
feminist and would-be assassin of Andy Warhol - was discovered dead in her
hotel room, in a grimy corner of San Francisco. She was only 52; alone,
penniless and surrounded by the typed pages of her last writings. In The
Faculty of Dreams, Sara Stridsberg revisits the hotel room where Solanas died,
the courtroom where she was tried and convicted of attempting to murder Andy
Warhol, the Georgia wastelands where she spent her childhood, where she was
repeatedly raped by her father and beaten by her alcoholic grandfather, and the
mental hospitals where she was interned. Through imagined conversations and
monologues, reminiscences and rantings, Stridsberg reconstructs this most
intriguing and enigmatic of women, articulating the thoughts and fears that she
struggled to express in life and giving a powerful, heartbreaking voice to the writer
of the infamous SCUM Manifesto. The judges said, <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">‘</span>An
acute exploration of the imminent possibility of tragedy in all our lives - performative, exhilarating, searing.<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Sara Stridsberg</b> was born in Solna, Sweden, in August 1972.
She is a writer and playwright. Her second novel, The Faculty of Dreams, won
the Nordic Council Literature Prize, and her novels have four times been
shortlisted for Sweden<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s
August Prize. The Gravity of Love <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">–</span> Ode to
My Family, has been sold in 15 languages and was the 2015 Swedish winner of the
European Prize for Literature. She lives in Stockholm. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Deborah Bragan-Turner</b> was born in Middlesborough, UK in
February 1953. She translates Swedish literature, particularly literary fiction
and biographies. She has a degree in Scandinavian languages from the University
College London. She lives in Faversham, UK. <o:p></o:p></div>
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***</div>
<b>Drive Your Plow Over The Bones Of The Dead by Olga
Tokarczuk </b><br />
<b>Translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones from Polish, published by
Fitzcarraldo Editions</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead takes place in a
remote village in south-west Poland where Janina Dusezjko, an eccentric woman
in her 60s, describes the events surrounding the disappearance of her two dogs.
When members of a local hunting club are subsequently found murdered, she
becomes involved in the investigation. By no means a conventional crime story,
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead offers thought-provoking ideas on
perceptions of madness, social injustice against people who are marginalised,
animal rights, the hypocrisy of traditional religion, and belief in
predestination.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The judges said, <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">‘</span>An idiosyncratic and bleakly humorous
indictment of humanity<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s
casual corruption of the natural world.<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<b>Olga Tokarczuk</b> was born in Julechon, Poland, in January
1962. One of Poland<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s best and most beloved
authors, her novel Flights won the 2018 Man Booker International Prize, in
Jennifer Croft<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s translation. In 2015 she
received the Brueckepreis and the prestigious annual literary award from Poland<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s Ministry of Culture and National
Heritage, as well as Poland<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s
highest literary honour, the Nike and the Nike Readers<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span> Prize. Tokarczuk also received a Nike in 2009 for
Flights. She is the author of nine novels, three short-story collections and
has been translated into a dozen languages. She lives in Wroclaw, Poland.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Antonia Lloyd-Jones</b> was born in Oxford in
March 1962. She translates from Polish, and is the 2018 winner of the
Transatlantyk Award for the most outstanding promoter of Polish literature
abroad. She has translated works by several of Poland<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s leading contemporary novelists and reportage authors, as
well as crime fiction, poetry and children<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s
books. She is a mentor for the Emerging Translators<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span> Mentorship Programme, and former co-chair of the UK
Translators Association. She lives in London. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: center;">
***</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>The Shape of the Ruins by Juan Gabriel V<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">á</span>squez </b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Translated by Anne McLean from Spanish, published by Quercus, MacLehose Press </b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Whilst pacing the dark and lonely corridors of a hospital in
Bogot<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">á</span> during the premature birth
of his twin daughters, Juan Gabriel V<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">á</span>squez
befriends a kindly physician, Doctor Benavides. Through the doctor, V<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">á</span>squez meets Carlos Carballo. A
middle-aged man, Carballo is consumed by a conspiracy theory about the
assassination of an up and coming politician and JFK-like figure Jorge Eli<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">é</span>cer Gait<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">á</span>n in 1948. He tries to persuade V<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">á</span>squez to write a novel about the murder, but despite
repeated refusals V<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">á</span>squez is drawn deeper into
the conspiracy when Gait<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">á</span>n<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s vertebrae, stored in a glass jar in
a mutual friend<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s house, goes missing.
Sparking a turn of events, Varquez opens up a second, even darker conspiracy
about the assassination of another politician, Rafael Uribe Uribe, in
1914.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The judges said, <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">‘</span>A harrowing immersion into the
bottomless pit of conspiracy theories. Rooted in Colombian history, it speaks
to a central question of our times.<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Juan Gabriel V<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">á</span>squez
</b>was born in Bogot<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">á</span>, Colombia, in January 1973.
He is the author of four previous novels, The Informers, The Secret History of
Costaguana, The Sound of Things Falling and Reputations, as well as the story
collection The All Saints' Day Lovers. He is the winner of many prizes
including the 2014 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award for The Sound of
Things Falling (jointly with his translator Anne McLean), the 2013 Gregor von
Rezzori Prize and the 2011 Alfaguara Prize. He has translated works into
Spanish and his own work has beentranslated into more than 20 languages. He
lives in Bogot<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">á</span>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Anne McLean</b> was born in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, in
November 1962.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She has translated Latin
American and Spanish novels, stories, memoirs and other writings by many
authors including Hector Abad, Javier Cercas, Julio Cortazar and Enrique
Vila-Matas. She has won the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize twice, for
Soldiers of Salamis by Javier Cercas (2004) and for The Armies by Evelio Rosero
(2009). In 2012 she was awarded the Spanish Cross of the Order of Civil Merit.
She lives in Toronto.<br />
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***</div>
<b>The Death of Murat Idrissi by Tommy Wieringa </b><br />
<b>Translated
by Sam Garrett from Dutch, published by Scribe, UK <o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Two venturesome women on a journey through the land of their
fathers and mothers. A wrong turn. A bad decision. They had no idea, when they arrived in
Morocco, that their usual freedoms as young European women would not be
available. So, when the spry Saleh presents himself as their guide and saviour,
they embrace his offer. He extracts them from a tight space, only to lead them
inexorably into an even tighter one: and from this far darker space there is no
exit. Their tale of confinement and escape is as old as the landscapes and
cultures so vividly depicted in this story of where Europe and Africa come
closest to meeting, even if they never quite touch.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Tommy Wieringa</b> was born in the Netherlands in May 1967. He
grew up partly in the Netherlands, and partly in the tropics. He began his
writing career with travel stories and journalism, and is the author of four
other novels. His fiction has been shortlisted for the International IMPAC
Dublin Literary Award and the Oxford/Weidenfeld Prize, and has won Holland<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s Libris Literature Prize. He lives
in the Netherlands. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Sam Garrett </b>was born in Harrisburg, USA, in September 1956.
He has translated some 40 novels and works of non-fiction. He has won prizes
and appeared on the shortlists of some of the world<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s most prestigious literary awards. He is also the only
translator to have twice won the British Society of Authors<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span> Vondel Prize for Dutch<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">–</span>English translation. He lives in
Amsterdam. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>The Remainder vy Alia Trabucco Zer<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">á</span>n </b><br />
<b>Translated by Sophie Hughes from Spanish, published by
And Other Stories <o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Santiago, Chile. The city is covered in ash. Three children
of ex-militants are facing a past they can neither remember nor forget. Felipe
sees dead bodies on park benches, counting them up in an obsessive quest to
square the figures with the official death toll. He is searching for the
perfect zero, a life with no remainder. Iquela and Paloma are also searching
for a way to live on. When the body of Paloma<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s
mother gets lost in transit, the three take a hearse and a handful of pills up
the cordillera for a road trip with a difference. Intense, intelligent, and
extraordinarily sensitive to the shape and weight of words, this remarkable
debut presents a new way to count the cost of generational trauma.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The judges said, <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">‘</span>A lyrical evocation of Chile<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s lost
generation, trying ever more desperately to escape their parents<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span> political shadow.<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span> <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Alia Trabucco Zer<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">á</span>n </b>was
born in Santiago, Chile in August 1983. She was awarded a Fulbright scholarship
for her MFA in Creative Writing at New York University and holds a PhD in
Spanish and Latin American Studies from University College London. The
Remainder is her debut novel. It won the Best Unpublished Literary Work awarded
by the Chilean Council for the Arts in 2014, and on publication was chosen by
El Pa<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">í</span>s as one of its top 10 debuts
of 2015. She lives in London. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sophie Hughes</b> was
born in Chertsey, UK, in June 1986. She has translated novels by several
contemporary Latin American and Spanish authors, including Best Translated Book
Award 2017 finalist Laia Jufresa<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s
Umami. Her translations, reviews and essays have been published in The
Guardian, The White Review, Times Literary Supplement. She has been the
recipient of a British Centre for Literary Translation mentorship and residency,
a PEN Heim Literary Translation grant, and in 2018 she was shortlisted for an
Arts Foundation 25th Anniversary Fellowship. She lives in Birmingham. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>report by Susannah Tarbush, London</i><br />
<i>based on press release from FourCommunications.com </i><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />susannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17317101646265915200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12310260.post-15787004210234809712019-02-24T13:04:00.000+00:002019-05-17T08:05:37.711+01:00Leila Aboulela's 'Elsewhere, Home' showcases the work of an exceptional short story writer <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEqf0F4TK9b7ajvJJ5ExZDP6dmaRI_if1x2p99VNqIs8-yHvIG3e8avd5DkZLyLwNOu3SJs2S_A_n2KxG4f632GJ9c66ArkSdB5ZUlTN8carsxmJrIjw_pg3vCag1o2yU0mgFb/s1600/Elsewherre%252C+Home+by+Leila+Aboulela.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1053" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEqf0F4TK9b7ajvJJ5ExZDP6dmaRI_if1x2p99VNqIs8-yHvIG3e8avd5DkZLyLwNOu3SJs2S_A_n2KxG4f632GJ9c66ArkSdB5ZUlTN8carsxmJrIjw_pg3vCag1o2yU0mgFb/s400/Elsewherre%252C+Home+by+Leila+Aboulela.jpg" width="262" /></a></div>
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<b><i>Elsewhere,
Home </i></b><o:p></o:p></div>
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by Leila
Aboulela <o:p></o:p></div>
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published by Telegram, an
imprint of Saqi Books, London<o:p></o:p></div>
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ISBN:
978-1846592119<o:p></o:p></div>
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eISBN: 978
-1846592126<o:p></o:p></div>
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pbk, 224pp, <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">£</span>8.99<o:p></o:p></div>
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Kindle <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">£</span>5.99<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>/ $7.97<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>review by Susannah Tarbush, London</i></div>
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In 2000 the
Sudanese short-story writer, novelist and playwright Leila Aboulela became the first-ever
winner of the newly-inaugurated Caine Prize for African Writing, for her short
story <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>The Museum<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In his speech at the award ceremony, the chair of the judges, Nigerian
poet and novelist Ben Okri, described the story as <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>moving, gentle, ironic, quietly angry and beautifully
written".<br />
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As this new collection of Aboulela's short stories shows, the qualities that Okri identified have been sustained throughout the substantial body of short fiction she has produced in the two decades since winning the Caine Prize. . </div>
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In 2001 Aboulela<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s first
collection of short stories, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Coloured
Lights</i>, was published by Scottish publisher Polygon. It was shortlisted for
the PEN/Macmillan Silver Pen Award. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Since
then, her stories </span>have appeared in numerous publications
and anthologies, and publication of a second collection has been long overdue. The publication by Telegram of such a collection, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Elsewhere,
Home</i>, is much to be welcomed.<br />
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Even before publication the collection was longlisted in the fiction category of the People<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">’</span>s Book Prize. It subsequently won the Saltire Fiction Book of the
Year Award, open to authors of Scottish descent or residing in Scotland," or whose writing deals with
"the work or life of a Scot or with a Scottish question, event or
situation." </div>
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Aboulela was
among the first contemporary authors in the UK to write from a Muslim
perspective. She grew up in Sudan and has had much experience of living in both Muslim and
non-Muslim societies. She was living in the Scottish oil city of Aberdeen when she wrote <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Coloured Lights</i>, and then lived
in Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar before returning to Aberdeen where she now lives. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Leila Aboulela pictured by Simon Hollington at the 2005 Edinburgh International Book Festival </span></i></div>
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The 13-stories
in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Elsewhere, Home</i> span Aboulela<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s writing career. They
include six stories from <i>Coloured
Lights</i>, among them <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>The Museum<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span>. These early stories have stood the test of time, and are more relevant than ever at a time when multiculturalism is being challenged, the extreme right is on the rise in the West, and Muslims feel under increasing pressure. </div>
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One of the more
recent stories, <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">“</span>Farida<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">’</span>s Eyes<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">”</span> was
first published in 2012 in Banipal issue 44, which focused on 12
Women Writers. Farida is a pupil at a school run by nuns. She realises her
eyesight is deteriorating, and her teacher, Sister Carlotta, tells her that she
must be fitted with glasses. While Farida<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">’</span>s
mother is in favour of this, her father is against, both on grounds of cost and
because <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">“</span>she will look ugly in
glasses!<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">”</span></div>
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Several
stories are linked to Sudan. In <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">“</span>Something
Old, Something New<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">”</span> a Scottish convert to Islam
travels to Khartoum to marry a divorced woman he had met in Edinburgh at the
Sudanese restaurant at which she worked. The wedding arrangements are
interrupted by the theft of his passport and camera, and a family bereavement.
