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.
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.
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.
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.
‘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…
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.
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.
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….
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…
