Banipal completes its 20th year of publishing with a major feature on the influential Egyptian author Alaa al-Deeb, with translations from a number of his pivotal works, and articles by six fellow Egyptians from the next generations of writers. The issue is opened, however, with chapters from Kitsch 2011, a novel by the Tunisian journalist Safi Said, who calls it himself ““a mongrel text par excellence”; with poems from Widad Nabi from Syria and Lamia Makaddam from Tunisia; and a short story by Sudanese author Abdelaziz Baraka Sakin. Lastly, we are delighted to present the first translation in the magazine of work by Mauritanian author Abdallah Uld Mohamadi Bah. Plus colourful reports on events in Assilah, Morocco, and in Berlin and Frankfurt in Germany to celebrate our milestone of publishing.