But after the low-key marriage ceremony he is suddenly bowled over by the
sensual beauty of his wife. He wants to tell her so <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">“</span>but the words, any words, wouldn<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">’</span>t come. He was stilled, choked by a kind of brightness.<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">”</span></div>
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The stories often
expose misunderstandings between cultures or generations. In <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>Summer Maze<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span> Nadia and her mother Lateefa, Egyptian immigrants to the
UK, are on their annual visit to Cairo. There is a gulf in understanding between
them. Nadia, who has lost the ability to speak the Arabic she babbled as a
baby, is embarrassed by her mother<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s
continuing pronouncing of the English <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>p<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span> as <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>b<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span>. Lateefa, on the other hand, has long hoped that her daughter would marry her cousin
Khalid, and is devastated to find he is now engaged. It is his fianc<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">é</span>e who introduces Nadia to literature by
Egyptian authors translated into English, and through reading such books Nadia
finds access to her mother<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s
world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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In <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>The Aromatherapist<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s Husband<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span> Elaine is a whimsical free spirit, who practises alternative
therapies and consults fortune tellers. Her welder husband Adam is plodding and
practical, and unable to keep up with a wife who believes in angels and dreams
of working at Mother Theresa<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s orphanage
in Calcutta. <span style="mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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A recent
story, <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>Pages of Fruit<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span>, is addressed in the second person by the female narrator to the woman author she had for years put on a pedestal and with whom she longed to strike up a
friendship. Like the narrator, the idolised author is an African from a highly
educated family: <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>Your story was a bridge to a
world I had left behind after marriage and migration.<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span> The narrator used to send letters to the writer, with no reply. Encountering the author years later in Abu Dhabi, where her husband’s work has taken him, the
narrator sees her in a more realistic way and is somehow freed. The story may be met with a wry smile from certain readers who encounter a much-admired writer in real life, say at a literary event or festival. </div>
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The central figure in “Expecting to Give” is a lonely and depressed expectant mother whose husband Saif is working on a platform in the North Sea. She suffers sickness, and cravings, especially for tomatoes, and longs for the return of her husband She had been a social worker back in her own country, but her job applications in her new city of residence have been rejected. An incident in a kebab shop leads her to a confrontation with a mother pushing a toddler in a pushchair. </div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p> </o:p>In the story “Majed” Hamid, "born and bred on the banks of the Blue Nile", is married to Scottish convert, Ruqqiyah. She had walked away from her marriage, her two children in tow, in order to be with him and they have had a baby, Majed, together. In Hamid’s eyes she is “so good, so strong, because she is a convert. But he, he had been a Muslim all his life and was, it had to be said, relaxed about the whole thing. Wrong, yes it was wrong. But he wasn't going to argue about that. Not with Ruqqiyah”. He had married Ruqqiyah because he needed a residence visa, while as a new convert she needed a Muslim. Hamid drinks whisky surreptitiously, and Ruqqiyah uncovers his secret alcohol habit in an appalling way. </div>
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Despite her output of short fiction, Leila Aboulela is probably best known as an award-winning novelist. Her debut novel <i>The Translator</i> was published by Polygon
in 1999. It
was longlisted for the Orange Prize for Women<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">’</span>s Fiction, as were the two novels that followed: <i>Minaret</i> (Bloomsbury, 2005) and <i>Lyrics Alley </i>(Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2010)<i>.</i> Her fourth novel <i>The Kindness of Enemies</i> was published by W&N in 2015. Her fifth novel <i>Bird Summons </i>is due to be published by W&N on 7 March. </div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk517095407;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk517095318;"><i>Elsewhere, Home</i> shows that in addition to being an outstanding novelist, Aboulela is an exceptional short story writer. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The collection is surely destined to widen her
readership and reputation yet further. </span></span></div>
<br />susannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17317101646265915200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12310260.post-63163177129172409462019-02-09T09:13:00.000+00:002019-02-09T09:43:25.727+00:00An Evening with Luke Leafgren and Muhsin Al-Ramli at Waterstones Piccadilly <b>Join prizewinning translator Luke Leafgren and Iraqi novelist Muhsin Al-Ramli at Waterstones, Piccadilly on 14th February for a </b><b>Banipal Trust event </b><br />
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<br />
<br />
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<b>An Evening with Luke Leafgren and Muhsin Al-Ramli</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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Thursday 14th February 18:30 at Waterstones Piccadilly</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Free, Registration Only<o:p></o:p></div>
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Book your ticket today<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>Waterstones Piccadilly says:</i><br />
<br />
Held in association with the Banipal Trust for Arab
Literature, Muhsin Al-Ramli and translator Luke Leafgren, will be joining us to
discuss this year<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s winner of the Banipal
Prize, The President<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s
Gardens.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>A contemporary tragedy of
epic proportions. No author is better placed than Muhsin Al-Ramli, already a
star in the Arabic literary scene, to tell this story. I read it in one
sitting.<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">” says Iraqi writer </span>Hassan Blasim, winner of the Independent Foreign Fiction
Prize for <i>The Iraqi Christ.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />
Described as <i>One Hundred Years of Solitude </i>meets <i>The Kite
Runne</i>r in Saddam Hussein<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s Iraq,
<i>The President<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s Gardens</i> is <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>a profoundly moving investigation of
love, death and injustice.<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span> Whilst
tragic and deeply rooted in its context, Al-Ramli draws on universal, timeless
themes in a novel that addresses <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>the
wider tides of history.<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span><o:p></o:p><br />
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<br />
The Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize is an annual award of <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">£</span>3,000, made to the translator(s) of a
published translation in English of a full-length imaginative and creative
Arabic work. The prize seeks to raise the profile of contemporary Arabic
literature, as well as honouring the important work of individual translators
in bringing the work of established and emerging Arab writers to the attention
of the wider world.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Please join us for what promises to be a truly fantastic,
celebratory evening of discussion.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Tickets are free, but please register your
interest via the <a href="https://www.waterstones.com/events/an-evening-with-luke-leafgren-and-muhsin-al-ramli/london-piccadilly">Eventbrite</a> link at the bottom of the Waterstones website page on the event.</div>
</div>
susannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17317101646265915200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12310260.post-48234005983444388692019-02-07T07:37:00.000+00:002019-02-08T10:48:21.503+00:00Palestinian singer Reem's Kelani's EP 'Why Do I Love Her?' released to critical acclaim <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
<b>Reem Kelani's EP: <i>Why Do I Love Her?</i></b><br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">press release from: </span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">The Miktab Limited</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">PO Box 31652</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">London W11 2YF</span></i><br />
<br />
Palestinian singer and musician Reem Kelani’s digital EP <i><b>Why Do I Love Her?</b> </i>saw its commercial release on 1 February 2019. It comprises four tracks:<br />
<br />
<b>- "Last Night, O Saud"</b>, a love song from Kuwait, from Reem’s formative years there;<br />
<br />
<b>- "Going up the Mountain"</b>, a traditional Palestinian song from the Galilee, which Reem has already been busy introducing to school and community choirs across the UK;<br />
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<b>- “Why Do I Love Her?</b>” The title track of the EP, Reem wrote the lyrics and music of this song to describe her anguished love for Palestine;<br />
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<b>- "Mama Don’t Allow"</b>, an American blues number Reem used to sing to her mother, rendered in her unique fashion as an Arabic jazz singer, and influenced by her father’s fascination for the American songbook.<br />
<br />
The songs were recorded live by Gurjit Dhinsa at the Tabernacle as part of Nour Festival on 12 October 2016: Reem was joined in the concert by her trusty trio of Bruno Heinen (piano), Ryan Trebilcock (double bass) and Antonio Fusco (drums).The tracks were subsequently mixed by Steve Lowe and Reem.<br />
<br />
The EP can be bought via Bandcamp.com <a href="http://reemkelani.bandcamp.com/album/why-do-i-love-her">here</a> [ https://reemkelani.bandcamp.com/album/why-do-i-love-her ]<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, work continues apace on Reem's next album <b><i>This Land is Your Land</i></b>, and on her long-term research on the Egyptian composer Sayyid Darwish (albeit hostage to the political situation in Egypt and to financing).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUe-UNKoahw_N0WrMB7Ih-G3BEKiKuynH49L6NUbMaITeAnbwgOXzrlY0jpKG6JU7GS0pvZhDXX7W7iQIAx1JomADPj4jmQoqiRe56qHXIyiRz6M-2cePP5ggJDiDw0-KJBWX0/s1600/Sprinting+Gazelle+Reem+Kelani+logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="143" data-original-width="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUe-UNKoahw_N0WrMB7Ih-G3BEKiKuynH49L6NUbMaITeAnbwgOXzrlY0jpKG6JU7GS0pvZhDXX7W7iQIAx1JomADPj4jmQoqiRe56qHXIyiRz6M-2cePP5ggJDiDw0-KJBWX0/s1600/Sprinting+Gazelle+Reem+Kelani+logo.png" /></a></div>
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<b>As Reem writes in her notes to the EP:</b><br />
<br />
"In October 2016, I performed with my wonderful band at the Tabernacle in London for a second time as part of the Nour Festival of Arts, copromoted by Arts Canteen.<br />
<br />
"The concert afforded the opportunity for the launch of my second album <i>Live at the Tabernacle</i> (Fuse Records, 2016). We also decided to record the gig for good measure, and I am proud to present this digital EP, comprising four songs from that memorable evening.<br />
<br />
"The songs, which have never been released before, range from a Kuwaiti love song that I learnt as a child, to a subversive traditional Palestinian song from the Galilee, a self-penned title track about my anguished love for Palestine, and a blues number that I always sang for my late mother.<br />
In short, these four songs constitute an autobiographical roundtrip between East, West and in between!<br />
<br />
"Enjoy this bipolar journey, as much as the band and I enjoyed our travels on the night.<br />
Thank You, Shukran!"<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b><br /></b>
<b>What the critics say:</b><br />
<br />
"Reem Kelani is a powerhouse of a performer, with a voice conveying a rare depth of passion and emotion. This is complemented by her abilities as an arranger that enable her to combine the musical traditions of two cultures almost seamlessly. Although "Why Do I Love Her" comprises a mere four songs, it is the perfect introduction to this great singer and will leave you eagerly awaiting her next release." Richard Marcus, Qantara / Deutsche Welle, 4 February 2019<br />
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"Throughout her work, [Reem Kelani] is looking for a musical blend which gives a voice to the Palestinians, the sound of pain and of the Diaspora. In everything she says, the theme of Palestinian agony is expressed in the form of multiple identities, or as Edward Said put it ‘out of place’, and this is what Kelani evokes musically in a global context." [trans.] Jamal Hassan, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, Qatar, 28 January 2019<br />
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"Reem has focused on the traditional, as she is known to do, but she hasn’t limited herself to Palestinian folklore... Reem also chose a Kuwaiti song made famous by the two most influential singers in the history of the Kuwaiti song."<br />
[trans.] Hazgui Haikel, Ma3azef online music magazine, 27 January 2019<br />
<br />
"Reem Kelani’s style is unique – she mimics no-one. Her musical project is based on the traditional, both in form and in presentation; it also encompasses dramatic expression, but without gratuitous vocal gymnastics. She is a Palestinian artist, whose songs celebrate her heritage, whilst simultaneously acknowledging and conversing with other musical cultures." [trans.] Saleh Elghazy, Al-Qabas, Kuwait, 17 January 2019<br />
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"Reem Kelani's new EP is a lovely thing which isn’t getting the attention it undoubtedly deserves. Please do yourself a favour and give it a listen." Jamie Renton, EP featured in Jamie’s Mixcloud selection ‘Bollocks to the Bigots - Funky Sounds for Open Minds’, 13 January 2019<br />
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<b>Media details</b><br />
<br />
EP Title<br />
Why do I Love Her?<br />
<br />
Record Label<br />
Fuse Records<br />
<br />
Producer<br />
Reem Kelani<br />
www.reemkelani.com<br />
<br />
EP Booklet Design<br />
Nora Gazzar<br />
<br />
Promo Video<br />
Walid Al Wawi<br />
<br />
Distributors<br />
Proper Music Distribution<br />
<br />
Commercial Release Date<br />
1 February 2019<br />
<br />
For press interview, photographs & further information<br />
Chris Somes-Charlton<br />
miktab@reemkelani.com<br />
<br />
Reem Kelani Online<br />
<br />
Bandcamp: https://reemkelani.bandcamp.com <br />
Facebook: Reem Kelani<br />
Twitter: ReemKelani<br />
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/reem-kelani<br />
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheMiktab/feed<br />
Instagram: reemkelani1948<br />
<br />
The Miktab Limited<br />
PO Box 31652<br />
London W11 2YF<br />
<br />
<i>posted by Susannah Tarbush, London</i>susannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17317101646265915200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12310260.post-45887722968055811762019-01-19T11:29:00.002+00:002019-01-19T11:33:16.581+00:00International Prize for Arabic Fiction holds emerging writers' workshop in Sharjah <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO-fTmDL7Z1gXVPWE6dFD1k6GnZ73QBH0GMa_fTXOttLnsrrLF7k4ReMxpYT7-jY3EjkTuigKBCU8FDolr6KE-qFL4SCiM_wzqik6J03GNyHWmIWyfF4kK7QfsM14qaeMok4gP/s1600/untitled.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="832" data-original-width="1280" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO-fTmDL7Z1gXVPWE6dFD1k6GnZ73QBH0GMa_fTXOttLnsrrLF7k4ReMxpYT7-jY3EjkTuigKBCU8FDolr6KE-qFL4SCiM_wzqik6J03GNyHWmIWyfF4kK7QfsM14qaeMok4gP/s400/untitled.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>group photo from the IPAF Nadwa 2019 </i></div>
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<b>IPAF hosts 10th UAE Nadwa </b><br />
<i>Writers’ workshop is held in Sharjah, the World Book Capital for 2019, led by acclaimed Arab writers Iman Humaydan and Muhsin al-Ramli with new support of Department of Culture - Sharjah Government </i><br />
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Over the past week a group of eight emerging Arab authors - five women, and three men - has gathered in Sharjah to take part in the 10th International Prize for Arabic Fiction’s annual Nadwa. The workshop, which ran from 8th to 15th January, brought together writers from Iraq, Kuwait, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Syria and the UAE. It was sponsored by the Department of Culture - Sharjah Government and took place at the Marbella Resort.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Salha Obeid (UAE)</i></div>
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Sharjah, which has a growing publishing industry and has become a hub in the UAE for book events and organisations, was recently named World Book Capital for the year 2019 by UNESCO for its ongoing efforts to promote books and literacy.<br />
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The International Prize for Arabic Fiction is an annual literary prize for prose fiction in Arabic. It is sponsored by the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi) and run with the support, as its mentor, of the Booker Prize Foundation in London.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Iman Humaydan (Lebanon)</i></div>
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This year’s Nadwa was led by two mentors including acclaimed writer of Arabic literature:<b> Iman Humaydan,</b> Lebanese novelist, researcher, and President of PEN Lebanon; and <b>Muhsin Al-Ramli,</b> twice IPAF longlisted Iraqi-Spanish writer, poet and academic. This week the English translation by <b>Luke Leafgren </b>of Al-Ramli’s novel, The President’s Gardens, won the 2018 Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Muhsin Al-Ramli (Iraq)</i></div>
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The eight participating writers range in age from 25 to 48 years old and were identified by IPAF as emerging talents, following an application process They are <b>Hasan Akram</b> (Iraq), <b>Yasmin Haj </b>(Palestine), <b>Mamoun Sharaa </b>(Syria), <b>Salha Obeid</b> (UAE), <b>Laila Abdullah</b> (Oman), <b>Wiam Al Madadi</b> (Morocco), <b>Ibrahim Hendal</b> (Kuwait), <b>Eman Al Yousuf</b> (UAE).<br />
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<i>Eman Al Yousuf (UAE)</i></div>
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The workshop, which aims to hone their writing skills, involved daily group discussions as well as the opportunity for one-on-one guidance with mentors. The group also attended the 17th Sharjah Arabic Poetry Festival where they met His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Mohamed Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah.<br />
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The annual workshop has nurtured a number of writers who have gone on to be longlisted, shortlisted and also winners of IPAF. These include <b>Mohammed Hasan Alwan</b>, <b>Mansoura Ez Eldin</b>, <b>Mohammed Rabie</b>, <b>Ahmed Saadawi</b>, and <b>Shahla Ujayli</b>, who is one of this year’s IPAF longlisted authors.<br />
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<i>Laila Abdullah (Oman)</i></div>
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<b>Iman Humaydan</b>, novelist and Nadwa mentor, said: “It was an indescribable, deep delight and joy for me to witness the positive and fruitful interaction between this special group of creative talents: new, confident, aspiring writers. I would like to highlight the importance of this wonderful Nadwa, in providing a creative space for emerging writers. I am extremely optimistic about the impact of this important annual project, which offers new writers not only a space to write, but also the chance to form friendships in which culture and creativity are openly shared between participants coming from different Arab countries.” <br />
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<b>Khalid Muslit</b>, co-ordinator and supervisor of the Nadwa from Department of Culture — Sharjah Government, said: “Holding the workshop of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction in Sharjah emirate is a unique experience and opportunity for emerging intellectuals. Sharjah embraces young writers and artists and is internationally recognised as a beacon of culture. It has been chosen as the World Book Capital 2019 by the international jury of UNESCO. The workshop offers young talented writers the chance to refine their skills as they write short stories and novels which enrich literary life and will be a valuable addition to Arabic and non-Arabic bookshops.” <br />
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<br />
<b>BIOGRAPHIES</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>MENTORS </b><br />
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<b>Iman Humaydan</b> is a Lebanese novelist and researcher, born in 1956. She is the author of four novels, all have been published in English: B as in Beirut (1997), Wild Mulberries (2001), Other Lives (2010) and The Weight of Paradise (2016). Her novels have also been translated into French, German, Italian and Dutch. From 2007 to 2014, she taught Creative Writing as part of the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa, USA, and she has given several workshops in different European universities. Since 2015, she has taught Creative Writing at the University of Paris 8 in France. It is the first time this subject has been taught in the Arabic language at the university. Humaydan is a founding member of Lebanese PEN, currently its president, and a board member of International Pen. She is working on her fifth novel.<br />
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<b>Muhsin Al-Ramli </b>is an Iraqi-Spanish writer, poet, academic and translator, born in northern Iraq in 1967. He has lived in Madrid since 1995 and received his doctorate in Literature and Philosophy from Madrid University. He writes in both Arabic and Spanish. Since 1985, he has worked as a cultural journalist for the Arab, Spanish and Latin American press, and has translated many literary works from Arabic into Spanish and vice versa. He has published more than thirty books, ranging from short stories to poetry, plays, translations and novels.<br />
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Al-Ramli's novels include: Scattered Crumbs (2000), whose English translation won the 2002 American Translation Award sponsored by the University of Arkansas Press. His novels Fingers of Dates (2009) and The President’s Gardens (2012) reached the IPAF longlist in 2010 and 2013. The English edition of The President’s Gardens translated by Luke Leafgren won the 2016 Pen Translates Award and the 2018 Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation. His novel The Wolf of Love and Books (2015) was shortlisted for the 2015 Sheikh Zayed Book Award. His most recent book is Children and Shoes (2018). Most of his works have been translated into other languages. He is the co-founder (in 1997) and co-director of the publishing house and philosophical and cultural review Alwah in Spain, and has run creative writing workshops in Spain, Mexico, Kuwait and the UAE. He currently teaches at Saint Louis University, the American University in Madrid.<br />
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<b>PARTICIPANTS</b><br />
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<b>Hasan Akram</b> graduated from Al-Qadisiya University, Iraq, with a BA in Biology. For the past few years, he has worked as an editor and trustee of the Iraqi publishing house Dar alRafidain. His most recent literary project was editing and writing the introduction to The Encyclopedia Man, by acclaimed Iraqi writer Hasan Blasim and published by Dar al-Rafidain. He was a participant in a creative writing workshop run by Ahmed Saadawi, winner of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction. Aged 25, he is the youngest author taking part in this year’s Nadwa. Akram was born in Basra, Iraq, in 1993.<br />
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<b>Yasmin Haj</b> is a Palestinian writer, editor and translator. She completed her Masters in Comparative Literature at Toronto University. She is a founder of the “Dalala” co-operative for translating literary, critical and academic writing from and into English and Arabic. She has written articles for the “Palestine” supplement of the Lebanese Al-Safir newspaper. She lives in Paris. Yasmin Haj was born in Nazareth in 1988.<br />
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<b>Mamoun Sharaa</b> is a Syrian writer, researcher and editor. He graduated from the Agricultural College of Damascus University. From 2001-12, he worked at the Ministry of Culture in Damascus. Since 2013, he has been an editor at the publishing house Dar al-Kutub run by the Department of Culture and Tourism, Abu Dhabi. He has two published works: Bibliography of the Theatre in the Arabic Language (2010) and Bibliography of the Cinema in the Arabic Language (2012). His book Encyclopedia of Winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature will be published soon. Sharaa was born in Syria in 1970.<br />
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<b>Salha Obeid</b> is an Emirati writer. Her first book of short stories, Alzheimers, was published in 2010 and was translated into German the following year. Her next two collections were: Postman of Happiness (2012) and iPad of Life in the Manner of Zorba (2014). Her third book An Implicitly White Lock of Hair (2015) won the 2016 Al Owais Award for Creative Writing. She is a member of the council of the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority and the Association of Emirati Women Writers, and founder of the “Society of the Intellectual” project. She was awarded the Young Emiratis Prize (creative writing category) in 2017, for her literary work. Her first novel, Maybe It’s a Joke, was published in 2018.<br />
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<b>Laila Abdullah</b> (formerly known as Laila al-Baloushi) is an Omani writer. She has previously published a blog called I Breathe Calmly and had a weekly column in various Omani and Arab newspapers, including the Emirati Al-Ru’ya, the Omani Al-Ru’ya and the London-based AlArab. In 2014 she published two books, Hypothetical Love Letters between Henry Miller and Anais Nin and Worries of the World’s Room, which won the 2015 Muscat Prize for the best collection of articles. In 2016, she published a short story collection entitled My Narrative Beings, which won the Muscat Short Story Prize of that year. Her book A Sofa, a Book and a Cup of Coffee, about reading, was published under her new writing name in 2018. She is also the author of two children’s books and a novel, Pharaoh’s Notebook (2018). Some of her poetry has been translated into several languages, including Polish and Spanish. Abdullah was born in 1982.<br />
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<b>Wiam Al Madad</b>i is a Moroccan novelist and short story writer. She is currently studying for her doctorate in translation at the College of Arts and Human Sciences, Abdel Malik Al Saadi University, Tetouan. She has a number of published research papers, translations and articles, as well as literary work ranging from poetry to short stories, novels and children’s books. She has won several prizes, including the 2010 Moroccan Writers’ Union Prize for the Short Story for her 2010 collection Whiteness; the 2012 Dar al-Watan Prize for the Very Short Story for her story ‘Who Stole the Mona Lisa’s Smile?’ and the 2015 Al-Tayeb Salih International Award for Creative Writing (first prize) for her 2015 novel The Gypsy. Al Madadi was born in 1989.<br />
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<b>Ibrahim Hendal</b> is a Kuwaiti writer. He has been writing in Kuwaiti newspapers and Arab media since 2010, and participated in the first Cairo Literary Festival in 2015. In 2012, he published a short story collection entitled Borges and Me, and in 2017 his novel Coloured Cities came out. He is currently working on another short story collection. He has founded several reading clubs and cultural forums, including the “Qadimun” forum and the “Diwan” reading club. Hendal was born in 1985.<br />
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<b>Eman Al Yousuf</b> is an Emirati writer. She is a chemical engineer and certified coach in graphology. She has published three short story collections and two novels: The Window that Saw (2014) and Guard of the Sun (2015), which won the 2016 Emirates Novel Award. Her third novel The Resurrection of Others will be available soon. She has also published a book of literary interviews with female Emirati writers, Bread and Ink (2015). She has a weekly column in the Emirati newspaper ‘Al-Ru’ya’, called ‘Woman of the Pen’ and a monthly literary column called ‘Under the Ink’ in the Emirates Culture Magazine. Her short story The Teapot and I was made into a play and was the UAE submission at the fifth Gulf Festival for Art and Literature. She wrote the first short feminist Emirati film, Ghafa, directed by Aisha Alzaabi, and she is the first Emirati woman to be chosen for the University of Iowa’s international writing programme in the United States. Al Yousuf was born in 1987.<br />
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<b>IPAF 2019 Longlist </b><br />
Last week the longlist for the 12th prize was announced and includes 16 novels selected by the judges from 134 entries, all published in Arabic between July 2017 and June 2018. The full 2019 longlist, listed in alphabetical order by author surname, is Women Without Trace by Mohammed Abi Samra, Voyage of the Cranes in the Cities of Agate by Omaima Abdullah Al-Khamis, The Night Mail by Hoda Barakat, Women of the Five Senses by Jalal Bargas, The Commandments by Adel Esmat, Mohammed's Brothers by Maysalun Hadi, Black Foam by Huji Jaber, The Outcast by Inaam Kachachi, May — The Nights of Isis Copia by Waciny Laredj, What Sin Caused her to Die? by Mohammed Al-Maazuz, I Killed My Mother in Order to Live by May Menassa, Western Mediterranean by Mbarek Rabi, Me and Haim by Habib Sayah, Summer with the Enemy by Shahla Ujayli, The Mexican Wife by Iman Yehia and Cold White Sun by Kafa Al-Zou’bi.<br />
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The shortlist will be announced on 5 February, and the winner will be revealed on 23 April.<br />
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<i>Susannah Tarbush - report based on press release issued on behalf of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF) by Four Communications. </i>susannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17317101646265915200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12310260.post-48013242834605199112019-01-15T11:45:00.001+00:002019-01-15T11:58:35.125+00:00New book brings the works of Palestinian artist Nabil Anani to a wider audience<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnqA0SMlnh1DO6V6f-dUIzxzrCVu18UOSSYus3GukFJYAlp2Qd3QAjnKwkRqPGKWQpOCjJ11WVGDP3rKHrj_TgxhdrYuPy4i0lgK0ER0pmZ_9r-0ZdisEwqx2HxKFRBb4qNc93/s1600/Nabil+Anani+-+book+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1310" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnqA0SMlnh1DO6V6f-dUIzxzrCVu18UOSSYus3GukFJYAlp2Qd3QAjnKwkRqPGKWQpOCjJ11WVGDP3rKHrj_TgxhdrYuPy4i0lgK0ER0pmZ_9r-0ZdisEwqx2HxKFRBb4qNc93/s400/Nabil+Anani+-+book+cover.jpg" width="326" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><b>Stunning collection of images and words celebrates a Palestinian master of composition, colour and symbolism </b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">by Susannah Tarbush, London<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i>(an <a href="http://www.alhayat.com/article/4618590/%D8%AB%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%81%D8%A9-%D9%88-%D9%85%D8%AC%D8%AA%D9%85%D8%B9/%D8%A2%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%A8-%D9%88%D9%81%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86/%D9%83%D8%AA%D8%A7%D8%A8-%D9%84%D9%84%D9%81%D9%86%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%81%D9%84%D8%B3%D8%B7%D9%8A%D9%86%D9%8A-%D9%86%D8%A8%D9%8A%D9%84-%D8%B9%D9%86%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%8A-%D9%88%D8%B9%D9%86%D9%87-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D9%85%D9%84-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%81%D9%86%D9%8A-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%B5%D9%84%D8%A8-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%AA%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%A1-%D8%A5%D9%84%D9%89-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%88%D8%B7%D9%86">Arabic version </a> of this article appeared in Al-Hayat newspaper on 15 January 2019)</i></div>
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<br />
The Palestinian artist Nabil Anani,
born in the town of Latroun in 1943, has had a long and productive career as a
painter, ceramicist, sculptor and art teacher. He has taken part in group and
solo exhibitions in many parts of the world and his works are held in museums
and private collections.</div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">And yet, according to two of his
biggest admirers, Sulieman Mleahat and Martin Mulloy, Aman has not fully received
the recognition he deserves. Their determination to bring Anani to wider public
attention has now resulted in the publication in London, by Saqi Books, of the beautiful
book <i>Nabil Anani: Palestine, Land and People</i>. The book is co-edited by Mleahat
and Mulloy, who have been friends since the days when Mleahat lived in London and
they were introduced to each other by a mutual friend. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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The 176-page
volume contains high-quality reproductions of more than 150 works by Anani. The
cover illustration is Anani<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s 2013
painting <i>Palestinian Village</i>. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The pictures
in the book are grouped into three sections: Land, People, and Mixed Media.
