Committee, The
29 January '14
Writing in a symbolic and minimalist style, author Sonallah Ibrahim has been called the Egyptian Kafka. This wry take on Kafka’s “The Trial” revolves around its narrator’s attempts to petition successfully the elusive ruling body of his country, known simply as “the committee”.
Being Abbas el Abd
29 January '14
“What is madness?” asks the narrator of Ahmed Alaidy’s jittery, funny, and angry new novel, Being Abbas el Abd. Assuring readers that they are about to find out, the narrator takes us on his subsequent itinerary through the insanity of present-day Cairo—in and out of minibuses, malls, and crash pads. Sharing the intensity of Chuck […]
Night of the First Billion, The
29 January '14
Set in Geneva, Switzerland, around the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, this intricately plotted novel probes the emotional misfortunes of Arab men and women fleeing the horror of war only to find their ways of life constantly challenged by their foreign surroundings. The author’s scalding critique of the Lebanese situation resonates with strong sociopolitical issues. […]
Nights of Mr Salman
29 January '14
Man Who Guarded the Bomb, The
29 January '14
A boy finds himself alone with his first love in a toboggan stalled atop the Matterhorn at Disneyland. A woman, bitter about her marriage to a man turned blind, must decide if he lives or dies. A man haunted by his role in creating the H-bomb suddenly disappears in old age, only to turn up […]
Drumbeat
29 January '14
In a fictional Gulf country, with its gleaming glass towers and imported greenery, the routine of day-to-day life is suddenly interrupted when the national football team qualifies for the World Cup. The Emir issues an edict ordering all native Emiratis to travel to France to support the team, leaving the country to the care of […]
Modern Iraqi Short Stories
29 January '14
Ten Stories from Iraq
29 January '14
Libyan Stories
29 January '14
Ahmed Fagih compiles thirteen of the short stories he edited during the seventies and eighties, all published in London in a magazine called Azure. Penned by prominent Libyan writers, these stories shed light on the human experience, especially the experience of those people who inhabit the eastern world. Featuring the work of Abdullah Algwiri, Kamel […]