My sister whom I have not seen for more than two years, told me over the phone that she would cross the ocean in a boat. Then she hung up.

“Living With Death in Baghdad”
This piece was written by Sinan Antoon, for the New York Times, published on July 20th, 2016
Excerpts below.
When I was growing up in Baghdad, my favorite part of the city was Karrada, the neighborhood on the eastern bank of the Tigris where a bomb went off on July 3, killing at least 250 people. I would often go there just to stroll down its elegant streets. The main one was lined with stylish boutiques and stores selling delicious fresh juice and sandwiches. Attractive women and handsome …

Below is an excerpt of a piece Khaled Khalifa wrote for Corriere della sera, March 2016
During my trip from Damascus to Boston, I found myself reflecting on Syria, giving it one last look. I imagined it calm, and strong; it made me think of so many things. Before leaving it for a whole year, I needed to express all these feelings. I am convinced that, despite the huge amount of destruction, Syria, my country, can still elicit an avalanche of positive adjectives.

Listen to her piece on the website of the Cultural Frontline, where Arts and news collide.

Olivia Snaije writes a portrait of Dujols, for Publishing Perspectives, January 2016
Arabic literature is notoriously difficult to translate — not only for the complexity of the language but also for the variety of dialects and the challenge of making the prose accessible to Western readers. Arabic literary translators are few and far between, and the Arabic-to-English translators have become, in their world, akin to rock stars, thanks to the establishment in 2005 of the Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for Arabic literary translation. In France, although translators are given more recognition …

By Jabbour Douaihy, for Le Monde des Livres, November 19th, 2015
Photo credit: La Croix
 
We who, in the late 1970s, retreated, fleeing to Paris, during a first war, civil war among other things, which devastated Beirut and Lebanon as a whole, with its share of violence, where mere membership to a given community transformed men into targets. We who, today watch today in shock the tearful faces, sadly familiar to us, of the victims’ parents who have fallen simply they were there, a mother or a friend who seeks to understand, who cannot admit, and who, with the …