They are complemented by substantial essays from six leading Middle Eastern art
historians: Rana Anani, Lara Khaldi, Bashir Makhoul, Nada Shabout, Dr Housni
Alkhateeb Shehadeh and Dr Tina Sherwell. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The images show the range and variety of Anani<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s work,
and his immense talents in composition, use of colour, and symbolism. Many are
in fresh, bright colours while others are in more sombre hues. Some echo a
continuing Palestinian identity and tradition, others are more directly
political such as the haunting images of Palestinians queueing at the checkpoint
at Qalandia, or standing in a line waiting to see their relatives in prison, as
in the 2015 painting <i>Visiting Hour. </i><o:p></o:p><br />
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<i>Visiting Hour (2015) © Nabil Anani</i></div>
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Anani works
in many media in addition to paint, including wool, embroidery, plaster,
leather, wood, leather, copper, dyes, and concrete. The works vary greatly in
size. Some are relatively small, other are large and extend over double pages
of the book, such as the striking and graceful mosaic mural <i>Ramallah Martyrs</i><i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span> Memoria</i>l (2013). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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The Palestinian prize-winning poet Mourid Barghouti has contributed a characteristically eloquent foreword to the volume. He writes:<br />
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<span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: AR-LB;">“</span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-LB;">In a society
living in catastrophic conditions, the artist does not have the luxury of being
preoccupied with a single vision.<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></span>Perhaps
this can clarify the enigma of Nabil Anani, the artist and sculptor who<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>opened his eyes to the Palestinian Nakba,
which continues to generate more Nakbas."<br />
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Barghouti adds: "The works of Nabil Anani
simultaneously perform the roles of the novelist, poet, historian, architect,
musician and restorer of memory. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His works
grasp at moments from people’s lives, their hills, olive groves, homes, their
grandmothers’ embroidered gowns, their weddings and funerals, as if their
creator fears the demise of all these things.<br />
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<i>Bride (2005) <span style="text-align: center;">© Nabil Anani</span></i></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-language: AR-JO; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span>“In
his paintings, Anani is a novelist because he tells the story of a group of
people too brutalized to tell their own story. He is a poet when he seizes a single
detail here and there: a glancing eye, the tilt of a neck or miles of threatened
trees; the frailty in a body in one instance, its amazing power in another. He
is a historian when he chronicles through art the events of Palestinian life,
its joys and sorrows, the various ways it disappears in spite of joy, and
manifests itself in spite of death.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;">According to Barghouti, </span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>Anani,
the genuine artisan, desires to be unambiguous in his celebration of Palestinian
art and nature, as if he were hosting a celebration in which life itself is the
guest of honour.</span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”<span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;">The book</span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s Palestinian co-editor Sulieman
Mleahat lived in the UK for 28 years after winning a scholarship at the age of
ten to the famous Pestalozzi International Village for young people in East
Sussex, in the south of England. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;">He did his university and postgraduate
studies in international development in the UK and then, wanting to work with
Palestinian refugees, returned to live
in Ramallah eight years ago. He is an
education and arts specialist working with the non-governmental organisation (NGO)
American Near East Refugee Aid in Palestine (ANERA) establishing kindergarten
schools and training teachers. At the same time Mleahat supports Palestinian
artists in exhibiting their work and has curated in many exhibitions in
Ramallah and participated in many art fairs in the Middle East. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikQ_pCUkj3kdBOf6EEQYoFj8Nlk8ewbAAX4Yece_3WdXGPvDjXE3AwB_juBW0XR6h68NgRgZG-_oI24rE-wLym8mO7pL4aKEfyCceg6pLR8vCFNJSnC25-pZwfpSQ2M3X269eI/s1600/the+artist+Nabil+Anani.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1064" data-original-width="1600" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikQ_pCUkj3kdBOf6EEQYoFj8Nlk8ewbAAX4Yece_3WdXGPvDjXE3AwB_juBW0XR6h68NgRgZG-_oI24rE-wLym8mO7pL4aKEfyCceg6pLR8vCFNJSnC25-pZwfpSQ2M3X269eI/s400/the+artist+Nabil+Anani.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i>Nabil Anani in his studio in Ramallah, 2017</i></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;">Martin Mulloy had a career in publishing,
and was for ten years a director at the BBC. He has lived and worked in Kuwait,
Saudi Arabia and Egypt and travelled widely throughout the region. He now works
independently pursing educational and media projects in China and elsewhere.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;">The two co-editors describe their initiation
and implementation of the Anani book project as </span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>a labour of love for us both</span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span> The
seeds of the project lie in an exhibition of Anani</span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s solo
calligraphic exhibition </span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>Art Into Script</span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span> held
in 2007 in the gallery of the legendary Foyles bookshop in central London. The two
subsequently travelled to Ramallah to meet Anani in his home and studio.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;">Lynn Gaspard, publisher of Saqi Books, was
enthusiastic about Mleahat and Mulloy</span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s proposal for a book on Anani.
Publication was made possible by sponsorship from the A M Qattan Foundation,
Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC), Palestinian Ministry of Culture, the
Palestinian Museum, and Paltel. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;">The book</span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s six illuminating essays explore
many facets of Anani</span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s work and life<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_Hlk532974403">.
</a>Bashir Makhoul's </span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532974403;">essay
is entitled </span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532974403;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>The Inability
to Forget and the Promise of Memory.</span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532974403;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span> He writes that Anani </span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532974403;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>has made an outstanding contribution
to the development of Palestinian art, and he has played an explicit role in the
construction of a modern national identity, particularly in relation to
national memory.</span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532974403;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;">Anani is </span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>constructing a visual
narrative from a memory that is living in the menacing shadows cast by the
trauma of the Nakba and its continuation in the occupation and ongoing Israeli
colonisation of Palestine.</span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;">There is a continuous need in the work </span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>to
search for traces of the past, to seek restoration, draw conclusions and pass
on messages and symbols of what has been lost in the hope that the Palestinians
will one day find it </span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">…</span>. This idyllic re-imagining of the
past imbued with nostalgia becomes a speculative image of the future </span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">–</span> an
aspiration for what is to come rather than a memorial for the past.</span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span>
In 2012 Anani started a series of works Life Before 1948 based on photographs taken of families around Palestine in the first half of the twentieth century. by photographers including the Palestinian Khalil Raad. “What really haunts me about these photographs, and what I think Anani captures in his paintings, is the fact that they were taken before the Nakba, They are pictures of unity, of undivided families in a homeland that was about to be torn apart by war and colonial occupation.”<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL1ENb2YbVIo12SZBS0LiVYHVKD3PU0MdJxG1WLTBwnXaNaNNZQjoAvvKSnpPlMIhjzP9vYhzhTlKHvGNIbTjJMDki3et7IYs-p5e6kXMqMLDW0C4uHpOREfzgTxyOz0pC1aqu/s1600/Nabil+Anani+-+Ayyoub+Family+from+Safad+in1948+%25282014%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="477" data-original-width="512" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL1ENb2YbVIo12SZBS0LiVYHVKD3PU0MdJxG1WLTBwnXaNaNNZQjoAvvKSnpPlMIhjzP9vYhzhTlKHvGNIbTjJMDki3et7IYs-p5e6kXMqMLDW0C4uHpOREfzgTxyOz0pC1aqu/s320/Nabil+Anani+-+Ayyoub+Family+from+Safad+in1948+%25282014%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>Ayyoub family from Safad (1948) 2014 </i><span style="text-align: center;"><i>© Nabil An</i>ani</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;">In her essay </span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>How Childhood Captivated an
Artist</span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> the artist</span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">s daughter Rana Anani writes of
Nabil</span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">s childhood in Halhul, where his parents moved in 1942. Halhul is
particularly known for its grape production. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>Whenever
Anani speaks of his childhood in Halhul, his eyes sparkle and his face lights
up with great passion,</span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span> writes Rana. </span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>We
cannot underestimate the extent of the influence of his childhood in that
village on the art he was to produce later in life.</span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;">In 1965 Anani</span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s father sent him to
university in Cairo, but was furious when he found out Nabil had insisted on registering
at art college, and he cut off his finding. Nabil</span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s sister Adla who was working
in Kuwait, then supported him financially. Anani graduated in Fine Art from
Alexandria University in 1969 and returned to Palestine to join UNRWA as an art
teacher. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;">Dr Tina Sherwell examines Anani</span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s work
in the 1970s and 1980s under the harsh restrictions of the Israel occupation, which
imposed censorship on artists. In this atmosphere Anani had his first
exhibition at the YMCA in Jerusalem in 1972 and at this time he met the artist
Sliman Mansour who would become a lifelong friend and colleague. Anani was very
active in the formation of the League of Palestinian Artists. </span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span style="mso-bidi-language: AR-LB;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<i>Motherhood II (1995) <span style="text-align: center;"> </span><span style="text-align: center;">© Nabil Anani</span></i></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;">During the first intifada which started in December
1987, The New Visions Group was set up by Anani, Tayseer Barakat, Sliman
Mansour and Vera Tamari. With a Palestinian shunning of imported Israeli
products, including oil paints and canvas these artists began to work with
natural local materials such as wood, clay, mud and leather.</span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span> Lara
Khaldi notes how the New Visions Group moved away from </span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>committed
art</span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span> into more experimental work. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;">Nadia Shabout in her </span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">chapter </span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>Modernism, Palestine and the Arab
World</span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span> writes: </span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>It is particularly interesting to
understand the intersection of imagination between a Palestinian artist like
Anani and, for example, the Iraqi Dia al-Azzawi whose work engaged with
Palestine frequently.</span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;">Housni Alkhateeb Shehada</span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s essay
</span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>History,
Calligraphy and Landscape in the Works of Nabil Anani (2000 </span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">–</span> 2017)</span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span> examines
Anani</span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s art works within their political context. He writes: </span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>Undoubtedly.
Nabil Anani</span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s close engagement with the
exhausting political situation has for years been reflected in his works.</span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
examines Anani</span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s love of calligraphy and the
recurring appearance of landscape and olive trees in his work. </span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>The
olive tree is perhaps the most important symbol used by Anani in various works
of drawing, painting, sculpture and other genres.</span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk532973639;">At a time when interest in Palestinian arts
and culture is growing, in Palestine itself and far beyond, the publication of <i>Nabil
Anani: Palestine, Land and People </i>is very much to be welcomed. It is truly
one of the most moving and visually-stunning books to have appeared in 2018.</span></div>
susannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17317101646265915200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12310260.post-49735529413569380202018-12-18T10:02:00.001+00:002018-12-18T10:02:20.213+00:00PEN Translates award goes to 'Palestine +100' among tittles from 15 countries<center style="text-align: left;">
The latest batch of Pen Translates awards includes one book - with multiple authors and translators - to be translated from Arabic: <i>Palestine +100</i> due to be published by Manchester-based Comma Press in May 2019.</center>
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Comma Press said in a statement: "We're delighted to announce we've won a PEN Translates Award for our forthcoming anthology <i>Palestine +100</i>, which will fund the translation of a number of the stories from Arabic into English.</center>
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"The collection is the sequel to our hit <i>Iraq +100 </i>anthology, which went viral on social media, selling out in advance of publication and featuring on BBC News and The Guardian website. The rights were sold to Tor (Pan Macmillan) for a North American edition shortly after in our biggest rights deal to date.</center>
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"This time we asked Palestinian writers to imagine their country 100 years after the Nakba; in the year 2048, what will have been the repercussions of the displacement of more than 700,000 people after the Israeli War of Independence, and how might Palestine have finally escaped it, and found its own peace, a hundred years down the line?</center>
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"<i>Palestine +100</i> will be released in May 2019 and will feature established and emerging authors from Palestine including Selma Dabbagh, Nayrouz Qarmout, Ahmed Masoud and many more.. Huge thanks to the team at English PEN! Congrats to the other award winners."</center>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIdMTD2SKSAnEIylNn3rSPxDBqDL0ulh8iwHGnaCfDM9Rpb5ZXquZZql0VKVJyJ3mHOk66h-cfUIwfN0WFCygpf0VzGnvb5iMp4SYzYwYfOZiq3-g7XyZapVClsZ13yzZK4_Xf/s1600/Nayrouz+Qarmout++The+Book+of+Gaza.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="345" data-original-width="260" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIdMTD2SKSAnEIylNn3rSPxDBqDL0ulh8iwHGnaCfDM9Rpb5ZXquZZql0VKVJyJ3mHOk66h-cfUIwfN0WFCygpf0VzGnvb5iMp4SYzYwYfOZiq3-g7XyZapVClsZ13yzZK4_Xf/s320/Nayrouz+Qarmout++The+Book+of+Gaza.JPG" width="241" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Nayrouz Qarmout </span></center>
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<b>Press Release from English PEN </b></center>
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A diverse list of books make up the latest round of PEN Translates award winners. These include new novels by László Krasznahorkai and Marie Darrieussecq; the debut short story collection by politician Selahattin Demirtaş, currently imprisoned in Turkey; a memoir by legendary Belgian filmmaker Chantal Ackerman; Spanish poetry for children; as well as novels from Bosnia, the Comoros Islands, and Indonesia.</center>
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Ros Schwartz, co-chair of the Writers in Translation committee, said:<br />
'The list of award-winning titles is more diverse than ever, with translations from 15 countries and 12 languages, including Bosnian, Indonesian, Slovenian and Tamil, with the first ever novel from the Comoros Islands to be translated into English. English PEN is thrilled and proud to be supporting such an exciting range of outstanding titles.'<br />
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Books are selected for PEN Translates awards on the basis of outstanding literary quality, strength of the publishing project, and contribution to literary diversity in the UK. The award-winning books are featured on the English PEN World Bookshelf website, in partnership with Foyles.<br />
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<b>PEN Translates award-winning titles in autumn 2018</b><br />
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Mountain That Eats Men by Ander Izagirre, translated from Spanish by Tim Gutteridge. ZED Books, May 2019. Country of origin: Spain<br />
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My Mother Said by Chantal Ackerman, translated from French by Daniella Shreir. Silver Press, June 2019. Country of origin: Belgium<br />
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An Orphan World by Giuseppe Caputo, translated from Spanish by Sophie Hughes and Juana Adcock. Charco Press, October 2019. Country of origin: Colombia<br />
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The Wandering by Intan Paramaditha, translated from Indonesian by Stephen J. Epstein. Harvill Secker, March 2020. Country of origin: Indonesia<br />
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Poems That the Wind Blew In by Karmelo C. Iribarren, translated from Spanish by Lawrence Schimel. Emma Press, September 2019. Country of origin: Spain<br />
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A History of the World with the Women Put Back In by Kerstin Lücker and Ute Daenschel, translated from German by Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp and Jessica West. The History Press, September 2019. Country of origin: Germany<br />
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The Baby by Marie Darrieussecq, translated from French by Penny Hueston. Text Publishing, July 2019. Country of origin: France<br />
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When Death Takes Something from You Give It Back by Naja Marie Aidt, translated from Danish by Denise Newman. Quercus, March 2019. Country of origin: Denmark<br />
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Dawn by Selahattin Demirtaş, translated from Turkish by Amy Marie Spangler and Kate Ferguson. Hogarth, April 2019. Country of origin: Turkey<br />
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A Drop of Happiness by Selvedin Avdić, translated from Bosnian by Will Firth. Istros Books, March 2020. Country of origin: Bosnia<br />
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Palestine +100 by various, translated from Arabic by various. Comma Press, May 2019. Country of origin: Palestine<br />
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Strange Beasts of China by Yan Ge, translated from Chinese by Jeremy Tiang. Tilted Axis, May 2020. Country of origin: China<br />
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Baron Wenkheim's Homecoming by László Krasznahorkai, translated from Hungarian by Ottilie Mulzet. Tuskar Rock Press, November 2019. Country of origin: Hungary<br />
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Dreams by Rajathi Salma, translated from Tamil by Meena Kandasamy. Tilted Axis Press, October 2020. Country of origin: India<br />
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A Girl Called Eel by Ali Zamir, translated from French by Aneesa Abbas Higgins. Jacaranda Books, 2019. Country of origin: Comoros Islands<br />
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The Fig by Goran Vojnović, translated from Slovenian by Olivia Hellewell. Istros Books, October 2019. Country of origin: Slovenia<br />
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English PEN's Writers in Translation programme has been promoting literature in translation since 2005. The programme includes translation grants, events, and PEN Transmissions, an online zine for international writing.<br />
English PEN's major publisher grants programme, PEN Translates, awards grants to UK publishers for translation costs and is supported by Arts Council England. Over 200 books in translation have been supported by English PEN grants since 2005.<br />
English PEN, a registered charity, promotes the freedom to write and the freedom to read in the UK and around the world. The founding centre of a worldwide writers' association, established in 1921, we work to identify and dismantle barriers between writers and readers, whether these are cultural, political, linguistic or economic.<br />
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<i>report from London by Susannah Tarbush</i><br />
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susannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17317101646265915200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12310260.post-29130470084202628422018-12-13T09:14:00.002+00:002018-12-13T09:14:43.646+00:00Saqi to publish Raphael Cormack's book on women who created Egypt’s modern culture<br />
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<b>Saqi to publish story</b><b> of Cairo’s female cultural trailblazers in
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Saqi Books has announced that it has acquired the world rights to <i>Martyrs of Passion: The
Women Who Created Egypt’s Twentieth-Century Culture </i>from debut writer Raphael
Cormack. Publication is set for </span>spring 2020. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9O4RnJO8V1RbYfyWMQMec6eJXTWYUsIJKXAV7f2l6d0fCahlH4i-nlfmtFJAlMaDqK_Sv5_q0Mlz7KCdte28DRmA7QUbD_olyiHKTlcI5JWg6pYlysiXt7HQq6p7xCVbUhCkH/s1600/raphael+cormack.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9O4RnJO8V1RbYfyWMQMec6eJXTWYUsIJKXAV7f2l6d0fCahlH4i-nlfmtFJAlMaDqK_Sv5_q0Mlz7KCdte28DRmA7QUbD_olyiHKTlcI5JWg6pYlysiXt7HQq6p7xCVbUhCkH/s320/raphael+cormack.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p><i>Raphael Cormack</i></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">"Martyrs of Passion</i>
tells the exciting, little-known story of Egypt’s entertainment industry in the
inter-war period through the lives of its most prominent women," says Saqi. "<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt;">In what
was then the cultural centre of the region, singers were pressing hit records,
new theatres and dramatic troupes were springing up everywhere, and Cairo’s
cabarets were packed – a counter-culture was on the rise. In the bars,
hash-dens, music halls and theatres of the roaring ’20s, people of all
cultures, classes and backgrounds – Muslims, Christians and Jews – came
together. A passionate group of eccentrics, narcissists and idealists strove to
entertain the broad spectrum of Egyptian society. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt;">"Women asserted themselves on the stage and
behind the microphone like never before. S</span>ome of the biggest stars of
Cairo’s stages were female. <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt;">Two of the most famous troupes of the 1920s were run by
women. It was in the 1920s that Oum Kalthoum, the legendary singer, first won
her fame. And i</span>n the 1920s, the casino and dancehall owned and run by
Badia Masabni became the hottest nightspot in town, and o<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt;">ne of
the early pioneers of Egyptian cinema, Aziza Amir, came up through the stage.
