Literature

“You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.” Ray Bradbury

 Alexander McNabb

Books are Best: A Luddite’s View of the Kindle

Books are Best: A Luddite’s View of the Kindle

ALEXANDER MCNABB: I am a huge fan of the Kindle but, in the spirit of intellectual freedom, I am prepared to consider the merits of the book. Briefly.

 Juan Cole

Arab World Democratists, Meet Thomas Jefferson

Arab World Democratists, Meet Thomas Jefferson

JUAN COLE: I am hopeful that the book will find an eager reception in Egypt, Tunisia and other countries yearning for democracy in the Arab world.

 M.-Lynx-Qualey

Novels of the Revolution: What will they look like?

Novels of the Revolution: What will they look like?

M. LYNX-QUALEY: With many of the ‘red lines’ now swept away novelists throughout the Arab world are free to touch on subjects hitherto out of bounds.

 M.-Lynx-Qualey

Now That We Have Tasted Hope – A Poem

Now That We Have Tasted Hope – A Poem

M. LYNX QUALEY: “Now that we have lived on this hard-earned crust, We would sooner die than seek any other taste to life, Any other way of being human…”

 M.-Lynx-Qualey

Five ‘Must Read’ Biographies from the Arab World

Five ‘Must Read’ Biographies from the Arab World

M.LYNX-QUALEY: It’s almost impossible to choose just five ‘must read’ biographies from the Arab world. When asked to do so I managed to limit it to six.

 M.-Lynx-Qualey

Countdown to the International Prize for Arabic Fiction

Countdown to the International Prize for Arabic Fiction

M. LYNX QUALEY: The award has stirred controversy this year as other years, with authors such as Gamal al-Ghitani and Radwa Ashour refusing to be nominated.

 Mondoweiss

Lesson from Egypt: How to Reject a Literary Prize

Lesson from Egypt: How to Reject a Literary Prize

ALI GHARIB, MONDOWEISS: A lesson in how to reject a prize yet ‘engage in dialogue’ with a regime of which you are critical.

 M.-Lynx-Qualey

‘Red lines’ Attacked in post-revolution Egypt

‘Red lines’ Attacked in post-revolution Egypt

M. LYNX-QUALEY: Victory was met with hopes that red lines had been blown away and a new era of artistic freedoms had begun. But the red lines may take a bit more rolling.

 M.-Lynx-Qualey

Tahrir and The ‘Liberation’ of Arabic Literature

Tahrir and The ‘Liberation’ of Arabic Literature

M.LYNX QUALEY: “We had a psychological barrier – what I call ‘the policeman inside us’. That policeman was killed” on Tahrir Square.”

 M.-Lynx-Qualey

Alexandria Library Needs to Be More Accessible

Alexandria Library Needs to Be More Accessible

M. LYNX-QUALEY: Hailed as a symbol of ‘New Egypt’ the Alexandria Library has a way to go before it wins the hearts of Egyptians. It could start with the young.

 M.-Lynx-Qualey

A Message for Arab Poets: Stick to the Poetry!

A Message for Arab Poets: Stick to the Poetry!

M.LYNX-QUALEY: According to Syrian poet, Adonis, the Arab world is affected by a great ‘apathy’ – surely a criticism that can be brought no longer…

 M.-Lynx-Qualey

Egyptian Novelists Respond to Church Bombing

Egyptian Novelists Respond to Church Bombing

M. LYNX-QUALEY: Egypt’s three leading contemporary novelists reflect on the origins, significance and consequences of the recent bomb attack on a Coptic church in Alexandria.

 M.-Lynx-Qualey

Religion & Fiction: The Problems of Self Censorship

Religion & Fiction: The Problems of Self Censorship

M. LYNX QUALEY: No Arabic writers can really write about religion, for instance. People can write about politics, in some countries, they can write about sex, but the fundamental questions…

 Tabsir

New Lawrence of Arabia Bio – “Fabulously Weird”

New Lawrence of Arabia Bio – “Fabulously Weird”

TABSIR: Fanatically brave, chillingly ruthless, he was fastidious, repressed, allergic to physical contact, addicted to roasting baths. He was fabulously weird.

 M.-Lynx-Qualey

Has the Arabic Booker Had Enough of Egyptians?

Has the Arabic Booker Had Enough of Egyptians?

M. LYNX-QUALEY – Miral El-Tahawy’s wonderful novel “Brooklyn Heights” has been showered with praise. Is it, however, to be the subject of anti-Egyptian bias?

 M.-Lynx-Qualey

Controversial Nubian author, Idris Ali, dies aged 70

Controversial Nubian author, Idris Ali, dies aged 70

M. LYNX-QUALEY: Self taught novelist Idris Ali experienced many highs and lows but always wrote with conviction. He died this week aged 70.

 Yasmine Albaradie

Ahdaf Soueif – The writer who reveals Cairo’s Soul

Ahdaf Soueif – The writer who reveals Cairo’s Soul

YASMIN ALBARADIE: I resisted the lure of Ahdaf Soueif’s writing for too long. The books were too big… too stuffy… Then one day I reached for ‘The Map of Love….

 M.-Lynx-Qualey

No, a Woman ‘Won’t Win the Arabic Booker’ in 201

No, a Woman ‘Won’t Win the Arabic Booker’ in 201

M.LYNX-QUALEY: Writer/translator Fatima Naaot also told the paper she didn’t see literary prizes as free and fair. But Naaot instead blamed the lack of prizes for women, to a greater extent, on women being in a male dominated society.

 M.-Lynx-Qualey

Dr. Mutawa: Book Censorship is Killing Arabic

Dr. Mutawa: Book Censorship is Killing Arabic

In the name of preserving culture, book censorship is really killing it. … People interested in culture are gravitating toward English argues the author of the extremely successful comic book series, 99.

 M.-Lynx-Qualey

Is There or Ain’t There Arabic Science Fiction?

Is There or Ain’t There Arabic Science Fiction?

I am hardly a sci-fi expert, but there do seem to be stirrings on the Arabic science fiction horizon. Of course there is the very popular Egyptian sci-fi author Ahmed Khaled Tawfiq, who has written more than 200 books…