Should Translators Be Native Speakers of Arabic, Or English?
M.LYNX QUALEY: There have been native Arabic speakers who’ve made a mess of translation. Just as surely, there have been English speakers who have not understood the Arabic.
Keeping the Meaning in the Language of Protests
M. LYNX-QUALEY: Much has been written about the ‘banners of the revolution’. However, it is difficult to agree a translation that matches their spirit.
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.
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…”
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.
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.
‘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.
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.”
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.
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…
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.
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…
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?
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.
Al Ahram’s New English Portal ‘gets bookish’
M. LYNX-QUALEY: The Arab world’s highest circulating daily newspaper goes live with a beta version of its new English portal. There’s a strong focus on ‘the intellectual arena’.
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.
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.
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…
The under-appreciated Sargon Boulus
A new translation of Boulus poem made M. Lynx Qualey reflect on how little-known the towering, excellent Boulus is in English—outside of Banipal readers.