These were women who were not afraid to fight for their rights."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Cormack's book is set among the theatres, cabarets, music halls and cinemas of
Cairo, <i>It </i>will present
a unique view of the cultural, social and feminist movements in early
twentieth-century-Egypt, and show how this global scene laid the foundations of
Arabic popular culture. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Raphael Cormack says, ‘I’m very excited to be able to tell the
compelling and captivating stories of the women of Cairo’s interwar nightlife
and entertainment industry. It is a world full of eccentric characters,
revolutionary ideas and provocative art, that is little known among English
readers. For me, Saqi is the perfect publisher to work with; they have long
experience of publishing books on the Middle East and we share an understanding
of what makes this history so important.’ <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Lynn Gaspard, publisher at Saqi acquired world rights directly from
Raphael Cormack. She said, ‘Raphael has been a friend to Saqi for many years. I
am thrilled to be working with him on <i>Martyrs of Passion</i>, which tells
the riveting story of modern Cairo as we have never heard it before. Now is the
time for Arab women to reclaim their place in <i>her</i>story, and I’m very
proud to be working with Raphael who in this book is celebrating these female
cultural icons’ triumphs.’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Raphael Cormack has a first in classics from Oxford and a PhD in Egyptian theatre from the University of Edinburgh. He co-edited the first collection of Sudanese stories translated from Arabic, <i>The Book of Khartoum </i>(Comma Press). One of the stories in this collection won the Caine Prize 2017. He is also currently editing for Comma <i>The Book of Cairo</i>, which will appear next. He has written on Arabic culture for the <i>London Review of Books, TLS, Apollo, Prospect</i> and elsewhere.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>Saqi says that for all
rights outside the UK, enquiries should be addressed to Elizabeth Briggs <span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="mailto:elizabeth@saqibooks.com">elizabeth@saqibooks.com</a></span></i></div>
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susannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17317101646265915200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12310260.post-70257733522451190252018-12-06T12:57:00.000+00:002018-12-06T13:01:56.805+00:00Saqi Books announces that Sudanese writer Leila Aboulela wins Saltire Award <center>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: 22px;"><strong><em>press release from Saqi Books</em></strong></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: 22px;"><strong><em><br /></em></strong></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: 22px;"><strong><em>Elsewhere, Home</em> by Leila Aboulela wins<br />Saltire Society Fiction Book of the Year Award</strong></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">We are absolutely thrilled to share the news that Leila Aboulela has won the Saltire Society Fiction Book of the Year Award 2018 for </span><em style="background-color: initial; color: black; font-family: arial, "helvetica neue", helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Elsewhere, Home</em><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"><br />The winners of Scotland’s most prestigious annual book awards were announced on Friday 30 November at Dynamic Earth in </span><a href="https://www.heraldscotland.com/search/?search=Edinburgh&topic_id=8798" style="color: #00add8; text-size-adjust: 100%;" target="_self"><span style="color: mediumblue;">Edinburgh</span></a><span style="color: black;">. Sarah Mason, the programme director for the Saltire Society, said: ‘This year’s awards are a testament to the outstanding calibre of modern Scottish literature in all its varied forms. Every one of the awards was hotly contested, making the judges’ decisions particularly challenging.’ Our extended congratulations to all the award winners.<br /><br />A <em>Guardian </em>Summer Read, <em>Elsewhere, Home</em> deftly captures the search for home in our fast-changing world, offering a rich tableau of life as an immigrant. It is the most recent work by British-Sudanese writer and playwright Leila Aboulela, whose novels have been translated into more than fourteen languages.<br /><br /><strong>To celebrate, </strong></span><a href="http://www.alsaqibookshop.com/shopexd.asp?id=47979" style="color: #00add8; text-size-adjust: 100%;" target="_blank"><span style="color: red;"><strong>we’re offering 20% off Elsewhere, Home</strong></span></a><span style="color: black;"><strong> when ordered direct from the Al Saqi Bookshop. Simply enter </strong></span><a href="http://www.alsaqibookshop.com/shopexd.asp?id=47979" style="color: #00add8; text-size-adjust: 100%;" target="_blank"><span style="color: red;"><strong>Saltire2018</strong></span></a><span style="color: black;"><strong> at checkout to claim your discount.</strong></span></span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="mcnTextContent" style="color: grey; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; line-height: 150%; text-size-adjust: 100%; word-break: break-word;" valign="top"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: black;">‘A lovely collection about love, loneliness and spirituality’<br /><strong>Nadiya Hussain, <em>Good Housekeeping</em></strong><br /><br />‘A beautiful collection … There is so much quiet brilliance.’ </span><br /><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jul/09/elsewhere-home-leila-aboulela-review" style="color: #00add8; text-size-adjust: 100%;" target="_blank"><strong><em><span style="color: mediumblue;">The Observer</span></em></strong></a></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: black;">‘Thoughtful, wry, funny …<br />The deceptively quiet tales in <em>Elsewhere, Home</em> are barbed with tension and conflict.’ </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><a href="http://www.heraldscotland.com/arts_ents/16307967.review-elsewhere-home-by-leila-aboulelah/" style="color: #00add8; text-size-adjust: 100%;" target="_blank"><strong><em><span style="color: mediumblue;">Scotland Herald</span></em></strong></a></span></span> </td></tr>
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susannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17317101646265915200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12310260.post-9296242348379376962018-08-30T11:58:00.001+01:002018-09-20T18:31:11.634+01:00Karl Sharro tweets and maps his unique brand of Middle Eastern satire in debut book <b><i>Since this blogpost first appeared, it has been announced that Karl Sharro will be appearing in a panel discussion on <a href="http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/131578-satire-surreal-times-2018#events">Satire In Surreal Times </a>as part of the London Literature Festival at the Southbank Centre at 3pm on Sunday 28 October. Tickets can be booked <a href="https://ticket.southbankcentre.co.uk/single/SYOS.aspx?p=108946&_ga=2.76110999.341733976.1537196559-1384983889.1537196559">here</a></i></b><br />
<i><b>On 4 October he appears at the <a href="https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/karl-remarks-and-then-god-created-the-middle-east-tickets-48164427098">Asia House Bagri Foundation Literature Festival</a> </b></i><i><b>in London</b></i>.<br />
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<i><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2E7sZRq5v_h4mHpeYq91TfM6sNfEEErOeIxW0CaIiEkUoGaMQekYVX-fMUxf1TQB2B4w6CW56x7Nyktt-TEmgqP-4hIcZ7KNkrqOnSQHrbNEeGKGuIqyZMnZ51any3iDaAfej/s1600/And+Then+God+Created+the+Middle+East...+SAQIs+image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1571" data-original-width="1547" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2E7sZRq5v_h4mHpeYq91TfM6sNfEEErOeIxW0CaIiEkUoGaMQekYVX-fMUxf1TQB2B4w6CW56x7Nyktt-TEmgqP-4hIcZ7KNkrqOnSQHrbNEeGKGuIqyZMnZ51any3iDaAfej/s320/And+Then+God+Created+the+Middle+East...+SAQIs+image.jpg" width="315" /></a></b></i></div>
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The Lebanese-British satirist and architect Karl Sharro’s debut book <i>And Then God Created the Middle East and said ‘Let There be Breaking News'</i>, published recently in London by Saqi Books, defies categorisation. It is primarily a book of humour, but it arguably also deserves a place in other sections of a bookstore or library, such as the Middle East, politics or media studies.<br />
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The book is authored in the name of Karl reMarks, Sharro’s “Middle East political and cultural online commentary, with frequent forays into satire.” Sharro founded his blog in 2007 and the @KarlreMarks Twitter account two years later. His trademark avatar, a bearded figure with a conical hat against a red background, is taken from his cartoon series “The Phoenicians Invented Everything". The figure also appears on the cover of Sharro's small format book, which is in a striking palette of bright blue, mustard and white. "My own colour scheme is red, so the blue was a change, but we wanted a nod to Twitter" Sharro says in the Q & As below.<br />
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Sharro is a master of the Twitter form, with his pithy one-liners and tweeted diagrams. The book provides many examples of both (the Karl reMarks Twitter self-description includes "Director of the Institute of Internet Diagrams"). The @KarlreMarks Twitter account has 135,000 followers and its witticisms and sharp commentary are essential daily reading for many.<br />
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As noted in a recent <a href="https://en.qantara.de/content/interview-with-lebanese-british-satirist-karl-sharro-politicising-muslim-identity-is-counter?nopaging=1">interview with Qantara.de</a> Sharro was in conversation at the launch of his book with senior lecturer in International Journalism at City, London University Dr Zahera Harb She said he manages to say in 140 characters what may take hours to explain to her students. It seems the book will be put on her studentsʹ reading lists and it looks a safe bet that other academics will do the same.<br />
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Sharro told Qantara.de: "I know that several professors do include my blog and tweets on some syllabuses already, and having the tweets in book form will "make it easier for students to find them." He wanted to collect the tweets into a book "so as to give them a more permanent home, beyond Twitter where they eventually get lost".<br />
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Asked by an audience member at the launch whether he welcomed and felt "liberated" by last year's doubling of the permitted length of a tweet from 140 to 280 characters, Sharro said: "I think 280 characters is really awful. Seriously, the greatest thing about Twitter is learning to express yourself in a very short medium. If anything, they should have introduced 'Twitter extreme' with only 70 characters!"<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; text-align: center;"> Karl Sharro Photo credit James Berry </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; text-align: center;"><br /></span>Sharro's book is divided into 10 sections, such as Geography for Dummies, War and Peace, Extremism: A Study and Democracy for Realists, and ending with a selection of his Bar Jokes. His best-known bar joke is probably the one about Umm Kulthum, the legendary Egyptian diva: <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">“</span>Umm Kulthum walks into a bar. Walks into a bar. Walks into
a bar. Walks into a baaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">”</span> On Fairouz, the famous Lebanese singer, we have <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">“</span>Fairouz walks into a bar. The moon
caresses the olive tree."<br />
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Sharro often lampoons Western journalists and analysts: in fact the full Tweet from which the title of his book is taken is "And Then God Created the Middle East and said 'Let There be Breaking News and Analysis'." The final two words had to be dropped from the title for reasons of space.<br />
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One tweet runs: “A telling Western phrase about the Middle East is ‘borders were drawn without regard to ethnicity’, as if it’s a bad thing. I mean, if they had divided states by ethnicity, my grandmother’s old neighbourhood in Baghdad would have been four different countries.” Also,"I'm deeply grateful to Westerners who, despite being in the midst of a historic crisis of their own, still take the time to lecture us." <br />
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Tweets in the "Geography for Dummies" section include: “People often ask me ‘where is the Middle East?’ It’s the area between Egypt, Iran, Yemen, Turkey and the British Museum." The "Sykes and Picot Go Out for a Pizza" diagram shows a pizza hacked into a crude jigsaw with the characteristic straight lines of imperial borders.<br />
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The book would have been incomplete without Sharro's classic "Simple One-Sentence Explanation for What Caused ISIS" - which extends over two pages. In 2006 his video of the endlessly convoluted sentence went viral and had 1.6 million views on Facebook alone. He recently posted on YouTube this new video of the "Simple One-Sentence ..." recorded on the banks of the River Thames:<br />
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<i><b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">"You want the Simple One-Sentence Explanation for What Caused ISIS? Here goes...." </span></b></i></div>
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Western journalists covering the Middle East may well identify with the following tweet: “We Arabs are like, ‘You can’t report on Arab countries without learning Arabic.” Learns Arabic. ‘Why do you know Arabic? You must be a spy'.”<br />
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Sharro's satirical eye often focuses on Arab politics. "After the Arab awakening comes the Arab siesta", "An Arab dictator is like a matryoshka doll in reverse, Every time you remove one, you get a bigger one" and "Many people are asking me why I'm not commenting on the Arab Summit. Not into them anymore, I preferred their early work." The section on "Extremism: A Study" pokes fun at ISIS, through tweets such as "I personally don't think we should worry about ISIS. Launching a magazine was a fatal mistake. It will bankrupt them within years" "I love statistics like 'bees have killed more people than ISIS'. True, but bees aren't a death cult" and "How many ISIS jihadis does it take to change a lightbulb? ... What's wrong with eternal darkness?" <o:p></o:p></div>
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The pages of Sharro's book are liberally sprinkled with diagrams. His endearing Phoenician characters Abdeshmun and Hanno appear in two cartoon strips - "The Phoenicians Invent Speech Bubbles" and "The Phoenicians Invent Polytheism".<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"> The Phoenicians Invent Speech Bubbles © Karl Sharro</span></div>
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He uses maps to make powerful points. The "Map of Western Invasions of the Middle East vs The Other Way Round" shows numerous coloured arrows pointing from Europe and America towards the Middle East and North Africa - contrasted with a few arrows the other way round. The maps in "Six New Ways to Divide the Middle East and North Africa" use different colours to divide the region in terms of eg "Jeans / Traditional" "Olive oil / Oil" "Kings / Generals / Other", reminiscent in style of maps of the Middle East in Western publications.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">© Karl Sharro </span></div>
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<b>Q&As with Karl Sharro</b><br />
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Karl Sharro was born in Zahle, Lebanon, in 1971 to a Lebanese father and Iraqi mother, and is from a Syriac Christian background. According to his blogpost "I Wrote My Own Wikipedia Biography" while at school he used to pass short funny messages to his schoolmates, “acquiring a skill that would be useful later in life on Twitter.” He moved in 2002 from Beirut to London, where he still lives and works as an architect.<br />
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In addition to his blog posts and tweets, Sharro's work has been featured in many print and online publications, from the Wall Street Journal to the Guardian and POLITICO, as well as on broadcast media such as the BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera and Channel 4. He sometimes gives lectures and TedX Talks. Earlier this year he presented the BBC radio documentary "Skiing Mount Lebanon."<br />
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<span style="text-align: center;"><i>The book's design is very appealing. Did you always envisage a small format book that could be slipped into a pocket (and that could make a good, affordable present), and how was the colour scheme decided? </i></span><br />
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<b>Sharro: </b>Yes, the idea from the beginning was for a small format book which would be practical and affordable. I am grateful to Saqi’s team for the great work on the design. It was particularly challenging to get all of the title on the cover and I think it looks brilliant. My own colour scheme is red, so the blue was a change, but we wanted a nod to Twitter.<br />
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<i>Did you think of including some of your blog posts and articles in the book, in addition to the tweets?</i><br />
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<b>Sharro:</b> In the beginning I considered including some of the blog posts but ultimately they didn’t fit the format of the book and its small size. I also considered adding one or two of my Lebanese recipes as a bonus but that didn’t make it in the book either. However, I will offer to send the recipes to anyone who buys the book. Perhaps there will be another book in the future which will include the blog posts.<br />
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<i>Many of your fans first got to know your satire and analysis through your blog as well as Twitter. You made a peak of 106 blogposts in 2013. But by 2017, the number had dwindled to just one post – on the first anniversary of the EU Referendum – and so far this year to zero. After initially embracing the blog form, why have you abandoned it so decisively? After all, you do still write longer pieces for a variety of media outlets and you contributed a substantial piece "The Joys of Applying for a US Visa" to the book Don’t Panic, I’m Islamic (Saqi).</i><br />
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<b>Sharro:</b> I decided in 2016 to stop writing on the blog, and the few posts written after that were one-offs. I had gotten to the point where the blog wasn’t receiving the same number of readers and the same level of interest. I think it was a combination of blogs suffering overall - I blame podcasts - and my writing becoming a bit repetitive. There were two factors that led to my decision. Firstly, it was getting harder to sustain the energy for writing so frequently - I have only my lunch break to write in - and after years it was exhausting. Secondly, I was considering other formats. I was doing a pilot for a TV show at the time and was thinking of other ways of doing satire. Two years later, I am still thinking.<br />
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<i>The launch of your book at The Book Club in Shoreditch, East London, at which you were in conversation with Dr Zahera Harb, went down very well with the audience. You are due to appear at the <a href="https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/karl-remarks-and-then-god-created-the-middle-east-tickets-48164427098">Asia House Bagri Foundation Literature Festival in London </a> on 4 October. Are other events in the offing?</i><br />
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<b>Sharro: </b>I am planning one other event so far, at Oxford University’s Middle East Centre in November, but hopefully there will be others.<br />
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<i>Which humorists in the UK, US or elsewhere do you particularly rate, and perhaps see as influences?</i><br />
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<b>Sharro:</b> I think my first comedic influence was Woody Allen, particularly in his writing and stand-up comedy. I learned a lot from that. Technically I think Stewart Lee is one of the best, and I love Jack Dee’s early work in particular. Jerry Sadowitz is another influence, his comedy work was amazing for me. And in terms of style, I’ve always liked Mark Steel. I will probably be criticised for not including any women on this list. And the eternal wit of Dorothy Parker.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">CNN interview with Karl Sharro shows his "Diagram of Political Relationships in the Middle East" - one of the illustration in <i>And Then God Created the Middle East and Said 'Let There be Breaking News' </i></span></div>
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These days we often hear about the rise of
Arab, Middle Eastern or Muslim comedy in the UK and
elsewhere. Do you feel comfortable with such
categorisations?</i><br />
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<b>Sharro:</b> A lot of my stuff is about the Arab angle, so that I don’t mind so much but I find it strange when it goes into religion, partially because in Lebanon this is just not done. It would be very strange for someone to describe themselves as a Muslim comedian or Christian comedian there. But ultimately I don’t want to be known just for that, if I ever decide to take up comedy I wouldn’t want to be known as the Arab comedian. My ideal stand-up routine is actually about the etiquette of space travel, nothing to do with the Middle East.<br />
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<i>Your first stand-up performance, at Edinburgh Festival Fringe last year, seems to have given you a taste for stand-up. Are you planning further performances?</i><br />
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<b>Sharro:</b> I enjoyed that a lot, although people thought I was crazy to do a 45 minute routine for my standup debut. I should do more, particularly that I took the trouble to memorise the routine, but I haven’t yet decided on the venue and the timing.<br />
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Given the variety of comedy genres in which you have been involved, what lies ahead for Karl reMarks?<br />
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<b>Sharro</b>: I have for a few years been thinking of doing podcasts or vlogging, but I seem to never find the energy or the time. Perhaps after my children grow up - if the Middle East is still in the news by then.<br />
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<i>report and interview by Susannah Tarbush</i><br />
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<span style="background-position: center center; background-repeat: no-repeat; font-style: italic;"><b><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/0l0amSqKKhg/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0l0amSqKKhg?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></b></span><br />
