On April 24th, the prestigious International Prize for Arabic Fiction was awarded to Ibrahim Nasrallah for his novel “The Second Dog War”, a satirical novel, partly dystopia, partly science fiction, that depicts a not-so-distant grim future.
The novel is entertaining and was for Ibrahim Nasrallah an opportunity to explore uncharted literary territory. While offering a skillful critique of extreme forms of our contemporary consumerism and corruption, Nasrallah also goes over the transformation of a man, the main character Rashed, who goes from an idealistic rebel, to a powerful businessman, ultimately transforming into a …

The prize, which aims at rewarding excellence in Arabic creative writing, was launched in Abu Dhabi in 2007. Apart the $10,000 that awarded to each finalist, and the $50,000 awarded to the winner, the prize also supports translation.

An illegal emigrant writes a letter to his lover; a torturer on the run writes his mother… 5 letters accidentally linked to each other.
 

It is a fresh, funny and immensely clever take on what life is like for your average millennial in an unstable corrupt country – where anything is possible, and nothing can be relied upon.  

Benghazi, Lybia, some time in the first half of the past century, Atiqa now a free woman, hears the story of her mother’s life as a slave and lover for the first time.

The women of Syria have to fight not only the Regime, or the Islamist rebels; they have to fight the whole of a patriarchal society, including male revolutionaries. Yazbek collects their stories.