The Summer issue of Banipal offers readers a kaleidoscope of works that once dipped into will be hard to put down, presenting authors from Palestine, Iraq, Oman, Tunisia, Morocco, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, the Emirates and Yemen, plus cover artist Dima Hajjar from Lebanon.

CONTENTS

Cover artist: Dima Hajjar

Ala’ Hlehel A short story My Husband is a Bus Driver
Mahmoud Darwish A Poem
Not Like a Foreign Tourist Would
Duna Ghali A short story Sip

FEATURE ON Omani poet Saif al-Rahbi
with poems translated by Anton Shammas,
introduction by Fadhil al-Azzawi,
interview by Abdulla al-Harrasi and profiles by
Fakhri Saleh, Eskandar Habache and Khalid al-Maaly

Abdellatif Laâbi Excerpt from Le Fond de la Jarre
Abdelwahab Meddeb Five Poems
Joumana Haddad Article The Forty Thieves of Fire and Me
Hamid al-Iqabi A short story The Banjo Player
Mowaffk al-Sawad Three Poems

FEATURE ON Syrian poet Saniya Salih (1939-1995)
with poems translated by Issa J Boullata,
an introduction by Abed Ismael
and profile by Abdo Wazen

LITERARY INFLUENCES
Fadhil al-Azzawi I Lived a Magical Feast

Thani al-Suweidi Six Poems
Jad el-Hage A chapter from the novel The Myrtle Bush
Suleman Taufiq Fourteen Poems
Abu-Youssef Taha A short story Black Lilies
Abed Ismael Three Poems
Nadiah Alkokabany A short story Fireworks to Celebrate a Deflowering
Haggag Hassan Oddoul A short story Nights of Musk

INTERVIEW WITH AN EDITOR
Peter Ripken, of Literatur Nachrichten

A TRAVELLING TALE
Samuel Shimon Steppenwolf Goes to San Francisco

TRIBUTE
Hisham Sharabi (1927–2005)

BOOK REVIEWS
Peter Clark Modern Arabic Literature in Translation by Salih Altoma and Lexicon Arabischer Autoren by al-Maaly & Nagger
Margaret Obank Anubis by Ibrahim al-Kony
Eleanor Kilroy Tomorrow is Another Day by Khalid Kishtainy