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a clip from Karl Sharro's stand-up at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, 2017
</b>susannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17317101646265915200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12310260.post-23871933113780235802018-07-12T09:52:00.000+01:002018-07-12T14:54:38.785+01:00review of Rana Haddad's novel 'The Unexpected Love Objects of Dunya Noor' <br />
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<i>English version of article published <a href="http://www.alhayat.com/article/4591743/%D8%AB%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%81%D8%A9-%D9%88-%D9%85%D8%AC%D8%AA%D9%85%D8%B9/%D8%A2%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%A8-%D9%88%D9%81%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86/%D8%B1%D9%86%D8%A7-%D8%AD%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%AF-%D8%AA%D8%B1%D9%88%D9%8A-%D9%82%D8%B5%D8%A9-%D8%AD%D8%A8-%D8%B3%D9%88%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%86%D9%83%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%B2%D9%8A%D8%A9">in Arabic in Al-Hayat newspaper</a> on 12 July 2018.</i><br />
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<b>Rana Haddad tells a Syrian love story in English</b><br />
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The Syrian-British writer and journalist Rana Haddad has worked widely in print media and TV as a researcher, editor, producer, and translator. At the same time, she writes poetry, and fiction. An illustrated book of her poems, <i>The Boy Moon: Lost Love Poems Found in an Envelope</i>, appeared in 2008.<br />
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Now her debut novel, <i>The Unexpected Love Objects of Dunya Noor</i>, has been published by Hoopoe – an imprint of the American University in Cairo Press As in her poetry book, the moon is a recurring symbol in Haddad’s novel.<br />
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Haddad has a degree in English literature from Cambridge University in the UK. She told Al-Hayat:“ I tried to write fiction in my twenties but it was impossible for me then, it always turned out too poetic. I needed to learn to become more practical. Journalism, and especially working in television I think helped me with that, especially the structure aspect of fiction over such a long canvas.”<i> (See the <a href="http://thetanjara.blogspot.com/2018/06/q-with-rana-haddad-author-of-unexpected.html">interview with Rana Haddad</a> on this blog).</i><br />
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Dunya Noor, the heroine of Haddad’s novel, grows up in the Mediterranean port city of Latakia in the 1980s. She is the daughter of Syria’s most famous heart surgeon Dr Joseph Noor and his glamorous blonde English wife Patricia.<br />
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Haddad herself grew up in Latakia, daughter of a Syrian father, and a Dutch-Armenian mother. She left Syria at the age of fifteen and has lived since then mainly in London, but also in Paris, Madrid and, for a short time, Beirut. She says the plot of her novel is “very much a fiction, but the settings and impressions are all mine. This is the Syria I lived in as a child and teenager and later visited over the years.”<br />
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She dedicates her novel to Syria and its children and also to her father Marwan, “whose love for his country was deep and unbreakable.”<br />
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The novel brings 1980s and 1990s Syria vividly to life. Haddad writes with candour and humour and, through satire shows the pressures and restrictions facing people living under a repressive regime.<br />
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Though the novel is set in a system that curbs freedom, Haddad’s writing is full of light and is rich in poetry, songs, music, and engaging depictions of characters and places. Haddad wrote almost all the poetry in the book. An exception is a song made famous by Egyptian singer Abdel-Halim Hafez, “The Coffee Cup Reader”, the words of which Haddad translates. In the novel, a female fortune teller who reads coffee grounds plays a crucial part in the plot.<br />
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Dunya is a unique creation. Her father is well connected in the upper echelons of Syrian society, and the family lives in luxury. But Dunya does not comply with what is expected of a girl of her age and class. She has inherited her father’s mop of curly black hair rather than her mother’s blonde locks. She shows much independence of spirit and is endlessly curious about the mysteries she perceives around her.<br />
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When Dunya first falls in love, at the age of eight, the object of her love is an old-fashioned camera which she buys from a shop. The old shopkeeper tells her it “a box of light, a machine that can see. If you buy it I promise to teach you its secrets.” As an adult, Dunya becomes an art photographer whose work is shown at exhibitions. References to light and photography occur throughout Haddad’s novel.<br />
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Dunya is very interested in love, a subject she researches. Her parents are shocked when they learn from gossip that she has been seen hand in hand with a fisherman’s son who refers to her as his fiancée. Dunya discovered that real love was love at first sight, which “was produced when twin souls happened to look into each other’s eyes”, but in her relationship with the fisherman’s son she had done nothing but cause a scandal.<br />
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The concept of twins is entwined with the novel’s intricate plot. There are echoes of Shakespeare plays featuring twins and mistaken identities, such as <i>The Comedy of Errors</i> – which has two pairs of male twins - or <i>Twelfth Night </i>with its male and female twins Sebastian and Viola. Viola disguises herself as her brother by wearing men’s clothes.<br />
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At the age of thirteen, Dunya gets into serious political trouble after a woman school instructor in Youth Military Education orders the pupils to take part in a political demonstration. Dunya refuses to take part, and then refuses to apologise for her absence. Nor does she accept the punishment of crawling like a caterpillar along the cement playground.<br />
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Dunya’s defiance enrages the instructor Miss Huda, “a twenty-two-year-old despot with scary contacts in the Baath Party and extra-black kohl that she used to enhance her terror-inducing eyes”. When the instructor asks “is this because you are against the Baath Party?” Dunya nods her head. Miss Huda says “Yes? Did you say yes? Say it, say it to my face, say the word! Are you against our great Baath Party?” Dunya replies “Yes”.<br />
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Miss Huda rushes to the local headquarters of the Baath Party to inform them of Dunya’s grave offence. Patricia, realising the danger her daughter is in, rushes her to the airport and flies with her to the safety of her grandparents in England. Dunya’s parents decide it is safer for Dunya to stay in England, “for how could anyone be sure she would not open her mouth and tell the truth again?”<br />
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But despite being “50 percent English” Dunya finds it hard to adapt to life in England and is critical of English society. English teenagers appear to be fixated on sex, but never mention love. She had left her heart in Syria, but it would be ten years before she would see the country again.<br />
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One day Dunya sees and photographs a handsome young man sitting on a bench in London reading a book with the Arabic title “Biography of the Moon”. The pair are instantly attracted to each other: “Love came to them like lightning, the way they’d both heard it sometimes did.”<br />
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Hilal is a brilliant student, winner of the Aleppo University Physics Prize physics, which included a full postgraduate grant to study in London. He is studying the moon. His parents are tailors, his father Said a Sunni and his mother Suad an Alawite. Originally from southern Syria, they had fled to Aleppo from their families when they got married. But they remain unhappy. “The source of his parents’ unhappiness became more and more of a mystery to Hilal as the years went by.”<br />
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Dunya secretly starts living with Hilal, without the knowledge of his or her parents. When Hilal does not hear from his parents for six months, and then receives a letter from his mother saying his father had died, he returns to Syria with Dunya.<br />
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Dunya’s father Dr Noor, a Christian, is furious that his daughter is in love with a Muslim from a humble family of tailors in Aleppo. He orders him to leave Latakia for Aleppo and to never have anything to do with Dunya again. Dunya tells her mother she will never give Hilal up. But the next day she finds he has vanished from the hotel where he was staying in in Latakia. The hotel [male] receptionist say he was taken away by two men in a Mercedes with darkened windows. To Dunya it is clear he has been abducted by Baath Party members or the mukhabarat.<br />
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Dunya travels to Aleppo in search of Hilal and sees in the street a young man who looks just like him. She follows him to an all-men’s café and finds he is a hakawati named Najim. He plays the oud, performs songs and engages in repartee with the customers. When he invites Dunya to his home, and he tears off his moustache and men’s clothes and reveals himself as a stunningly beautiful girl, Suha, a baker’s daughter.<br />
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Dunya is dazzled by Suha, and her rapturous infatuation with her overshadows even the memory of her beloved Hilal. Suha tries to helps her Dunya find Hilal, and gradually the mysteries within <i>The Unexpected Love Objects of Dunya Noor</i> are revealed.<br />
<i>Susannah Tarbush, London</i>susannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17317101646265915200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12310260.post-56035290041477675412018-06-26T16:34:00.000+01:002018-06-27T22:02:04.419+01:00Q&As with Rana Haddad author of 'The Unexpected Love Objects of Dunya Noor' <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>Q&As with Syrian-British writer Rana Haddad, whose debut novel <i>The Unexpected Love Objects of Dunya Noor </i>was recently published by Hoopoe, an imprint of the American University in Cairo (AUC) Press</b><br />
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<b>How far is your novel autobiographical, for example in terms of Dunya's mixed Syrian-English parentage?</b><br />
The plot is very much a fiction but the settings and impressions are all mine. This is the Syria I lived in as a child and teenager and later visited over the years. Dunya is very much a fictional creation but I share my 'mongrel' status with her and perhaps a little of her stubbornness. My mother is half Dutch and half Armenian and my father is Syrian. He is very different from Joseph Noor, except for his pride in Syria and his blue eyes. <br />
<b><br /></b><b>At what point did you leave Syria, and where did you go? </b><br />
I left Syria at fifteen and a half. I lived mostly in London but also in Paris and Madrid and a short while in Beirut. I am now living between England and Crete.
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<b>You are a journalist of long standing, working in print and broadcast media. You have also had a volume of poetry published (<i>The Boy Moon Lost Love Poems Found in an Envelope</i> - 2008). How long have you been writing fiction? </b><br />
I tried to write fiction in my twenties but it was impossible for me then, it always turned out too poetic. I needed to learn to become more practical and journalism and especially working in television I think helped me with that, especially the structure aspect of fiction over such a long canvass.<br />
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I had the title, idea and general plot outline for this novel in the early 2000 but from first draft to final draft there were major stops and starts due to a number of reasons including health and moving countries and work. But during that time I also developed quite a lot of the plot and even the text for my second novel and third.<br />
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<b>Photography and Dunya’s passion for it is a key dimension of the novel. Did you have a previous special interest and practice in photography?</b><br />
I have never practiced photography myself and whenever I tried I failed because my mind does not work that way - I struggle with the technical element of it. But I had a deep and important friendship with a photographer which made me even more interested in it. Recently my mother told me, after reading the book, that I was always interested in photography as a child, though strangely enough I don't remember that at all. And I never had a camera like Dunya had, I was always interested in writing and wrote poems in Arabic and tried to make them rhyme.
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<b>Could you say something about your ongoing work in theatre and drama?</b><br />
I helped during a Royal Shakespeare Company workshop of a play written by a long standing friend of mine, and this made me realise that Theatre comes naturally to me and is something I would like to pursue, but I feel that I want to pursue it with a strong element of music. Currently I am developing a small performance with a friend who is a Syrian singer - where we will mix scenes from Dunya with songs which she will sing live. We will try to develop this into a more extended performance and work possibly with actors and other musicians. I have also done quite extensive research for three BBC dramas. But they were factual dramas and even though it was a very interesting and educational experience for me, I know I am more interested in poetic and romantic ways of making things, not the hard factual approach.<br />
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<b>How did your connection with Crete come about? </b><br />
I'm exploring living part-time in Crete, which is the most south Eastern part of Europe and very near Syria. I can't imagine myself being able to spend all my life entirely in England as I miss Syria too much, and currently I feel Crete is a wonderful compromise and counter-point, and I am learning a lot about Syria's Byzantine and pre Islamic and even pre Christian roots from there. Crete and the Levant have a deep and important link, in myth and culture.<br />
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<b>The novel has plenty of poetry in it, including song lyrics …. is this poetry your own, traditional, a mixture of the two?</b><br />
All the poems and songs in <i>Dunya </i>are written by me, except for "Reader of the Coffee Cup" (of course!) The first song Suha sings which includes the words, Oh Night on Eyes, (Ya leili ya Ein), that expression is of course taken from popular mawals, but the rest is pure fiction.<br />
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<b>Are there plans to translate the novel into Arabic and perhaps other languages?</b><br />
No idea so far, I heard of talks to translate the novel into German and Dutch but so far nothing concrete. I would love it to be translated into Arabic of course, but also Spanish and French as I think it would particularly work in those languages.<br />
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<b>Could you say something about your next novel? Your LinkedIn entry mentions that it will be set in Indonesia in the 30s and 40s, and will also take in the Armenian diaspora and Persia.</b><br />
My second novel which I am working on now is set in London and it will continue on from some of the major themes I explored in <i>Dunya</i>, but in a very different setting and the characters will be in their 30s. My third novel will be set in Indonesia, but I have already started research for it, as it will take me years to understand Indonesia enough before I can write anything that makes any sense about it. My maternal grandmother and mother and aunts were born and grew up in Indonesia actually. She was the child of the Armenian diaspora from Isfahan who moved to Java island around 1917, and my grandfather was Dutch who came there after the second world war. I want to take that time period and setting but then improvise, as I like to do, and as I did in <i>Dunya</i>.<br />
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<i>Susannah Tarbush, London </i>susannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17317101646265915200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12310260.post-31896528776187591952018-03-13T18:54:00.001+00:002018-03-14T11:15:46.032+00:00Writers' voices from the "banned" Muslim nations cross the Atlantic in Banthology <br />
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In January the UK publisher Comma Press published a unique and timely anthology of new short stories, by writers from the seven Muslim-majority countries named in US President Donald Trump’s Muslim travel ban: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.<br />
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<i>Banthology: Stories from Unwanted Nations </i>appeared on the first anniversary of Trump’s 27 January 2017 signing of Executive Order 13769 which imposed the US's first-ever Muslim ban. The Executive Order banned people from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the USA for 90 Days. It also halted refugee settlement for 120 days and banned Syrian refugees indefinitely. <br />
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<i>Banthology</i> is edited by Sarah Cleave, who writes in her introduction: “The idea for this book was born amid the chaos of that first ban, and sought to champion, give voice to, and better understand a set of nations that the White House would like us to believe are populated entirely by terrorists.” <br />
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She adds: “As publishers, we are acutely aware of the importance of cultural exchange between communities, and have also seen first-hand the damage caused by tightened visa controls and existing travel restrictions, not just on artists but on their families – that is to say the damage that impacts on all citizens of nations targeted by prejudicial border controls.”<br />
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On 27 March Deep Vellum Publishing of Dallas, Texas, in association with Comma, is due to publish the US edition of the book under the title of <i>Banthology: Stories from Banned Nations.</i><br />
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Since the ban was first issued, it has faced a series of legal challenges and has undergone various reformulations. Will Evans, director and publisher of Deep Vellum, says: “The collection was created in response to Trump’s hateful original order, and remains especially urgent in the wake of recent events resulting in the reinstatement of the ban, and as the world awaits the Supreme Court’s final ruling on its legality.”<br />
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Evans says literature offers a means “to bring cultures into conversation, to share stories, build connections grow empathy. The stories in <i>Banthology</i> reflect the shared experience of the human condition that unites us all, and no hateful political ban will ever be stronger than the bonds of our shared humanity.”<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">the US edition - <i>Banthology: Stories from Banned Nations.</i></span></div>
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The two men and five women contributors to <i>Banthology</i> are Najwa Binshatwan from Libya, Rania Mamoun (Sudan), Zaher Omareen (Syria), Fereshteh Molavi (Iran), Ubah Cristina Ali Farah (Somalia), Anoud (Iraq) and Wajdi al-Ahdal (Yemen). Two of the stories were written in English, while four were translated from Arabic and one from Italian.<br />
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Comma Press is, like Deep Vellum, a not-for-profit publisher. It is supported by the Arts Council England, and focuses on promoting new writing, particularly short stories. It takes a keen interest in translating and publishing literature by Arab authors, and prior to <i>Banthology</i> had published seven books of stories translated from Arabic including, in 2016, <i>The Book of Khartoum: A City in Short Fiction </i>edited by Ralph Cormack and Max Shmookler and <i>Iraq +100: stories from a century after the invasion </i>edited by Hassan Blasim. <br />
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After Trump signed the Muslim ban, Comma declared it would stand in solidarity with those of its writers affected by the ban, including all 20 contributors to <i>The Book of Khartoum</i> and <i>Iraq +100</i>.<br />
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The contributors to <i>Banthology</i> were asked to develop "a fictional response to Trump’s discriminatory ban, exploring themes of exile, travel and restrictions on movement.” The publisher wanted “to showcase as many different experiences as possible, as the travel ban not only affects those living inside the so-called ‘banned nations’, but also those that have sought peace and freedom in exile.”<br />
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The writers approached the themes in diverse ways, often entering the realm of speculative fiction. Their accomplished and disturbing stories tell of attempts to transcend borders and barriers of various kinds. The elliptical narratives are frequently laced with irony, playfulness and a sense of the absurd. Though the authors’ protagonists show resilience, they are prone to a sense of loneliness and to psychological distress that on occasion tips over into breakdown.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Wajdi al-Ahdal </span></div>
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The stories range freely over place and time. “The Slow Man” by Yemeni novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and dramatist Wajdi al-Ahdal, translated by William M Hutchins, transports the reader back to the year 100 according to the Babylonian calendar. Al-Ahdal explores what might have happened had the prophet Yusuf of the Quran, Joseph of the Bible, been barred from crossing the border into Egypt with the caravan that rescued him as a boy after his brothers tried to kill him and then abandoned him in the desert.<br />
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The Commander of the northern frontier of Egypt and Gaza – the “Slow Man” of the story’s title – has imposed a ban preventing the Babylonians and those they rule from entering Egypt. “He justified his ban as a temporary measure, designed to keep Egypt and its territories safe from the infiltration of enemies.” The High Priest persuades the Commander to waive the ban for the Israelite caravan carrying the boy Yusuf, and the Commander agrees, but after the Priest falls victim to an assassination plot the conspirators order the caravan to turn back.<br />
