Algeria: So Vast the Prison: A Novel by Assia Djebar

Assia Djebar is the pen-name of Fatima-Zohra Imalayen, an Algerian novelist, translator and filmmaker. She is considered one of the most influential North African authors and was the first Maghrebine author to be elected to the Académie Francaise. Most of her novels deal with the lives and plights of women. Her novel, So Vast the Prison, focuses on the condition of women in Islam. It is the double-threaded story of a modern, educated Algerian woman living in a man’s world.  As she is in awe of the closeness of women amongst themselves her marriage disintegrates in a world that is intolerant of women. Assia Djebar’s writing is a refuge for the oppressed.

Egypt: Palace Walk (Cairo Trilogy) by Naguib Mahfouz

Naguib Mahfouz an Egyptian novelist, winner of the 1988 Nobel Prize for Litterature, has published over 50 novels, over 350 short stories, as well as dozens of movie scripts and five plays. It was said of his writings: “You can’t understand Egypt without Mahfouz—without his characters, with whom every reader, Arab or not, can identify.” One of his more important works is the Cairo Trilogy. The three novels were entitled after actual streets in Cairo the first of which is Palace Walk. It is the 3-generation saga of a family spanning over several decades, from 1917 to the 1950s.

Iran: Rumi by Jalaleddine Rumi

"Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī was a 13th-century Persian poet, jurist, theologian, and Sufi mystic. Following his death, his followers and his son Sultan Walad founded the Mawlawīyah Sufi Order, also known as the Order of the Whirling Dervishes, famous for its Sufi dance known as the samāʿ ceremony.”
Rumi’s belief, similar to that of other mystic and Sufi poets, is in the concept of tawhid (union) with his beloved from which he has been cut off and his desire to reunite with it. His poetry is both lyrical and spiritual and his images bring the earthly and the sacred together. This book includes a variety of translations of his most deeply moving poetry.

Iraq: Miracle Maker by Fadhil Al Azzawi
Fadhil Al Azzawi is a highly respected Iraqi writer. He has published seven volumes of poetry, six novels, three books of criticism and memoir, and several translations of German literary works. He was a member of the avant-garde Kirkuk Group of poets during the 1960s. In 2003 BOA Editions (USA) published Miracle Maker: Selected Poems of Fadhil Al-Azzawi, translation and introduction by Khaled Mattawa which includes selectiosn from his previously published poem anthologies as well as new ones.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lebanon: The Book Of Mirdad: A Lighthouse And A Haven (Arkana) by Mikha'il Naimeh

Mikha'il Na'ima was a Lebanese author and poet of the New York Pen League. He was the Vice President of the league and Gibran Khalil Gibran was President. All in all he wrote 99 books, including drama, essays, poetry, criticism, short stories and biography. Among his best known works is The Book Of Mirdad, a mystical text first published in Lebanon in 1948, then translated into English and published in London in 1962.The great Oslo said of The Book Of Mirdad: "There are millions of books in the world, but The Book Of Mirdad' stands out far above any book in existence." It is a parable about a monastery that was built where Noah's ark came to rest after the flood subsided. It describes the very nature of human existence and Man's relation to the God within.

Libya: Qābīl... ayna akhūka Hābīl?  قابيل... أين أخوك هابيل by Ibrahim al Kawni

“Ibrahim Al-Kawni is a Libyan writer and one of the most prolific Arabic novelists. Mythological elements, spiritual quest and existential questions mingle in the writings of al-Koni who has been hailed as magical realist, Sufi fabulist and poetic novelist. Al-Kawni has published more than 80 books and received numerous awards. Written in Arabic, his books have been translated into 35 languages.”

Palestine: أثر الفراشة (The butterfly's burden) by Mahmoud Darwish

Mahmoud Darwish was regarded as the Palestinian national poet. He is the author of the palestinian national anthem. Darwish published over thirty volumes of poetry and eight books of prose. He was editor of Al-Jadid, Al-Fajr, Shu'un Filistiniyya and Al-Karmel. His early poetry was in compliance with the Arabic classical style but slowly strayed, progressively using free verse techniques. The butterfly’s burden includes the first three volumes of poetry that Darwish published upon his return to Ramallah after a 26-year exile. Ranging from love lyrics to political poems, this collection is but a glimpse of Drawish’s poetic genius.

Sudan: Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih

Tayeb Salih, died at 80, Sudan's most renowned literary figure, a praised and popular writer in the Arab world. His poetic and powerful story, Season of Migration to the North, was selected in 2001 by a panel of Arab writers and critics as the most important Arab novel of the twentieth century. Weaving around the classic theme of cultural clash between East and West, this book tells the tale of a returned native. Having studied in England, the narrator returns to his village in Sudan to become an educator. There he meets Mustafa, who has also studied in England. They become friends on the basis of this shared experience, and Mustafa reveals his past; a series of fleeting relationships with English women who call him the "Black Englishman" have ended in ruin. He is charged then acquitted of the murder of his last partner. Salih’s book is packed with references to Arabic and European fiction, Islamic history, Shakespeare, Freud, and classical Arabic poetry.

Tunisia: La Statue de sel by Albert Memmi
Albert Memmi is a Tunisian Jewish writer and essayist. He published his well-regarded first novel, La Statue de sel in 1953 with a preface by Albert Camus. La Statue de sel's main character, young Alexandre Mordekhaï Benillouche is Memmi's virtual twin. The story is about breaking loose of tradition, parents who bring shame on us, old folks superstitions, but also the occident and colonialism... Memmi brings out the complexity of belonging to different identities whilst drawing a historical portrait of colonised Tunisia.

 

Arab world: Under The Naked Sky: Short Stories From The Arab World (Modern Arabic Writing) by Denis Johnson Davis

In Under The Naked Sky Davis has collected 30 stories from 9 Arab countries. The purveyors of this strange and delightful collection of short fictions include Naguib Mahfouz, Yusuf Idris, Gamal al-Ghitani, and Mohamed El-Bisatie from Egypt; Fuad al-Takarli and Mohamed Khudayyir from Iraq; Zakaria Tamer from Syria; Hanan al-Shaykh from Lebanon; and Ibrahim al-Kouni from Libya. So if you're loking for a bundle, this is it.