Review “In this beautifully crafted novel, there are luminous moments where history literally arrives at a village swept by more than a century of colonial rule, revolutions, and wars. In its evocation of imagined history and fictive events, the novel … invites us to reflect on the boundaries that separate the village from modernity, fiction […]
Private Pleasures describes the three-day sex, drink, and drug binge of a thirty-something newsreader in the back streets and crumbling apartments of his native Giza, that pullulating mass of humanity that sits opposite Cairo on the Nile’s west bank. Pursued by an unshakable sense of impending doom that is only partly attributable to fear of […]
Review Douaihy offers a highly original portrait, sometimes poignant and sometimes sarcastic (Elena Loewenthal Tutto Libri, La Stampa, Italy) Jabbour Douaihy builds a powerful and complex novel with several voices, artfully weaving childhood memories and an adult’s investigation (David Fontaine Canard enchaîné, France) An exciting, successful, literary novel (Der Freitag) Book Description One of Lebanon’s leading writers […]
Book Description A Romeo and Juliet for our times – in the shadow of the Iraq War Medina, Saudi Arabia. A young man, Malek, has been brutally attacked for being of the ‘wrong’ race. Malek’s lover, Leen, waits by his bedside and reflects on their relationship and her life as an unmarried, childless woman. All around her […]
Review Every work by Radwa Ashour is a masterclass (Karma Sami Al Ahram)One of the most painful yet enjoyable of all novels (Mahmoud el-Wardani Akhbar Al Adab) Book Description One woman’s life. Three generations of defiance. A tale of Egypt then and now
Review “A hidden view of the writer’s life … a world that consumes the soul and passion, the changing nature of ocial classes, and marginal existence at the bottom of society.” – Salah Fadl, Egyptian critic About the Author Idris Ali (1940 – 2010), one of Egypt’s leading Nubian writers, was the author of three […]
Review “Through the power of his imaginative black magic, [Hamdy el-Gazzar] resurrects slumbering art forms with a skill rarely seen in a young writer.” -Salah Fadl, Al-Ahram “A new vision in narrative writing … A novel of such elegance and intimacy is to be truly saluted.” -Mahmud Qurani, al-Quds al-‘Arabi About the Author Hamdy el-Gazzar […]
Review Continues the author’s proclaimed mission of speaking for the desert. The first book of a trilogy it recounts the birth and growth of the New Waw oasis in the Sahara, the Tuareg’s lost ‘paradise like’ community… In rhythmic, poetic prose the dilemma of the leaders of the desert tribe are revealed – how to […]
Gaza Writes Back is a collection of short stories from fifteen young writers in Gaza, members of a generation that has suffered immensely under Israel’s siege and blockade. Their experiences, especially during and following Israel’s 2008-2009 offensive known as “Operation Cast Lead”, have fundamentally impacted their lives and their writing. Indeed, many of these writers saw […]
Review “A breakthrough in the literary history of modern Arabic fiction”–Naguib Mahfouz Medal Award Committee”Rama and the Dragon deals with modernist issues, like subjective perception and alienation. In the book, al-Kharrat draws attention to the creative process itself and to the complex use of language.”–Al Jadid About the Author Edwar al-Kharrat was born, raised, and […]