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Al-Ahdal sketches the disasters that befall Egypt and reshape world history, geography and spirituality in the absence of Yusuf over a series of time slots starting with the year 128 in the Babylonian era when more than 80 per cent of the Egyptian population dies in a famine, that Yusuf would have helped avert, and Babylon takes over the country and erases Egypt from the map by diverting the Nile to flow south into Lake Chad. In the Babylonian year 4000 previously unknown creatures slip through the cracked “space-time cone of four-dimensional existence”, claiming to be the planet’s primordial species returned to recolonise earth as “They Who Have Come to Retrieve the Earth from Mankind.”<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Najwa Binshatwan</span></div>
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In Libyan author Najwa Binshatwan's adventurous story "Return Ticket", translated by Sawad Hussain, a woman tells her grandson about the only time she left her home village of Schrödinger. She was pregnant at the time with her grandson’s father, and travelled to meet her husband who had left the village for work. At every stage of her journey she encountered hostile airport officials. They imposed strict and baffling rules, forcing her to forfeit inter alia her headscarf and underwear. When she arrived at her destination her husband was so enraged by her partially unclad state that he divorced her on the spot. She was stranded in the airport for years, "selling tissues to travellers until I could buy a return ticket to Schrödinger".<br />
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The village’s name alludes to the Nobel Prizewinning quantum physicist Erwin Schrödinger. It is “an open-minded village, where people, animals, plants, diseases and every type of wind pass through with great ease.” And it is a cosmic anomaly: "The name granted the village extraordinary powers; it could move through time and space, changing its orbit spontaneously as if it were the sun rising in one place and setting in another.”<br />
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'the Statue of Liberty and her bird-shit-splattered crown'</h4>
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The only humans to visit Schrödinger were six American tourists, who got stuck there because the walls of their nation rose day by day until it was cut off from the world. Each attempt by an American tourist to scale the towering walls and return home was fatal. The walls were built higher and higher “until all that could be seen was the snuffed-out torch of the Statue of Liberty and her bird-shit-splattered crown.” From time to time the dead tourists speak from their graves in Schrödinger, and the eldest one comments: “It’s good that we died before America’s prison warder came to power.”<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Rania Mamoun</span></div>
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In Sudanese author, journalist and activist Rania Mahmoud’s lyrical story “The Bird of Paradise”, translated by Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp, the protagonist has longed to travel “ever since I realised that the world’s limits are not those of my city, Wad Madani; that the world expands so much further than the reach of my imagination”. She is oppressed by her tyrannical brother, who assaults here for daring even to spend the day in a nearby village. “I dreamed of becoming a bird of paradise, resplendent with colourful feathers, a beautiful head, black eyes and powerful wings.”<br />
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With the support of her girl cousin Ashwaq, who unlike her had been allowed to study at Khartoum University, she plans her escape. “Everything was arranged. I would have a seven-hour stopover then get on another place to another city, where Ashwaq’s friend would be waiting for me.” And yet when the moment comes to board the plane she finds herself nailed to the spot and unable to move forward in the queue. Like the protagonist of Binshatwan’s story she is marooned in an airport, stuck in limbo.<br />
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An earlier story by Mamoun, “Passing”, appeared in Khartoum: A City in Short Fiction. Comma is scheduled to publish her story collection Thirteen Months of Sunrise this year.<br />
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A story by the Iraqi woman writer Anoud, entitled “Kahramana”, was published in <i>Iraq +100</i>. “Storyteller”, her story for <i>Banthology</i>, depicts an Iraqi woman driven to the edge by the serial traumas of Iraq and then of living in the UK as an asylum seeker.<br />
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While eating in an Indian takeaway in East London, Jamela recites her harrowing personal chronology to the staff, starting with her first experience in 1991 of an air raid, and moving on to describing her hunger under economic sanctions in 1996, the 2003 US and UK-led invasion, the torture, rape and killing of a friend, the murder of a cousin, and her own surviving a car bombing. As an asylum seeker in the UK she has drifted into alcoholism, drugs, dodgy sexual encounters and suicide attempts.<br />
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Jamela describes seeing a car wrecked by a bombing in Baghdad that she has seen as an exhibit “mounted on a clean white podium under a blinging spotlight at the Imperial War Museum in London … The slabs of dented metal were so mangled they looked like tens of human guts pressed together and left baking in Iraq’s burning sun until they were bone dry.” (Presumably a dig at the uncomfortable concept of the aestheticization of violence). Jamela erupts into uncontrollable fury when the TV in the takeaway shows Trump’s notorious December 2015 campaign speech: “Donald J Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s’ representatives can figure out what the hell is going on.”<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Zaher Omareen</span> </div>
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The protagonist of Zaher Omareen’s blackly comic “The Beginner’s Guide to Smuggling”, translated by Perween Richards and Basma Ghalayini, is an illegal migrant from Hama, Syria. A former prisoner in his mid-twenties, he is travelling across Europe to his hoped-for destination, Sweden, “where I will press the RESTART button”. Omareen’s story is well-observed and witty, its narrator given to wry asides such as “When in Rome do as the Romans. When in Greece do as the Syrians do.” He had travelled on a boat with other refugees from Turkey to Kos had capsized. He grumbles to himself about the “XL sized family who got overly excited when they saw the land of dreams getting closer. The boat had tipped over with everyone in it.”<br />
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The migrant constantly curses Kalimera, the Kos-based people smuggler from Aleppo, with “ten mobile phones in front of him, all ringing and falling silent in chorus.” Carrying a mobile phone is essential for those making their perilous journeys to Europe. “Oh god of mobile phones, master of the luminous dawn, carrier of fertility to our barren lands, patron saint of the tired and hungry,” the narrator muses.<br />
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Kalimera has provided the narrator with a fake passport of the Hungarian ambassador to Turkey’s husband, throwing in a Greek ID as well for free. The narrator manages to pass himself off as Hungarian during his flight from Greece to Paris, and then masquerades as Greek. From Paris he arranges a lift in a car to Denmark from where he will travel to Sweden. To the narrator’s horror he finds the driver of the car has brought along a giant Doberman: the narrator is terrified of dogs. The Doberman’s barks remind him of interrogations by prison guards.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Fereshteh Molavi </span></div>
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The enigmatic story “Phantom Limb” by Iranian writer Fereshteh Molavi is set among a group of artistically-inclined exiles in Toronto, where Molavi herself lives. The first-person narrator is an Iranian who came to Toronto on a student visa with dreams of becoming a theatre director. He and his three roommates, who are aspiring actors, perform plays at home after dinner. But in the day they have to work at mundane jobs.<br />
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The story focuses on the narrator's observations of the elusive Farhad, an Iranian Kurd whose Persian cat stalks from room to room. The narrator is fascinated by two pictures Farhad has hung on the wall: an old map of Iran "covered with intricate painted patterns, much like a Persian cat's coat" and an old black-and-white photo of a woman on horseback, dressed in Kurdish men's clothes and a turban, and carrying a gun.<br />
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The roommates speculate on whether the photo is of Farhad’s mother or of the girl he had loved years before. The girl would sing to him from the prison cell next to his before she was executed.<br />
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After Farhad learns in a phone call from his father back home that his mother has had to have her right leg amputated he starts to develops pains in his foot and leg and eventually his leg is badly injured in an accident. The story is suggestive of the bonds between those in exile and their homeland and family. Their pain is carried like a phantom limb, and the difficulties in realising one’s dreams in a new environment.<br />
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The roommates work for an exiled Iranian entrepreneur of an older generation who had served in the Iranian Air force under the Shah. While he interviews the narrator for a job he tucks into a gargantuan display of Iranian delicacies lovingly provided by his wife, “As he ate, he spoke endlessly about his journey from lowly immigrant to top-class businessman. His story didn’t interest me. I’d heard it before…”<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Ubah Cristina Ali Farah</span></div>
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Somali writer Ubah Cristina Ali Farah was born in Verona, Italy, to an Italian father and Somali mother. Her exquisite story “Jujube” is translated from Italian by Hope Campbell Gustafson. The dreamlike story becomes increasingly chilling as the reliability of the narrator Ayan, who has lived through horrific violence in Somalia, is called into question.<br />
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Farah starts her story by evoking the traditional way of life in the village, where Ayan's mother is a healer using medicinal plants. The mother tends the hair of her two daughters with extracts from the leaves of the Jujube tree. People flee to the village from the city, which "burns and glows like a brazier, a filthy firework under the full moon", before the village itself is attacked.<br />
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Ayan becomes separated from her mother and sister and we next find her in freezing Italy where she is nanny to an Italian woman’s young daughter. Ayan has filed a request for family reunification with her mother and sister whom she says are in the US. But her narrative is interspersed periodically with brief notes by an interpreter. The interpreter states that Ayan’s account, while making a request for asylum, is full of omissions and incongruences.<br />
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Comma Press should be applauded for commissioning and publishing this powerful collection of original stories, as should Deep Vellum for being Comma’s co-publisher of <i>Banthology </i>in the USA. The stories shine a light on collective experiences through individual stories and might help bring about an understanding that runs counter to the demonisation of a religion and of entire nationalities through a crass, unjust and discriminatory ban.<br />
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<i>Susannah Tarbush, London</i>susannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17317101646265915200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12310260.post-24053921105922956072018-02-08T21:42:00.000+00:002018-02-08T23:48:46.029+00:0050 years on from Waguih Ghali's suicide his taboo-busting diaries make debut in print <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
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<b>The diaries of Egyptian writer Waguih Ghali are published half a century after his suicide </b></div>
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by<o:p></o:p></div>
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Susannah
Tarbush, London<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>[an Arabic translation of this article was published in <a href="http://www.alhayat.com/Articles/27218071/%D8%B9%D9%88%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D9%88%D8%AC%D9%8A%D9%87-%D8%BA%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%8A-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%83%D8%A7%D8%AA%D8%A8-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B5%D8%B1%D9%8A-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%86%D8%AA%D8%AD%D8%B1-%D9%81%D9%8A--%D9%8A%D9%88%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%AA--%D9%81%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9----%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A5%D9%86%D9%83%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%B2%D9%8A%D8%A9">Al-Hayat newspaper</a> on 8 February 2018] </i></div>
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Fifty years
after the suicide of the Egyptian writer Waguih Ghali in London, the first-ever
publication of his diaries is helping to boost the revival of interest in the
writer and his ground-breaking novel <i>Beer in
the Snooker Club.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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The diaries
are published in
two volumes by the American University in Cairo Press under the title <i>The
Diaries of Waguih Ghali: An Egyptian Writer in the Swinging Sixties</i>. They are edited
by Egyptian scholar and writer May Hawas, assistant professor of English and
comparative literature at the American University in Cairo (AUC). <o:p></o:p></div>
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The diaries are
astonishingly frank, chronicling in explicit detail Ghali<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s manic depression, his chaotic love
life and many sexual adventures, his drinking and gambling, his interactions
with a huge number of friends and acquaintances, the pain of exile, memories of
Alexandria where he was born, and his pride in being Egyptian and a Copt. His gifts as a novelist are evident in the way
he writes scenes and character sketches, with a sharp ear for dialogue and
frequent humorous touches. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>The diaries have met with great
success,<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span> Hawas told Al-Hayat. <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>Readers are touchingly empathetic to
Ghali<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s psychological struggles,
curious about his sexual exploits, and drawn to the historical events that he
mentions in passing. We<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>ve
received plaudits from old fans and new fans, novelists and scholars, but also
filmmakers and translators keen to work on the diaries.<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span><o:p></o:p><br />
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May Hawas</div>
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In her
illuminating introduction to the published diaries Hawas says they mark a watershed
“in the genre of the Arab (or Anglo-Arab) memoir in their openness about the
taboos of family conflict, psychological trauma, alcoholic dependency and
sexual dissipation.”<br />
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<span style="text-align: center;">Asked
whether she hesitated over including certain sensitive material in the edited
diaries, Hawas replies: </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; text-align: center;">“</span><b style="text-align: center;"> </b><span style="text-align: center;">I hesitated over every paragraph but
not for particularly moral reasons. We were very lucky with Ghali. He makes it
clear in his diary that he wants it to be published. He writes this repeatedly
and wills it in his suicide note. We</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; text-align: center;">’</span><span style="text-align: center;">re
lucky, too, that he</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; text-align: center;">’</span><span style="text-align: center;">s an unreliable narrator.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; text-align: center;">”</span></div>
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She adds: <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>So I<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>m an
editor, not the inquisition. I didn<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>t
hesitate over what to include as much as I hesitated over what to <i>exclude</i>. It<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s a long text, non-fictional, sometimes repetitive, and at
times, incredibly depressing. Then again, that<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s what
posthumous diaries are like. Changing them would have really meant I was
rewriting the material into another genre. I didn<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>t think
I had the authority for that. That worried me. How he chose to spend his time,
didn<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>t.<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Writing his diary
was important for Ghali and he seems to have used it as a form of therapy. In
his first-ever entry, on 24 May 1964, he wrote: <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>Going mad, as I seem to be going, perhaps it<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>d be better to keep my Diary [<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">…</span>] if only for a streak of sanity.<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span> <o:p></o:p></div>
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The entries
in the first volume of the published diaries were written while Ghali was
living in the town of Rheydt, in West
Germany when he was working in the offices of the British Army of the Rhine. He
had become a political exile in around 1954; before moving to Germany in
1960 he had lived first in Paris as a
medical student in 1953-54 and then in London <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">–</span> where
he attended Chelsea Polytechnic <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">–</span> in
1955-58 - before moving to Sweden.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Ghali<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s debut novel<i> Beer in the Snooker Club</i> had
been published by London publisher Andr<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">é</span>
Deutsch,in 1964, and then in the US by Knopf. It had received generally excellent
reviews in leading publications. But Ghali struggled to write his second novel,
entitled Ashl. While in Germany he wrote
some pieces for the Guardian newspaper, and a play. But writing in his diaries was
his main literary outlet. He often wrote in his diaries about the many books he
read, and his feelings of inferiority in comparison to writers he admired. <o:p></o:p><br />
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One of the
main characters in <i>Beer in the Snooker Club</i> is a Jewish woman named Edna, lover
of the novel<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s narrator Ram. While living
in Germany Ghali was reminded of Jewish suffering in the Holocaust, and
deplored the racism he encountered. <o:p></o:p></div>
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During the
time he lived in London his circle of friends included a number of Jews and
Israelis. The climax of the diaries is the controversial visit he made as a
journalist to Israel and occupied east Jerusalem and West Bank from July to
September 1967, after the June war. He was commissioned to write articles for the
Observer and Times newspapers. He claimed to have been the first Egyptian to visit
Israel for fifteen years or so. In May
1968 an Egyptian official in London declared publicly that Ghali was not an
Egyptian but a defector to Israel, which hurt him deeply.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Ghali<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s diaries show that during
his visit to Israel he met a wide spectrum of people, including Israeli
officials, Israelis of different political hues, and Palestinians. He became
increasingly disillusioned by Israel. He wrote in Jerusalem on 7 August 1967: <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“…</span> I am angry and feel that the
Jordanian and Arab Palestinians are just being pushed about; and the whole
Israeli propaganda stinks with hypocrisy and lies. I prefer to wear an Arab
headdress and walk about in the old town alone, and not have one of the conquerors
with me.<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span> <o:p></o:p></div>
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In the essay <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>An Egyptian in Israel<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span> written for the BBC, and republished
in the 1968 book <i>Good Talk: An Anthology from
BBC Radio,</i> he wrote: <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>As a result of this visit, my
attitude towards Israel changed dramatically. I am still very much in favour of
an understanding between the Arabs and Israel. But whereas my pleas for
understanding were previously directed towards the Arabs, I now feel that
Israel is very much more to blame than the Arabs for the state of belligerency
that exists in the Middle East.<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span> <i><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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After his
visit to Israel Ghali writes in his diaries of getting to know and socialise
with a group of left-wing dissident Israelis in London including Akiva Orr, <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>a most lovable Communist Israeli<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span>. The group included the journalist,
artist and writer Shimon Tzabar, who with help from Ghali and others launched a
satirical magazine called <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>Israel
Imperial News<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span>. In its first issue, which
can be read online, there are articles by Waguih Ghali and the Iraqi writer and
journalist Khalid Kishtainy. <o:p></o:p></div>
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But Ghali<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s wide network of friends and
contacts, and a new love relationship with a medical student, could not save
him from his whirlpool of depression. On 26 December 1968 he swallowed a
massive overdose of sleeping pills intending to kill himself. He was at the
time alone in the London flat of his literary editor, friend, mentor and <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">–</span> briefly - lover Diana Athill. He had been living in her
flat since moving to London from Germany in May 1966. <o:p></o:p></div>
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“I’m going to
kill myself tonight,” Ghali wrote in the final entry in his diary. “The time has come. I am, of course, drunk.
