Banipal (49) Magazine of Modern Arab Literature

Banipal 49 – A Cornucopia of Short Stories (2014)

EDITORIAL

Kadhim Jihad Hassan – Selected Poems, translated by Mary Ann Caws
Fouad El-Auwad – Poems, translated by Ken Cockburn
Mona Kareem – A Poem

A CORNUCOPIA OF SHORT STORIES

Salima Salih – The Body, translated by Sophia Vasalou

Anis Arafai – The Moroccan Dead Transfer Company, translated by Roger Allen

Nasrin Trabulsi – It’s the Mare, Sir! – translated by Layla Almaleh

Zakaria Tamer – Stars Above the Jungle and The Treasure, translated by Clayton Clark

Wajdi al-Ahdal – The Basil Revolution, translated by William M Hutchins

Huzama Habayeb – Umbilical Cord, translated by Mona Zaki

Ibrahim Farghali – Body Map, translated by Tom Aplin

Alia al-Ismaily – The Deluge

Jokha al- Harthi – On the Wooden Park Bench . . . We Sat, translated by Clare Roberts

Hassouna Mosbahi – Searching for Grandmother’s House, translated by Karen McNeil

Ibrahim Aslan – A Path for the Young, translated by Elisabeth Jaquette

Mahmoud Saeed – The Sound of Footsteps, translated by Sophia Vasalou

Taleb Alrefai – SMILES, translated by William M Hutchins

Basma el-Khatib – The Dead and The Killer, translated by Ghenwa Hayek

Ahmed Saadawi – I used to Count my Friends on my Fingers, translated by Robert J Farley

Ahmed Bouzfour – The Shadow and Weariness, translated by Mbarek Sryfi

Mahmoud al-Bayaty – Junction, translated by Hassan Abdulrazzak

Hisham Bustani – Cunning Clouds of Betrayal, translated by Thoraya El-Rayyes

Ahmed Alrahbi – Cat’s Eyes, translated by Layla Almaleh

Said al-Kafrawi – The Naked, translated by Sally Gomaa

Mahmoud Shukair –Jerusalem There, All Alone and other stories, translated by Sarah H Abdel Halim

TRAVELLING TALE
Kamal Ayadi – Remembering Borisa Alexandrovna, translated by William M Hutchins

GUEST LITERATURE
Stephen Watts, poet, editor and translator
Profile and selected poems

2014 SHORTLIST OF THE INTERNATIONAL PRIZE FOR ARABIC FICTION
Inaam Kachachi – Tashari
Abdelrahim Lahbibi – The Journeys of ’Abdi, known as Son of Al-Hamriyah
Khaled Khalifa – No Knives in this City’s Kitchens
Youssef Fadel – A Rare Blue Bird that Flies with Me
Ahmed Saadawi – Frankenstein in Baghdad
Ahmed Mourad – The Blue Elephant

TRIBUTE
Ounsi El Hage 1937–2014, a tribute by Fadhil al-Azzawi

BOOK REVIEWS

Bassam K Frangieh reviews Sherif Hetata’s autobiography Al-Nawafidh al-Maftouha (The Open Windows)

Paul Starkey reviews The Corpse Washer by Sinan Antoon

Stephen Watts reviews I Say My Words Out Loud by Prince Claus 2013 Principal Laureate Ahmed Fouad Negm, plus

Report on Prince Claus Fund 2013 Award Ceremony

Elspeth Carruthers reviews Leg over Leg or Al-Saq ‘ala al-Saq by Ahmad Faris al-Shidyaq

Peter Clark reviews The Grub Hunter by Amir Tag Elsir

Susannah Tarbush reviews Private Pleasures by Hamdy el-Gazzar

BOOKS IN BRIEF
Fiction, Memoir, Non-Fiction

Moon & Henna Tree by Ahmed Toufiq
New Waw: Saharan Oasis by Ibrahim al-Koni
Willow Trees Don’t Weep by Fadia Faqir
Gaza Writes Back, edited by Refaat Alareer
The Physician of the Caliphs by Nabil Saleh
Poor by Idris Ali
Black Magic by Hamdy el-Gazzar
Rama and the Dragon by Edwar al-Kharrat
The Hidden Light of Objects by Mai al-Nakib
Teaching Arabs, Writing Self: Memoirs of an Arab-American Woman by Evelyn Shakir
Fathers and Sons in the Arab Middle East by Dalya Cohen-Mor
Alexandrian Cosmopolitanism: An Archive by Hala Halim
Jurji Zaidan: Contributions to Modern Arab Thought and Literatureco-edited by George C. Zaidan and Thomas Philipp

EVENTS

London: Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation