Book
Thorns of life
04 May 2010
A second collection of 17 poems by Egyptian colloquial poet Abdel Rahim Youssef has been published under the title Qetta wa Qeddissa wa Genneyya (A Cat, a Saint, and a Fairy, Sefsafa 2010).
The blurb on the back of the book reads: "There...
Yes
Qahwat Ali Malek : A Heliopolis cafe
03 May 2010
Although Qahwat Ali Malek (Ali Malek Cafe, Sharqiat 2009) is Megahed el-Tayyeb's first book, the writer has adequately demonstrated remarkable writing skill and has the tone of an elderly man well-aware of the secrets of the craft. He...
Yes
Entertaining the soul: Ancient satirical texts
02 May 2010
El-Zakhaer series has recently published a popular edition of Sidi Ali Bin Sodon el-Beshbeghawi's book Nuzhat al-Nufus wa Mudhik al-Abuus ('Entertainment for the Soul and Laughter for the Dismal,' General Authority for Culture Palaces,...
Yes
Ahdaf Soueif: Reading Arabic into the English
29 Apr 2010
Novelist and essayist Ahdaf Soueif is commonly known as the Egyptian author who writes in English. Curiosities about being a native Arab whose creative writing unfolds in English are inexhaustible.
But Soueif pushed the question aside at...
Yes
At Zahrat al-Bustan
28 Apr 2010
Zahrat al-Bustan (The Garden Flower, Merit 2010), by Khaled Ismail, the most prodigious writer of his generation, shares its name with a famous cafe in downtown Cairo frequented by writers and intellectuals.
The novel is divided into two...
Yes
Gar el-nabi's scent
28 Apr 2010
Etr Qadeem (An Old Scent) is novelist Gar el-Nabi el-Helw's tenth book. Melancholic and nostalgic, this novel touches upon the author's own life and borrows from his previous literary works.
El-Helw's Etr Qadeem is being published 26 years...
Yes
Q&A with Nelson DeMille: All the lion games
27 Apr 2010
Over the past 30 years, American novelist Nelson DeMille has written 15 novels all of which were best sellers and many of which were translated into several languages, including Arabic. In his novels, DeMille mixes fact and fiction to...
Yes
Glimpses of Mohamed Saleh's life
26 Apr 2010
The latest collection of 19 poems titled La Shayaa Yadol ("Nothing Tells") from the late poet Mohamed Saleh was only published after his death. With each poem only a few verses long, it was obvious that Saleh was bidding us farewell by...
Yes
Weekly International Book Digest
26 Apr 2010
Yemen: Dancing on the Heads of Snakes by Victoria Clark (Yale, 2010)
Largely ignored, Yemen was prominent for a brief time in world headlines when it was said to have been the country of origin for the explosives that a young...
Yes
Weekly Review Digest
19 Apr 2010
A look at this week’s books of interest, reviewed around the world:
Oprah by Kitty Kelley (Crown Publishers, 2010).
After penning unauthorized accounts of the lives of everyone from Nancy Reagan to the British royals, writer Kitty Kelley...
Yes
