Sudan, 1968, the military coup taking place in Khartoum echoes all the way to the small rural town of Hajer Narti, where the body of a young girl has just been found in the Nile.

Told in the first person, Asma Al Atawna’s debut coming of age novel captures with beautiful and surprising honesty the life of an eponym young woman.

For the second year in a row, RAYA is on the shortlist of the London Book Fair International Excellence Awards – Literary Agent category!
 
The awards, held in partnership with the UK Publishers Association, celebrate publishing success in 16 categories, representing the best publishing ambassadors, innovative publishing, and ground-breaking initiatives in the industry. In each award category, the judging panel was comprised of experts in that sector.

The mission of the National Book Award is to “celebrate the best literature in America, expand its audience, and ensure that books have a prominent place in American culture”

The winner will be announced on November 20th.
 
Death is hard work has received a lot of praise (see below) in the various countries where it was published (see list of cessions below).
Bulbul’s father just passed away in a Damascus hospital. His last request to his son was to be buried in his hometown of Aannabiya, in the province of Aleppo.

Khaled Khalifa’s “Death is hard work” is on the longlist of the National Book Award!
The shortlist will be announced on October 8th, and the winner on November 20th.
 
 
The book has received wonderful praise:
“Masterly”
The New York Review of Books
“Brilliant”   “Unforgettable”
Wall Street Journal 

“Astonishing”     “recalls Faulkner’s “As I Lay Dying””   “The power of the novel — of all Khalifa’s novels — is that it unfolds within a human context”
Los Angeles Times

“Intensely readable” “wryly compelling”
Financial times

“Robust in its doubts, humane in its gaze and gentle in its persistence”
The Guardian

“Stunning”
Herald
“Compelling book. …

In Stella Maris, Adam has decided to write his story, that of the “New Adam”, which, he would like to believe, starts when he runs away from home at 15, to go as far as possible from his childhood in the ghetto of Lydda (My name is Adam, Children of the ghetto 1), and from his mother Manal. The New Adam is in a painful quest of a restful identity: “I want to become a Jew”, he says. “This is impossible” he is told.