But then sober it would have been very very very difficult.” <o:p></o:p><br />
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We know from the
book Athill wrote about Ghali, <i>After a Funeral,</i> published in 1986, that after
swallowing the sleeping pills Ghali telephoned a friend and was rushed to
hospital by ambulance. Friends were at his bedside as doctors tried to save his
life, but he died on 5 January 1969. He was only in his late thirties (his year
of birth is not known, but according to May Hawas it is thought to be 1929 or
1930). <o:p></o:p></div>
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In the final
diary entry, Ghali made it clear that he wanted his diaries published. He wrote: “Diana
sweetheart… I am leaving you my Diary, luv – well edited, it would be a good
piece of literature.” <o:p></o:p></div>
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Half a century
later, May Hawas certainly has edited the diaries very well. The handwriten<b> </b>diaries were in the form of
six notebooks covering around 700 pages. A photocopy has been digitised for the
Cornell University archive of “Waguih Ghali Unpublished Papers<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span>. The sprawling handwriting gives the impression
of speed spontaneity, and is difficult to read. Hawas deciphered it and typed
it up: she says she kept around 85 percent of the original handwritten diaries<b> i</b>n the published version.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Asked why she was
so keen to see the diaries published, and why she took on the project of
editing them, Hawas says: “Waguih Ghali is something of a cult hero for
Egyptians in their twenties and thirties (or who are in their twenties and
thirties at heart), and an important forefigure for the Anglo-Arab novel. We
felt it was important that we salvage his diaries for the public.<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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She has added valuable
material, in the form of her highly informative introduction and two interviews
conducted by Deborah Starr of Cornell University. The first interview is with
Diana Athill. The second is with Samir Sanad Basta, the son of Ghali’s mother’s
sister Ketty. <o:p></o:p></div>
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How did Ghali’s
family and friends react to the project of publishing his diaries? Hawas says “Samir was wonderfully
supportive, as have been all of Ghali<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s
family and friends whom we talked to and who reached out to us.<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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The 12-page interview with Samir Basta contains many insights into
Ghali’s personal history and his character. Some of Ghali<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s psychological distress may be
attributable to his mother<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s
rejection of him after his physician father died when he was young and she
remarried. It was Samir<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>s
mother Ketty who brought him up. It could be that Ghali was always seeking a maternal
love from other women, only to reject them once they had succumbed to him. <o:p></o:p><br />
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<b><span lang="EN-US">EXCERPTS from </span></b><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span></b><b><span lang="EN-US">The Diaries of Waguih Ghali: An Egyptian Writer in the Swinging Sixties</span></b><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span></b><b><span lang="EN-US"> , volumes 1 (1964-66) and 2 (1966-68)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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Thursday 11<sup>th</sup>
March 1965 <i>[Rheydt, West Germany]</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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I hate the
Germans. There is no getting away from it. Vulgar, loud, greedy. Nothing fine,
delicate or sensitive in them.<i> Enfin.</i> But at the same time, I have never, in my
life, met such kindness and hospitality as I have here. This is, to me, a very
difficult business altogether. I have been given asylum here, helped, fed,
saved, and yet <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">…</span> yet. But it is
ungratefulness to dislike them and hate them. I wish I could just hate the
hateful, and love the lovable <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">…</span> but
one can<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span>t, one has to reach a
conclusion about the whole country [<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">…</span>]. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Wednesday 16<sup>th</sup>
September 1965 <i>[Rheydt]</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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Yesterday
evening, lying in bed, I read some Chekhov again. <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>An Anonymous Story.<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span> I even
handle his books with reverence and love. He is the greatest of all men, is
Chekhov. I have never heard any of his contemporaries say anything bad about
him. But what is most remarkable is that Chekhov makes life worth living <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">…</span> I dote on him so much that if I say <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>Why was I ever born?<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span> I could answer, but to read Chekov <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">…</span> <o:p></o:p></div>
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I wrote a
bit for my <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">‘</span>novel<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span> yesterday, but after reading Chekhov, I knew what
horrible trash it is <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">…</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Saturday 16th October 1965 <i>[Rheydt]</i><br />
Woke up at 4 a.m. <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">–</span>
feeling suicidal, smoked two cigarettes, tried to sleep again <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">–</span>
nothing but nightmares and tossing [<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">…</span>] I am feeling absolutely empty and
dead inside. I shall never be a happy man-<o:p></o:p></div>
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Tuesday, 6<sup>th</sup>
June 1967 <i>[London]<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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Tragedies <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">–</span> catastrophes. Native, international
and personal. There has been war between the Arabs and Israel for forty-eight
hours. The Egyptian army, which has been built at unbearable expense for ten
years, has been wiped out in twenty-four hours of fighting. It is really
pathetic. To save his face, Nasser says there was Anglo-American support of
Israel. This is not true. He has led us and all the Arabs into a moral and
physical disaster <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">–</span> .<o:p></o:p></div>
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31<sup>st</sup>
January 1968 <i>[London]<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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For two
weeks at the beginning of the month, I had been having a simultaneous active
affair with Carmen, Susan and Ruth. Carmen would come here at lunchtime, then I
would make love to Susan in the evening. Ruth would invite me for supper and
next morning I would wake up straight for a date with Carmen. One by one they
expressed terms of love, and each one in turn I gently, unabusively,
unconsciously as far as they are concerned, I have discarded. <o:p></o:p></div>
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26<sup>th</sup>
May 1968 <i>[London]<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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Akiva Orr,
Bill Hillier and myself were to give a talk about Israel and Palestine at the
LSE or rather the School for Oriental and Islamic Culture. The hall was packed <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">–</span> with Israelis, some Arabs and the
rest English. Just as they closed the door and the chairman rose to introduce
us, a chap from the back rose and said: <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span>Excuse
me please. Before you start I would like to mention one important thing: on
your posters you advertise Waguih Ghali as an Egyptian. I am a representative
of the Egyptian government. Mr Ghali is not Egyptian. He has defected to
Israel.<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">”</span> <o:p></o:p></div>
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I was
completely and utterly furious <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">–</span> and
yet the next few minutes were the only ones in which I was eloquent. I wiped
the floor with the chap<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">…</span> I was
loudly applauded and the chap left. But afterwards <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">…</span> while Aki spoke (he was giving the main talk) I sat in my
chair <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">…</span> drowned in an
incomprehensible sorrow. It suddenly, after all those years, dawned <s>up </s>on me that not only had I had no <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">‘</span>home<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span> since
the ages of ten or so, but that I now also had no country. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Extracts published by kind permission of The American University in Cairo Press.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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susannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17317101646265915200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12310260.post-14475882595862581592018-02-08T18:58:00.002+00:002018-02-08T19:02:41.843+00:00interview with May Hawas editor of The Diaries of Waguih Ghali: An Egyptian Writer in the Swinging Sixties<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>May Hawas</i></div>
<br />
Susannah Tarbush interviews Egyptian scholar and writer May Hawas, editor of <i>The Diaries of Waguih Ghali: An Egyptian Writer in the Swinging Sixties</i> published by American University in Cairo (AUC) Press in two volumes, covering 1964-66 (published in 2016) and 1966-68 (2017).<br />
<br />
<b>What made you so keen to see Waguih Ghali’s diaries published, and to take on the project of transcribing and editing them?</b><br />
Waguih Ghali is something of a cult hero for Egyptians in their twenties and thirties (or who are in their twenties and thirties at heart), and an important forefigure for the Anglo-Arab novel. We felt it was important that we salvage his diaries for the public. I’ve described elsewhere how – tentatively – the diaries made it into print: (see <a href="http://www.aucpress.com/t-eNewsletter-MeetTheAuthor-October2017.aspx?template=template_enewsletter&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=october2017">The AUC Press Newsletter</a> )<br />
<br />
<b>The handwriting in the diaries lodged in the Waguih Ghali archive at Cornell University is hard to decipher (at least I find it so!) Did you do all the transcription yourself, or was there a team of some kind, and roughly what proportion of the original handwritten diaries appear in the final published version?</b><br />
I did the transcription myself, about 85 percent of which is now in the published version. How, practically? With a photocopy of the material, a computer, and more periods of sitting down than I would like to remember.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>The Diaries of Waguih Ghali: An Egyptian Writer in the Swinging Sixties 1964-66</i></div>
<b><br /></b>
<b>In the West there is a growing appetite for knowing the intimate details of a writer’s life, in terms of diaries, memoirs, letters and so on. Is this also the case in Egypt and other Arab countries?</b><br />
Is it a growing appetite? Everywhere, any time there are famous writers, there will be fans, editors, scholars, translators, and flies on the wall.<br />
<br />
<b>The diaries are remarkably frank, particularly when it comes to Ghali’s sex life. Did you sometimes hesitate over including certain passages, or names, in the published version?</b><br />
I hesitated over every paragraph but not for particularly moral reasons. We were very lucky with Ghali. He makes it clear in his diary that he wants it to be published. He writes this repeatedly and wills it in his suicide note. We’re lucky, too, that he’s an unreliable narrator. Much of what he says, if we’re fussed about historical veracity, can be taken with a pinch of salt. I explain this in my introduction to the <i>Diaries.</i><br />
<h4>
'I'm an editor, not the inquisition'</h4>
So I’m an editor, not the inquisition. I didn’t hesitate over what to include as much as I hesitated over what to <i>exclude</i>. It’s a long text, non-fictional, sometimes repetitive, and at times, incredibly depressing. Then again, that’s what posthumous diaries are like. Changing them would have really meant I was rewriting the material into another genre. I didn’t think I had the authority for that. That worried me. How he chose to spend his time, didn’t.<br />
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<b>How have readers and critics reacted to the published diaries, and what did they find most surprising in them?</b><br />
The <i>Diaries</i> have met with great success. Readers are touchingly empathetic to Ghali’s psychological struggles, curious about his sexual exploits, and drawn to the historical events that he mentions in passing. We’ve received plaudits from old fans and new fans, novelists and scholars, but also filmmakers and translators keen to work on the <i>Diaries.</i><br />
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<b>Have launch and other events for the diaries been held/planned?</b><br />
We’ve had two events so far: one held at Oriental Hall, in the American University in Cairo in September 2017, through the kind invitation of the Centre for Translation Studies, and we were graciously invited to hold another event at the Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo in October 2017. And, not to put too fine a point on it, we are open to other invitations.<br />
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<b>Are there plans for a translation of the diaries into Arabic? And perhaps German (especially the first volume) and other languages.</b><br />
Let me leave the cat firmly in the bag on that one.<br />
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<b>How far does the Waguih of <i>The Diaries</i> resemble the Ram of <i>Beer in the Snooker Club?</i></b><br />
Tricky question. How far does any author resemble his or her creation?<br />
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<b>I find that among young Arab writers in Britain, there is quite an interest in Waguih Ghali – as if a new generation is discovering him. Do you find the same in Egypt, and maybe elsewhere, and does his single published novel <i>Beer in the Snooker Club</i> have a renewed relevance today?</b><br />
<i>Beer in the Snooker Club</i> was previously famous primarily in departments of English and in small circles of Anglophone readers in Egypt. The novel’s reprint in the 1980s gave it new life alongside the growing interest in world literature in English, particularly from the Middle East. You are right of course about the interest by Arab writers connected to Britain. If Ahdaf Soueif was one of the earliest and most famous to champion the novel in the 1980s <a href="https://www.lrb.co.uk/v08/n12/ahdaf-soueif/goat-face">in the London Review of Books</a>, Saleem Haddad was one of the first to review the Diaries last year (see <a href="http://www.full-stop.net/2017/04/25/reviews/saleem-haddad/the-diaries-of-waguih-ghali-an-egyptian-writer-in-the-swinging-sixties-volume-1-1964-66/">review of Volume 1 in full-stop.net</a> ).<br />
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In Egypt, in the 1990s, the novel found resonance with a younger generation of English-speaking Egyptians restless with the political status quo and more open to the lifestyle portrayed in the novel. Its translation into Arabic in the early 2000s gave it a whole new dimension of fame.
There is much that resonates for Egyptians, but mostly – I think! – is its mixture of the political and non-political. Then, there’s the popularity of Ram himself. A charmer, a boozer, and a ladies’ man who reads and is viciously critical of the world, who walks the familiar streets of Cairo and narrates the familiar private homes of Egyptians.<br />
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<b>'the personification of cool'</b><br />
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There’s also something particularly youthful about it. It’s a young person’s novel, mixing risible superficiality with deep moral outrage. Much has been made about how Ram belongs to nowhere – actually, Ram seems to be one of those rare people who has created for himself a system of values in which he is supremely comfortable. It’s everyone outside the system – the mainstream, the government, the public – that doesn’t belong. So in his self-sufficiency and romantic alienation, Ram is the personification of cool.<br />
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<i>The Diaries of Waguih Ghali: An Egyptian Writer in the Swinging Sixties 1966-68</i></div>
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<b>As a Londoner, for me one of the pleasures of reading the diaries has been the connections it has with events, places, people in Britain. Have you received feedback in the diaries from anyone in the UK?</b><br />
I share your pleasure in this. <i>The Diaries</i>, much like the novel, are a love story to London. Ghali calls it the place in which he feels most at home. This is the reason for the ‘swinging sixties’ in the title: except it’s an impoverished-upper-crust-Egyptian look at the swinging sixties.<br />
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I’ve heard from people around the world, actually, from the US, France, Germany, Israel/Palestine, Mexico, but also from the UK, especially from children of Ghali’s friends curious to see how their parents figure in the<i> Diaries</i>. Of course, knowing Ghali’s writing, the characterisation usually includes sex, alcohol, politics, books, some slagging off, and a lot of exaggeration.<br />
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<b>Do you think the diaries would be of interest to psychologists, analysts and therapists – especially those with an interest in the relationship between creativity and mental distress?</b><br />
Absolutely. The<i> Diaries</i> give an incredibly honest description of the feelings of both depression and euphoria, as well as of alcoholism, and the effects of all this on creativity. Some of the reader reviews have picked up on it already.<br />
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<b>How did Waguih Ghali’s family and friends react to the publication of the diaries? The interview with his cousin Samir Basta in the second volume is a most valuable addition.</b><br />
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Thank you, yes, Samir was wonderfully supportive, as have been all of Ghali’s family and friends whom we talked to and who reached out to us.<br />
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<b>The Waguih Ghali papers in Cornell University Library include two fragments of Ghali’s unfinished second novel Ashl and 51 letters, mostly from Ghali to his literary editor Diana Athill. Are there plans to transcribe and publish these?</b><br />
You know, I sometimes think the definition of Tragedy should be “an unfinished novel”. One of the greatest storytellers of all time, Charles Dickens, has an unfinished novel. Who reads it? So I’ll take a leaf out of that example and stay away from the Ashl novel for now, and the same goes for his letters to Diana. If in the future a publisher thinks it would be a good idea to issue a complete volume of Waguih Ghali’s non-fictional writing, including his diaries, letters, articles and the Ashl novel, then I may be the first in line to take up transcribing again.<br />
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<i>May Hawas is Assistant Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the American University in Cairo (AUC). She received her PhD in Literature from Leuven University. In addition to editing </i>The Diaries of Waguih Ghali: An Egyptian Writer in the Swinging Sixtie<i>s, May has published a number of articles, book chapters, and short stories. Her work has appeared in the Canadian Review of Comparative Literature, the Journal of World Literature, and Comparative Literature Studies, while her stories have been published in Mizna: Journal of Arab American Art; Yellow Medicine Review, and African Writing. She is editor of The Routledge Companion to World Literature and World History, due to be published in April.
</i>susannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17317101646265915200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12310260.post-17353016248421877632017-07-18T10:28:00.001+01:002017-07-18T11:44:02.201+01:00Arab authors at Suhbbak Festival probe Writing Against the Grain <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>L to R: Robin Yassin-Kassab; Mona Kareem; Ali Bader, Ghazi Gheblawi</i></div>
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'Writing Against the Grain' was the title of the opening session of the Shubbak Festival weekend min-festival at The British Library. The weekend - <a href="https://www.bl.uk/britishlibrary/~/media/bl/global/whats%20on/events/2017/july/8856_shubbak%20leaflet%202017.pdf">'Two days of inspirational Arab literature'</a> - was organised with Daniel Löwe, who is in charge of the British Library's Arabic collections, and the translator Alice Guthrie, literary programmer for Shubbak. Guthrie said it had taken nearly a year to put the weekend programme together "with the wonderful help of Daniel Lowe and the British Library team."
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'Writing Against the Grain' was a great start to the two days. Chaired by Syrian-British writer and activist Robin Yassin-Kassab the panel comprised Kuwaiti-born poet, writer, blogger and activist Mona Kareem Iraqi novelist and poet Ali Bader علي بدر and Libyan writer, blogger, activist and medical doctor Ghazi Gheblawi.<br />
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Ali Bader read in Arabic and then in English translation from his new novel <i>Liars Get Everything</i>. The excerpt's entertaining slant on a serious subject features an asylum seeker and smuggler, under constant threat of deportation, who fabricates sayings from Marx, keeping himself in disguise through using fake documents and false identities He goes under the name Amin although his real name is George - known to his friends as the Teacher. When he wants to assert the truth of anything, he says "Marx said that, I swear on my sister's honour Marx said it." (excerpt from the novel in English translation by Farah Sharaf <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ali.j.bader/posts/1794418827251977">here</a> ).
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Robin said he has so far read only one of Ali's 21 books, the novel <a href="http://www.aucpress.com/p-3598-papa-sartre.aspx"><i>Papa Sartre</i></a> (AUC Press 2009, translated into English by Aida Bamia). "I strongly recommend it - I hadn't laughed out loud like that for a long time. It's a brilliant satire of one kind of false intellectual, somebody who goes from Iraq to Paris and sees Jean- Paul Sartre in the distance and then returns home and becomes Baghdad's chief existentialist. And he pursues Nausea by drinking a lot. It's a brilliant, very funny but also quite serious, novel."<br />
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Asked by Robin about the use of irony in his 21 books, Ali described how he uses it "as a political instrument in order to destroy the authorities," who - as in the case of Saddam Hussein - take themselves seriously. He added "I believe in culture, and I believe that we can change society by irony." Irony can also "violate the sacred things" such as religion and authority. From another angle, in his novels he constantly explores "the difficult relationship between the Arab world and the West."<br />
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Mona Kareem read in Arabic and English her witty and thoughtful poem "My body is my vehicle'. Robin asked her about a line in another of her poems, "I want to walk in a demonstration against myself." She said it is from her poem "I'm not myself". She had "noticed that I was always asked to define myself in a certain way and I would always answer in negation - I'm not this and I'm not that and not this and not that - and then I arrive at this conclusion of, well I should just like demonstrate against myself. I guess like the characters in Ali's novels, I recreate myself, I fabricate myself, because I find much liberation in this." She thinks one could see "the phantom" of the line "I want to walk in a demonstration against myself" all over the poetry collection it came from. "I'm always haunted by my body and that's why my next collection is about this, how can I explore my body, as a woman - but not necessarily in a sexualised way, the only way in which our bodies are dealt with - and on another level the immobility of this body, that no matter how light you are, you feel heavy."<br />
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Robin said this reminded him "of what Ali said in our conversation just outside, that he thinks the political focus of campaigning in the Arab world at the moment should just be on protection of the body - stop torture and stop execution. And if we can get the idea of the sacredness of the body, protecting the human body, everything else will come from that, and what you've just said fits back to that.
