In our last episode before a summer hiatus, we discuss a graphic novel about the life and art of the stars of Arab music and cinema; Egyptian writer Radwa Ashour’s memoir of studying at university in the United States in the 1970s; and the Moroccan writer Ahmed Bouanani’s novel The Hospital, out in English (alongside…

We talk to humorist Karl Sharro about the origins story of his Twitter alter-ego Karl ReMarks and about finding the ideal online nemesis. Marcia takes issue with a new book listing the “hundred best novels in translation.” Show notes Karl Sharro spoke about Karl ReMarks’ new book,And then God Created the Middle East and Said…

In which Ursula and Marcia discuss how much innocence American can claim when abroad, and the urge to write expatriate diaries in one’s twenties; they also talk about the new collection Marrakech Noir; and about the never-ending debate over Classical versus Colloquial Arabic. Show notes: Ursula’s “Innocence Abroad” responds primarily to Suzy Hansen’s Notes on…

Inspired by a fiery essay by an Egyptian professor, Ursula and MLQ discuss cosmopolitanism, nostalgia, and literary representations of the city of Alexandria. Marcia also talks about three new books – from Iraq, Southern Sudan and Lebanon/London. She loved two of them. Show notes: May Hawas’s essay How Not to Write on Cosmopolitan Alexandriatakes as…

We discuss Marcia’s recent interviews with professors teaching Arabic literature in translation; an essay by Lebanese novelist Rabih Alameddine’s in which he picks apart “world literature” and foreign writers – such as himself –who act as “tour guides”; and a book that is an ambitious overview of modern art in the Arab world. Show notes…

Ursula and Marcia talk about the novel Tales of Yusuf Tadros– about a Coptic Christian and aspiring artist living in the provinces — and the playful, genre-bending Kayfa Ta(“How To”) series. They also discuss sexism in literature and whether we can do without the Nobel Prize for Literature. Show notes The Center for Translation Studiesat…

In this episode, we talk about debates surrounding Western military intervention in Syria; about Arab American writer Randa Jarrar and her Twitter rant against the late Barbara Bush; and about whether there is any alternative to the term “Arab world.” Also Ursula has a squeaky chair. Show notes At the recent Yale symposium on translation,…

We spend most of this episode talking about two books: the late Arwa Salih’s Stillborn, a memoir of and reckoning with her time as a leftist student militant in Egypt in the 1970s; and Rabai al-Madhoun’s novel Fractured Destinies — about lives constrained, conflicted and divided in Palestine. Show notes Arwa Salih’s The Stillborn, tr.the…

In which Marcia talks about her difficulties being interviewed; we discuss genre (sci-fi, fantasy, and especially noir) writing in Arabic; and we question whether translation into English “empowers” women writers from the Arab region. Show notes The Asymptote interview with MLQ, conducted by Claire Jacobson. On voices at various margins: Midaq Alley, by Naguib Mahfouz…

In which we discuss the validity and necessity of the negative review (or what we like to simply call critical engagement); how rare it is to find negative reviews these days; and the shift that has seen Western reviewers of Arabic literature move from one extreme to another. But is it more condescending to dismiss…