Banipal 30 celebrates ten years of publishing – translating and showcasing hundreds of Arab authors who have never had their works published in English before, presenting newly emerging writers as well as those well-established in the Arab world and beyond. ones. Banipal has brought together authors, translators, writers and reviewers in 30 issues which make up an incomparable archive of contemporary literature from the Arab world. And, we must not leave out the wide-ranging exhibition of contemporary artists whose works have filled our front covers. A special display of the artists and covers will be made available soon on the Banipal website.
Banipal 30 opens with tributes from well-known authors to the Iraqi poet, poetry translator and founding editor of Banipal Sargon Boulus, who died unexpectedly on 22 October. His death “has left a gaping wound in the heart of modern Arabic poetry”.
Keeping a finger on the pulse of the Arab literary scene, the authors in the issue are from Jordan, Libya, Sudan, Morocco, Egypt, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Lebanon, United Arab Emirates and Tunisia. They include the well-known poets Amjad Nasser and Khaled Mattawa, both of whom are founding contributing editors of Banipal, both settled outside their mother countries, the former in the UK, the latter in the USA and both writing intriguing poems of vision and changing heritages. Elias Khoury needs no introduction, and we are pleased to present an excerpt from his novel Yalo, forthcoming in English translation in the USA and the UK.
Cover artist is Jaber Alwan from Iraq
CONTENTS
Editorial
TRIBUTE
Sargon Boulus (1944–22 October 2007)
Remembering Sargon Boulus –
Bouquets on the grave of Sargon Boulus
Photos and tributes from fellow authors
Amjad Nasser – Eight Poems
Naguib Mahfouz Excerpts from Morning and Evening Talk, the latest translation of a novel by the late Nobel laureate for literature
Widad Benmoussa – Selected Poems
Raouf Mousaad Basta Excerpt from his novel The Ostrich Egg [Baydhat al-Na’amah]
Khaled Mattawa – Seven Poems
Azza Rashad – Two short stories My Mother's Eyes and The Nght . . . When all is Quiet
Muwaffak al-Sawad – Two Poems
Samer Abu Hawwash – Three Poems
Mohammed Hassan Alwan – Two short stories Blonde Grass and Statistics
Rania Mamoun
– A short story The Thirteen Months of Sunrise
Adel Khozam – Selected Poems
LITERARY INFLUENCES
Lutfiya Dulaimi – A Thousand and One Nights and The Fruits of the Earth
TRIBUTE
Noel Abdulahad (1939–2007)
Elias Khoury – Excerpt from the novel Yalo
Abdelkader Benali – Poems Ibn Khaldoun in Hollandia Felix
Habib Selmi – Souad’s Tale – an excerpt from a novel
Golala Nouri – Poem Are you sure you want to delete ...?
Elias Farkouh – Three short stories Creation, A Man I Don't Know and A Very Long Short Story
Ibrahim Abdel Meguid – How clocks the watches stopped or Why we heard only the verses of hell in the large tent – An excerpt from a novel
INTERVIEW WITH A PUBLISHER
"Literature is the doorway to a country's soul"
Michel Moushabeck of Interlink Publishing,
celebrating twenty years of publishing 1987–2007
BOOK REVIEWS
Susannah Tarbush The Lodging House by Khairy Shalaby
Mona Zaki Learning English by Rashid al-Daif
Tarek el-Ariss Being Abbas el Abd by Ahmad Alaidy
The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf by Mohja Kahf
Zuzana Kratka Maryam’s Maze by Mansoura Ez-Eldin
Volker Kaminski Das Geständnis des Fleischhauers by Hussain al-Mozany
All these book reviews can be read online. Click here for full iist of online book reviews, originally reviewed in Banipal issues
Banipal 30 opens with tributes from well-known authors to the Iraqi poet, poetry translator and founding editor of Banipal Sargon Boulus, who died unexpectedly on 22 October. His death “has left a gaping wound in the heart of modern Arabic poetry”.
Keeping a finger on the pulse of the Arab literary scene, the authors in the issue are from Jordan, Libya, Sudan, Morocco, Egypt, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Lebanon, United Arab Emirates and Tunisia. They include the well-known poets Amjad Nasser and Khaled Mattawa, both of whom are founding contributing editors of Banipal, both settled outside their mother countries, the former in the UK, the latter in the USA and both writing intriguing poems of vision and changing heritages. Elias Khoury needs no introduction, and we are pleased to present an excerpt from his novel Yalo, forthcoming in English translation in the USA and the UK.
Cover artist is Jaber Alwan from Iraq
CONTENTS
Editorial
TRIBUTE
Sargon Boulus (1944–22 October 2007)
Remembering Sargon Boulus –
Bouquets on the grave of Sargon Boulus
Photos and tributes from fellow authors
Amjad Nasser – Eight Poems
Naguib Mahfouz Excerpts from Morning and Evening Talk, the latest translation of a novel by the late Nobel laureate for literature
Widad Benmoussa – Selected Poems
Raouf Mousaad Basta Excerpt from his novel The Ostrich Egg [Baydhat al-Na’amah]
Khaled Mattawa – Seven Poems
Azza Rashad – Two short stories My Mother's Eyes and The Nght . . . When all is Quiet
Muwaffak al-Sawad – Two Poems
Samer Abu Hawwash – Three Poems
Mohammed Hassan Alwan – Two short stories Blonde Grass and Statistics
Rania Mamoun
– A short story The Thirteen Months of Sunrise
Adel Khozam – Selected Poems
LITERARY INFLUENCES
Lutfiya Dulaimi – A Thousand and One Nights and The Fruits of the Earth
TRIBUTE
Noel Abdulahad (1939–2007)
Elias Khoury – Excerpt from the novel Yalo
Abdelkader Benali – Poems Ibn Khaldoun in Hollandia Felix
Habib Selmi – Souad’s Tale – an excerpt from a novel
Golala Nouri – Poem Are you sure you want to delete ...?
Elias Farkouh – Three short stories Creation, A Man I Don't Know and A Very Long Short Story
Ibrahim Abdel Meguid – How clocks the watches stopped or Why we heard only the verses of hell in the large tent – An excerpt from a novel
INTERVIEW WITH A PUBLISHER
"Literature is the doorway to a country's soul"
Michel Moushabeck of Interlink Publishing,
celebrating twenty years of publishing 1987–2007
BOOK REVIEWS
Susannah Tarbush The Lodging House by Khairy Shalaby
Mona Zaki Learning English by Rashid al-Daif
Tarek el-Ariss Being Abbas el Abd by Ahmad Alaidy
The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf by Mohja Kahf
Zuzana Kratka Maryam’s Maze by Mansoura Ez-Eldin
Volker Kaminski Das Geständnis des Fleischhauers by Hussain al-Mozany
All these book reviews can be read online. Click here for full iist of online book reviews, originally reviewed in Banipal issues