Moroccan author Karima Ahdad was the winner of this year’s Arabic Flash Fiction contest run by ArabLit and Komet Kashakeel, which saw more than 900 entries from around the world. We read her award-winning story in Katherine Van de Vate’s discussion and discuss patriarchy, story creation, and what it means to write “feminist” work.Show Notes:Karima was also shortlisted for an earlier edition of the ArabLit Story Prize. You can read her shortlisted story, “The Baffling Case of the Man Called Ahmet Yilmaz,” in Katherine Van de Vate’s translation.Katherine also translated an excerpt of Karima’s The Cactus Girls for The Markaz Review.You can read a conversation between Karima and Katherine about Cactus Girls on arablit.You can find more about all Karima’s books at her website, karimaahdad.com.On the topic of the “political” novel, we mentioned Rabih Alameddine’s new book, Comforting Myths.The Arabic Flash Fiction prize is funded by the British Council’s Beyond Literature Borders programme corun by Speaking Volumes Live Literature Productions. Find all the finalists at ArabLit. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

An epic historical novel set in Fatimid Cairo, Reem Bassiouney’s The Halva-Maker trilogy won the Sheikh Zayed Book Award and is forthcoming in English. The book explores the founding of Cairo, by a Shia dynasty and a set of generals and rulers who all hailed from elsewhere. We talked to Bassiouney about balancing research and imagination; shining a light on women in Egyptian medieval history; and the heritage (architectural and culinary) of the past. This episode of the BULAQ podcast is produced in collaboration with the Sheikh Zayed Book Award.The Sheikh Zayed Book Award is one of the Arab world’s most prestigious literary prizes, showcasing the stimulating and ambitious work of writers, translators, researchers, academics and publishers advancing Arab literature and culture around the globe. The Sheikh Zayed Book Award Translation Grant is open all year round, with funding available for fiction titles that have won or been shortlisted for the award. Publishers outside the Arab world are eligible to apply. Find out more on the Sheikh Zayed Book Award website at: zayedaward.aeBassiouney is a professor of socio-linguistics at the American University in Cairo. She has won the State Award for Excellence in Literature for her overall literary works, the Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature from the Supreme Council for Culture for her Sons of the People: The Mamluk Trilogy (trans. Roger Allen), the Sawiris Cultural Award for her novel Professor Hanaa (trans. Laila Helmy), and a Best Translated Book Award for The Pistachio Seller (trans. Osman Nusairi). Dar Arab will publish Bassiouney’s The Halva-Maker trilogy and her novel Mario and Abu l-Abbas. Both have been translated by Roger Allen.Bassiouney’s Ibn Tulun Trilogy, also translated by Roger, was published by Georgetown University Press. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We recorded this interview with Deen in January 2022, just as her debut urban-fantasy trilogy Shubeik Lubeik (“Your Wish is My Command”) was coming out in English. This original and beautifully illustrated story imagines that wishes of varying quality can be bought and sold in contemporary Cairo, with unpredictable and poignant results. It has been widely celebrated and nominated for a Hugo Award.While the US edition from Pantheon keeps the title “Shubeik Lubeik,” the UK edition from Granta uses a literal translation: “Your Wish Is My Command.”Find more of Deena’s work at http://deenadraws.art and on Twitter and Instagram as @itsdeenasaur.The original Arabic three volumes were published by Dar Mahrousa and are available in the US through Maamoul Press. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Art critic and journalist Kaelen Wilson-Goldie joins us for a sweeping look at the life, writing, and art of singular Lebanese author-artist Etel Adnan (1925-2021).  Kaelin Wilson-Goldie’s Etel Adnan is available from Lund Humphries.Adnan’s Time, translated by Sarah Riggs, is available from Nightboat Books.The Beauty of Light, a collection of interviews with Laure Adler, is available from Nightboat Books in Ethan Mitchell’s translation. It was initially published in French, as "La beauté de la lumière, entretiens," by Éditions de seuil, in 2022.An excerpt from Adnan’s “Jebu” is available in the single issue of the magazine Tigris, hosted on ArabLit.Sitt Marie Rose is available in Georgina Kleege’s English translation from the Post-Apollo Press.Adnan’s essay “On Small Magazines,” where she writes of meeting Abdellatif Laâbi, is available on Bidoun.Adnan’s “To Write in a Foreign Language” describes her journey with and through languages.All the images used in promotion of this episode are courtesy of the Sfeir-Semler Gallery.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Majalla 28 is a literary magazine out of Gaza co-producing an issue with ArabLit. We talk about the work by co-editors Mahmoud al-Shaer and Mohamed al-Zaqzouq and read excerpts from that issue. After that, we talk about a particular kind of Palestinian literature – by writers serving life sentences. Find out more about the Gaza issue at arablit.orgMore writing by Heba Al-Agha, translated by Julia Choucair Vizoso, is also available at arablit.orgYou can read more about the late author Walid Daqqa, who died in an Israeli prison, at JadaliyyaPalestinian prisoner Nasser Abu Srour’s The Wall, translated by Luke Leafgren, is out now from Other PressA Mask, the Colour of the Sky, by Palestinian writer Basim Khandaqji, won this year’s International Prize for Arabic Fiction. Khandaqji is serving three consecutive life sentences; his novel is forthcoming in English translation from Europa Editions. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ghassan Kanafani is best known for his famous novellas, but he was many things besides a talented writer: a prolific journalist, an insightful critic and editor, a heterodox Marxist, a spokesman for the militant Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. He wrote and lived like he had no time to waste (which turned out to be true: he was assassinated in an Israeli car bombing at the age of 36). He remains one of the most respected and beloved of Arab icons, but his non-fiction work is less known than it should be. In 1970 he wrote a book of historical analysis: The Revolution of 1936-1939 in Palestine. Its translator, historian Hazem Jumjam, joined us for a conversation about this book on a failed revolution and everything we can still learn from it today. Hazem Jamjoum’s translation of Kanafani’s The Revolution of 1936–1939 in Palestine is available from 1804 Books.Mahmoud Najib’s translation of Kanafani’s On Zionist Literature is available from Ebb Books.Kanafani’s complete works in Arabic are available from Rimal Books.Kanafani’s Men in the Sun was adapted to film as The Dupes (1972). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.