Robin also discussed with Mona her poem "Kumari", her response to killings by maids in the Gulf of members of the families employing them, which had unleashed much racist discourse against Ethiopians and other nationalities. "There's much more work to do to debunk a whole culture that allows for this master versus servant relation to exist," Mona said. Her poem begins:<br />
<br />
Dear Kumari,<br />
I, of course, do not know if Kumari was really your name<br />
It became a custom in the Gulf to change the name of the servant upon arrival,<br />
The mama says to you, “Your name is Maryam/Fatima/Kumari/Chandra,”<br />
Even before she gives you your cotton apron,<br />
The same apron that the previous Kumari used...<br />
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Ghazi Gheblawi had replaced at short notice the Libyan playwright and novelist Mansour Bushnaf who had been unable to travel from Libya "because of some visa confusion". Gheblawi paid tribute to Bushnaf, telling the audience of his life -including years in prison from the 1970s with other Libyan writers held as political prisoners on trumped up charges - and of his work, and in particular the novel <i>Chewing Gum</i> ( Chewing Gum - Mansour Bushnaf ). The novel was published in Mona Zaki 's English translation by Darf Publishers in 2014. Gheblawi worked closely with Bushnaf on the English edition.<br />
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Bushnaf wrote many plays for the theatre, before and after his imprisonment. <i>Chewing Gum</i> was published in Arabic in Cairo but was confiscated inside Libya. "We got a copy and with the help of Ghassan M Fergiani who's the publisher of Darf Publishers we translated it into English.It's an interesting novel that talks about a guy who stands for 10 years as a statue waiting for his lover to come by and find him. There are lots of metaphors and anecdotes in it and it talks about the history and background of the country. It is very satirical, and very journalistic."<br />
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Robin Yassin-Kassab said he had recently read <i>Chewing Gum</i>: a remarkable book that he had much enjoyed, "funny and yet serious, and with really striking images."<br />
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Regarding Gheblawi's own writing, he read in Arabic, and the Iraqi-Ukrainian actress Dina Mousawi, read in English translation, an extract from his short story "A Rosy Dream". Robin also referred to Ghazi's short story "The Cave" and its similarity to<i> Chewing Gum </i>in that "you have this prose which is 'all that' - there are elements of post-modernism, and it's self-referential and it's inter-textual and so on, but it's more kind of meaningful and serious than a lot of post-modern experiments in the West." He asked "where does this come from? Because it looks like something that's got a huge tradition behind it."<br />
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Ghazi said: "It could be that there's a tradition behind it. I think that the short story specifically in Libya, short fiction, has a long tradition and a lot of writers, whether they were journalists or intellectuals in general, or even poets, dabbled a little in short fiction. There are according to my estimate about 150 short story writers in Libya who have published short story fiction, whether in one collection or several collections.<br />
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"The novelists that came later - there were two or three of them that worked on novels in the beginning, now there are more - the new generation who are tackling lots of problems in the country after 2011, and even before, are more or less abandoning the tradition of starting as poets and moving on to short fiction and then maybe moving on to becoming novelists and working in journalism at the same time. They go straight to writing short fiction but it has more attachment to reality and more attachment to the problems that are going on in society."<br />
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He said that Mansour Bushnaf once wrote a critique of what short fiction in Libya is, calling it "the prose of the city", in the sense that "because Libya was a rural society before independence in 1951 and then later on before the emergence of oil wealth in the 1960s 80 percent of people were living in small villages and towns. That was why fiction wasn't available at the time but then that social movement of migration to the city produced what he called ''the prose of the city'. So fiction is a product of urbanisation, and that's why you have that coming in the 1960s, 70s and so on."<br />
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With reference to the title of the session, Ghazi said that in Libya the act of writing itself is "against the grain". He has recently been involved in producing an anthology of 25 young Libyan writers. "They all wrote these amazing poems, and prose and short fiction after 2011, and all of them are young up-and- coming writers. Most of what is written is something that not only goes against the political atmosphere but also the whole narrative of a society.<br />
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"There are a lot of myths that are built in a society... When the writers confront these myths - through an absurdist novel like Bushnaf's <i>Chewing Gum</i>, or in other ways - actually they're writing a new narrative, they're trying to regain control of the narrative that has been taken from the writers or from the society itself. So in itself writing - in this moment of history - is writing against the grain."<br />
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<i>report from London by Susannah Tarbush</i>susannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17317101646265915200noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12310260.post-23295778454614959982017-07-12T12:37:00.000+01:002017-07-13T07:12:10.555+01:00Two books by dissident Israeli academic Ilan Pappe mark 50th anniversary of 1967 war <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span class="title-kicker"><b>Ilan Pappe′s latest publications </b></span></div>
<h2 class="title">
Israel′s mega-prison</h2>
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<b>The dissident Israeli historian and activist Ilan Pappe is known for his challenging and meticulously researched books on the Israeli-Palestine conflict. His two latest books are in keeping with this reputation. By <i>Susannah Tarbush </i></b></div>
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<i>Ten Myths About Israel </i>(Verso) is a paperback intended to be accessible to the general reader. The hefty hardback <i>The Biggest Prison on Earth: A History of the Occupied Territories</i> (Oneworld Publications) drills into the 50-year Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. It is rich in recently declassified material from the Israel State Archives.<br />
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The publication of the books coincides with two key anniversaries this year: the centenary of the Balfour Declaration and the fiftieth anniversary of the June 1967 six-day Arab-Israeli war.
At the launch of Ten Myths About Israel at the Mosaic Rooms in London, Pappe said the idea of the book had come to him during a visit to Australia. At the National Press Club in Canberra he had discussed Israel and Palestine with politicians, diplomats and journalists. ″I was surprised how they repeated one Israeli myth after another.″<br />
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<b>Distortions with global resonance</b><br />
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He has had similar experiences at the Houses of Parliament in London and with U.S. politicians. ″Basic historical facts about the reality of Israel and Palestine are not known to people who impact and affect the lives of those who live in Israel and Palestine,″ he said.<br />
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″This might have been forgiven 20 or 30 years ago when there was very little new research on Israel and Palestine, but in the last 25 years so much new stuff has been written about Israel and Palestine, a lot of it by critical Israeli scholars.″
He thinks the distorted historical picture ″may help explain our difficulty in changing European, American and Western policy towards the question of Israel and Palestine.″......<br />
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<i>article continues at</i> <a href="https://en.qantara.de/content/ilan-pappes-latest-publications-israels-mega-prison">Qantara.de</a><br />
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<br />susannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17317101646265915200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12310260.post-18974068932315704002017-07-07T17:46:00.001+01:002017-07-11T13:43:12.494+01:00'Brexodus! The Musical' opens at The Other Palace <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>Donald Trump (James Sanderson) waltzes with Theresa May (Airlie Scott) </i></div>
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<i>James Sanderson as Boris Johnson </i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "youtube noto" , "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Brexiteers vs Remainers in the final song: Heseltine (Paul Croft) and Mandelson (Scott Jones): "It's time, it's time, it's time, to stop exchanging oaths,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "YouTube Noto", Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "youtube noto" , "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">And say the empress has no clothes, the empress has no clothes."</span></i></div>
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<a href="http://brexitthemusical.eu/"><i>Brexodus! The Musical</i></a>, which opens at <a href="https://www.theotherpalace.co.uk/whats-on/brexodus-the-musical">The Other Palace</a> in Westminster on 11 July, is a highly amusing and thought-provoking satire on Brexit in song, dialogue and dance. The five-evening run at comes on the heels of the musical’s successful run to packed-out audiences at the Canal Café Theatre in Little Venice on 27-30 June.</div>
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The show has a richly talented cast of five versatile actors - James Sanderson, Airlie Scott, Paul Croft, Mike Duran and Scott Jones - playing some 46 roles. It is an updated, expanded and renamed version of <i>Brexit! The Musical</i>, which debuted at the Canal Café Theatre in November 2016 and was performed at the Waterloo East Theatre in January and at OSO Arts Centre in Barnes in February. On 1 February, there was a performance by special invitation in the Press Gallery of the Houses of Parliament.<br />
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Much has happened on the Brexit front since <i>Brexit! The Musical</i> was staged. Writer David Shirreff and composer Russell Sarre have added half an hour of fresh material and many new characters to the original hour-long musical, to create <i>Brexodus! The Musical</i>. The show's musical director Frederick Appleby (deputised by John West) plays the songs and incidental music on an on-stage piano. The production is directed by Lucy Appleby (no relation).<br />
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<i>Brexit! The Musical </i>had several changes of cast in its various stagings, and the cast of <i>Brexodus! The Musical </i>is largely new, though James Sanderson is a constant. Dressed in a blond wig and bicycle helmet, he reprises the role of Boris Johnson which he made hilariously his own.He also plays the new role of Donald Trump, along with Lords Pannick and Newby, First Eurocrat and civil servant Philpot.<br />
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Actor Paul Croft, a great comic presence, plays no fewer than 13 roles - from a tipsy Jean-Claude Juncker to Nigel Farage, Jeremy Corbyn, Liam Fox, President Erdogan and, clad as Tarzan, Lord Heseltine. Airlie Scott in silvery wig is a glamorous Theresa May waltzing with Trump; her other roles include Michael Gove's ambitious wife Sarah Vine, Jeremy Corbyn's wife Laura, Angela Merkel and Karen, a rare Remainer from Sunderland. <br />
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Scott Jones plays inter alia a creepy Michael Gove and Lord Mandelson. A rap between Jones' Putin and Sanderson's Boris Johnson is a highlight of the show. Mike Duran is a journalist (who interviewed many ministers) as well as an actor. As the then Prime Minister David Cameron, his song "I took the train to Brussels" opens the musical. His other roles include Andrea Leadsom, Iain Duncan Smith, Tony Blair, David Davis and Lord Tebbit, Shirref even manages to squeeze on stage Theresa May's powerful ex-political advisers, the "terrible twins" Nick Timothy (Duran) and Fiona Hill (a bewigged Jones)<br />
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<i>Brexodus! The Musical</i> is the fourth musical on political and financial crises to be written by financial journalist Shirreff in collaboration with composer Sarre. The series began with <i>Broke Britannia </i>in 2009, followed by <i>EuroCrash! </i>(2011) and <i>Barack and the Beanstalk </i>(2013).<br />
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Shirreff says of the revamped show: “We’re chasing a moving target. Every passing week the goal of Brexit seems to get further away. Exodus took 40 years. How long do we think Brexodus will take? Yet we've managed to compress this huge subject into a mere 90 minutes of wicked words and great songs. Among the fresh highlights are Theresa’s waltz with Donald Trump, Blair’s not-so-secret anti-Brexit plan, Corbyn as rock star, dodgy batsmanship from Boris, and the conspiracies of Tarzan and the Prince of Darkness.”<br />
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Shirreff has reported on finance since the early 1980s, and was with <i>The Economist</i> in London, Frankfurt and Berlin from 2001 to 2014. He is the author of several books including <i>Dealing with Financial Risk</i> (Profile Books, 2004) and <i>Don’t Start from Here: We Need a Banking Revolution </i>(Crunch Books, 2014), and <i>Break Up the Banks! : A Practical Guide to Stopping the Next Global Financial Meltdown </i>(Melville House Publishing, 2016).<br />
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<b>Interview with David Shirreff </b><br />
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<i>David Shirreff </i></div>
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<b>Where did you find such a fine ensembles of actors? </b><br />
There is a huge pool of young professional actors/singers who are keen to keep in front of their public, even if the pay is minimal. Most of them have other jobs – run bars, sing jazz, do stand-up. I’m lucky that if they love the play they’ll take the risk that they won’t make much money.<br />
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<b>Please say a bit about the writing process by you, composer Russell Sarre and musical director and pianist Frederick Appleby: how did you first meet? Does your work have any particular influences? </b><br />
I write a draft of the whole libretto before I involve the composer. The writing process can be quite fast, if I’m suitably inspired. And it can happen in strange places. I’ve written chunks of my musicals on holiday in Italy, Greece, Austria, Germany in between bouts of physical immersion in things like skiing, sailing, swimming etc. That seems to keep the brain fresh.<br />
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The influences are everything that has made me laugh since I was a child: the Goons, Flanders and Swann, Gilbert and Sullivan, Tom Lehrer, Monty Python, Richard Stilgoe (a less famous but very clever song-writer). I would say Gilbert and Sullivan are the strongest because their characters, however ridiculous, take themselves extremely seriously. I try to follow that model.<br />
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I met Russell Sarre in Germany – he was a mate, Goon-show addict, and fellow card-player long before I came to write my first musical in 2009. As I was desperately thinking of someone who could write tunes to my songs I remembered, wasn’t Russell supposed to be a composer? His sense of humour is probably more acute than mine. Frederick Appleby goes to the same church in Barnes, where he occasionally plays the piano. He joined the show as our musical director, then wrote two wonderful songs for it when Russell was overloaded.<br />
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<i>after the show: David Shirreff (L) with James Sanderson, who plays inter alia Boris Johnson, Donald Trump, Lord Pannick and a Eurocrat</i><br />
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<b>What are the main differences between ‘Brexit! The Musical’ and ‘Brexodus! The Musical?’</b><br />
Just as Brexit has morphed into an all-consuming saga, more like an Exodus than an exit, so too has the show. Part 1 is more or less the same as in the original, starting in February 2016 and ending with Theresa May’s first attempt to trigger Article 50 without consulting Parliament.<br />
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Part 2 starts in the High Court and follows the chaotic course of May’s premiership so far: her visit to Trump, her battles with Brussels and the House of Lords, and the ill-fated election. Meanwhile Boris charges around like a loose cannon; the anti-Brexit conspirators (Blair, Heseltine, Mandelson) gather; and Jeremy Corbyn achieves rock-star status.
Just as the Brexit process has become more serious, and looks deeply damaging to the country, so the show is darker, the comedy perhaps not so much of a romp, more ringing alarm bells, in I hope still an amusing way.<br />
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<b>Are future runs planned?</b><br />
We have a week planned in October (2nd to 7th) at the OSO Arts Centre in Barnes. We would love to do more shows around the UK and perhaps in Brussels, Berlin and even Paris. But this needs private money, or state subsidy, and I’m running out of funds.<br />
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<b>Will other recincarnations of the show come along as things develop Brexit-wise? </b><br />
There might be room for a part 3 if something dramatic happens – if Boris or Jeremy Corbyn become PM, if there’s a Breversal and Brexit never happens.<br />
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<b>What are your views and feelings about Brexit one year on from the referendum?
Have they changed since the first staging of the show in its original form?</b><br />
As I said, Brexit might once have been a bit of a joke, but it certainly isn’t now. Just arguing about the process seems to be tearing our country apart. Surely there are far more important things to be concerned about than going through with such unnecessary self-harm. I blame the so-called Remainers almost as much as I blame the Brexiteers, because if they stood together they could stop this nonsense in its tracks. There’s no cohesion in the Remain camp.<br />
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Paul Croft as Jeremy Corbyn, Airlie Scott as Laura Corbyn </div>
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<b>How did the performance in the House of Commons Press Gallery go?</b><br />
It was a tremendous experience, playing in such a place on the day of the vote on triggering Article 50 (1 February). The MPs, of both persuasions, who turned up, seemed to love the show. We were royally hosted by the Press Corps. I think a good time was had by all. Did we exert any influence on those political minds? I don’t think so, but they had a laugh.<br />
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<b>What audience reactions did you have to the Canal Café Theatre run? The night I was there the responses were very positive.</b><br />
Interestingly, I think the audiences were less inclined to belly-laugh than they were in the runs in November and January. We, the cast and I, think that is because the nature of Brexit has changed. We’re no longer so gleeful about the mess our political leaders have created. As the final song says:<br />
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It’s time, it’s time, it’s time,<br />
To call a spade a spade,<br />
And end this wild escapade,<br />
This wild escapade.<br />
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It’s time, it’s time, it’s time,<br />
To stop exchanging oaths<br />
And say the empress has no clothes,<br />
The empress has no clothes.<br />
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I think most audiences have liked the show, but one or two people have commented that the subject-matter is now a bit serious for sheer comedy. We’re trying to play it less for laughs, more as a tragi-comedy. It will also benefit from an interval at The Other Palace. 90 minutes in one go was a bit long, for both audience and cast, I feel.<br />
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<b>In addition to their being thoroughly entertained, do you hope that audiences take away some kind of“message” or deeper understanding of Brexit and the characters involved? </b><br />
I hope so. Although I love see that we’re entertaining people, I would hate to think that there is no more to the show than just laughs. I’ve written my musicals not just to have fun but to vent my frustration with the mess that our political/economic leadership have created. Serious journalism didn’t do that for me. I’m not cut out to work political change in any other way apart from writing. And comedy is a good mirror, I think.<br />
<i>interview conducted by Susannah Tarbush in London </i><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "youtube noto" , "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><i>The Lords' risk abolition: "But we'll never crumble, though governments tumble" </i></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "youtube noto" , "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><i>Fierce debate in the House of Lords over triggering Article 5</i>0</span>susannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17317101646265915200noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12310260.post-11206314797774427302017-04-27T21:00:00.002+01:002017-07-12T12:37:40.620+01:00"Weapons of Mass Hilarity - Part II" brings together comedians of MENA origin <b>WEAPONS OF MASS HILARITY- PART II ... The Road Map to comedy...</b><br />
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Hosted by <b>LSESU Middle East Society:</b> Students at LSE dedicated to raising awareness about human rights issues in the Middle East and North Africa.<br />
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<b>Sat 29 April 19:30–21:30 </b>(doors open at 19.30 show starts at 20.00)<br />
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<b>Venue: </b><br />
Upstairs at <b>The Savoy Tup,</b><br />
<b>2 Savoy St, WC2R 0BA</b><br />
nearest tube station; <b>Covent Garden </b><br />
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<b>Tickets: £5 </b>available online <a b="" href="https://fixr-app.com/event/13508">HERE</a>
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After a sell out premiere show held on 18 March, join us for the sequel comedy night of all comedy nights where comedians of Jewish, North African, Muslim, Christian, Arab, Non-Arab heritage from the Middle East unite to raise money for the <a href="https://www.amarfoundation.org/"><b>AMAR International Charitable Foundation</b></a> <br />
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Hosting the night <b>David Lewis</b> will be returning... as delightful as ever describing himself as the "Super Jew" and head honcho of the comedy institution that is Big Nose Comedy inc.<br />
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<b>The line up includes.</b><br />
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<b>Victoria Howden</b><br />
Back for a sequel, Victoria is a musical comedian with a dream of turning her life into a musical, she finds a tune for every occasion... get yourselves ready for an absolute treat!<br />
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<b>Laila Alj</b><br />
Laila is a Moroccan stand up with a very different insight into being North African in a Western climate<br />
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<b>Ben Cohen</b><br />
Prepare to be dazzled by this comedy GIANT...<br />
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<b>Jenan Younis</b><br />
London based comedian of Iraqi and Palestinian origin, be prepared to be terror-risingly amused...
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<b>Fatiha El-Ghorri</b><br />
Fatiha is constantly getting lost on her way to the mosque and ending up in various comedy clubs instead! This gal smashed the Muslim stereotype!<br />
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<b>Aaron Simmonds</b><br />
Aaron has been trying to stand up for 27. years. Luckily he can do comedy even if he can't do the standing up...<br />
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<b>Janine Harouni </b><br />
Janine is a Lebanese-American stand up and sketch comedian, winner of the Leicester Square Theatre's Sketch Off 2017; we've got star quality from across the pond...<br />
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<b>Yazz Fetto</b><br />
Yazz is a comedy writer and performer; he has written for BBC Radio 4s "Dead Ringers" and is one half of Christian comedy duo The Monks<br />
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below: group photo from <b>WEAPONS OF MASS HILARITY - PART I </b><br />
left to right; <b>Mo Saffaf, Nicole Harris, David Lewis, Jenan Younis, Fatiha El-Ghorri, Victoria Howden</b><br />
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<br />susannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17317101646265915200noreply@blogger.com4