Synopsis
Farewell, Naguib Mahfouz! The issue opens with tributes to the “writer of the world”, the late Nobel Laureate Naguib Mahfouz, by Banipal’s editor and contributing editors Roger Allen and Peter Clark. Further on in the issue, the well-known Iraqi author Jalil al-Qaisi is remembered by Fadhil al-Azzawi. Fourteen fiction writers dominate this issue, among them ten women authors. Basra is the setting for two disturbing but gripping stories by Iraqi author Luay Hamza Abbas. From Syria, three novelists writing completely different genres of novels: Salim Barakat with mysterious, highly inventive place-names and characters that take the reader into a world of mythology and legend, Nabil Sulaiman with a modern setting and topical references, for instance to Michael Moore and George, in a novel designed to make the reader think; and Nihad Sirees’s A State of Passion – an enthralling saga of life among the marginalised in 1930s Syria. There’s an excerpt from Lebananese author Alawiyah Sobh’s acclaimed novel Dunya, and a rich file of diverse short stories – by Salwa Bakr and Sahar Tawfiq from Egypt, Salima Salih from Iraq, Rabia Raihane from Morocco, Hayet Raies from Tunisia, Fatma Yousif al-Ali from Kuwait, and last but not least Ghalia Kabbani from Syria. The two poets in the issue each present three poems, and then it is on to the TRAVELLING TALE, which is an unusual and profoundly thoughtful view of Beirut through the eyes of Youssef Rakha, a young Egyptian writer and journalist visiting the war-ridden city for the first time, with excerpts from his work Beirut shi Mahal [Beirut, Some Place], which was nominated for the Lettre Ulysses Art of Reportage Prize 2006. INTERVIEW WITH AN EDITOR is with Brian Whitaker, the Guardian newspaper’s Middle East editor, in his capacity of founder editor of the Arab Gateway website www.al-bab.com, an entirely altruistic and objective source of information about the Arab world. Stephen Watts begins a regular review of poetry in translation with Mahmoud Darwish’s Why Did you Leave the Horse alone? and the long-awaited Lebanon: Poems of Love and War by Nadia Tuéni. Other reviews in include Naguib Mahfouz’s Ancient Egyptian Tales, and two novels by Egyptian author Ibrahim Aslan. PLUS PHOTO-REPORTS of the Award of the Banipal Arabic Literary Translation Prize, with those for French, German, Italian, Spanish and Swedish; the Banipal Live 2006 Tour and the Frankfurt Book Fair. Banipal No. 27, Autumn/Winter 2007 CONTENTS Cover artist: Nabil Abu Hamad Editorial – Farewell, Naguib Mahfouz Luay Hamza Abbas Two short stories Closing his Eyes and A Much-travelled Man Alawiya Sobh Excerpt from the novel Dunya Rabia Raihane A short story The Señora Salim Barakat Excerpt from the novel Hydrahodahose Caves introduced by Issa J. boullata Salwa Bakr A short story The River Nile Fadwa al-Qasem Two short stories My Shirt and The Loop Nabil Sulaiman “Dance of the Wicker Basket” – an excerpt from the novel Hypostases of Day and Night Fatma Yousif al-Ali Two short stories – Nothing Shameful and A Feminine Ending Sahar Tawfiq A short story Two Blue-Gum Trees in Giza Hayet Raies A short story Azrael and the Author Malika Moustadraf (1963–2006) A short story A Mere Difference Ghalia Kabbani A short story A Cup of Tea with Mrs Robinson Salima Salih Two short stories Forgiveness Tree and The Revenant Nihad Sirees Excerpt from the novel A State of Passion Lamia Makaddam: Three Poems Firas Sulaiman: Three Poems A TRAVELLING TALE Youssef Rakha Excerpts from Beirut shi Mahal, Beirut – Some Place INTERVIEW WITH AN EDITOR Brian Whitaker, editor of Arab Gateway, www.al-bab.com OBITUARY Fadhil al-Azzawi remembers Jalil al-Qaisi (1936–2006) BOOK REVIEWS Stephen Watts reviews poetry in translation Why Did You Leave The Horse Alone? by Mahmoud Darwish and Lebanon: Poems of Love and War by Nadia Tuéni Peter Clark Voices from the Other World: Ancient Egyptian Tales by Naguib Mahfouz Peter Clark Abdelrahman Munif and Iraq by Maher Jarrar Zuzana Kratka The Heron and Nile Sparrows by Ibrahim Aslan BOOKS IN BRIEF EVENTS Banipal Translation Prize – First Prizewinner Banipal Live UK tour – 14-20 August Leipzig: Adel Karasholi at 70 London: Mourid Barghouti Reading Frankfurt: 2006 Book Fair, 3-8 October
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