The International Prize of Arabic Fiction (IPAF) also known as the Arab Booker has announced its long list. RAYA’s Ibrahim Nasrallah’s The King of Galilee, and Mohammad Hasan Alwan’s Beavers are on the list!

AUB Professor Robert Myers was among a group who were awarded a $50,000 grant by the MacArthur Foundation to translate to English and produce a play by late Syrian playwright Saadallah Wannous in Beirut and Chicago.

When asked about the challenges of selling world translation rights of Arabic fiction, one’s first response is naturally always focused on the potential acquirers. It is a fact that Arabic is not widely read in the international publishing industry, and this indubitably has consequences on the access non-Arab publishers have to Arabic literature

In both the book and in life, Ms. Yazbek, a novelist, oscillates between embracing the Alawite label and rejecting it, loath to paint the uprising in sectarian colors. It is a common sentiment among the limited number of Alawites who have publicly joined the revolution.

“I had never cared whether I was an Alawite or not,” she said, speaking in Arabic over coffee in a Midtown Manhattan hotel. “It was like someone saying you had blue eyes.”