Bart Moore-Gilbert on the perils of translated texts
Just found in a Bart Moore-Gilbert (RIP) article on Palestine and postcolonial studies an interesting example of the risks of literature scholars working from translations. It could be read, I … Continue reading
Interfaith Lurve…
It’s not often I leave an academic conference having had a genuinely fun, stimulating, thoughtful three days. By the end of a three-dayer I – and I know this stands … Continue reading
New Review: Gilgamesh’s Snake and Other Poems
The Bottle Imp, 16th June 2016 Ghareeb Iskander’s own transformation of the Gilgamesh epic into a modern poem draws the original’s grandeur down to the personal scale, without rendering it … Continue reading
Reviewed: Hisham Bustani, “The Perception of Meaning”
Electronic Intifada, 16th February 2016 This collection of Bustani’s stories has been translated into English by Palestinian-Canadian translator Thoraya El-Rayyes, giving English-language readers their first opportunity to encounter Bustani’s work. … Continue reading
Neoliberalism and higher education: a wee example from Edinburgh
As Isabel Lachenauer, one of the first – and possibly the last – graduates of the University of Edinburgh’s Advanced Arabic masters programme writes: I strongly urge the Head of … Continue reading
New review: Khaled Mattawa on Mahmoud Darwish
Electronic Intifada, 1st July 2014 This isn’t a biography. Although one would be fascinating, Darwish always insisted that his poetry should represent his life story. So this book doesn’t feature … Continue reading
New review: ‘Rhetorics of Belonging’
Electronic Intifada, 28th March 2014 When it is read in universities or for the pages of publications such as The New York Review of Books or literary supplements of London … Continue reading
Gazan writers denied UK entry
It can, of course, be taken as read that the UK Border Agency are utter bastards, but that doesn’t stop me getting very, very angry at individual cases. Here’s the … Continue reading
New article: Marilyn Booth interviewed
One of the most exciting things about being based at Edinburgh University’s Dept of Islamic & Middle Eastern Studies for the past two years has been people who make up … Continue reading
TWO paid postgrad internships in Arabic/English publishing
… both based in London (booo…) and both open to people with Masters level degrees from UK universities or enrolled on PhD programmes at UK universities. Both organised by the … Continue reading
‘Perhaps This Poem Has No End’: Reel Iraq in Edinburgh
My guest blog for ArabLit on Saturday’s ‘Found in Translation’ Iraqi/Scottish poetry event at the Scottish Poetry Library: Despite Sabreen Kadhim’s absence, we did get one of her poems, “on … Continue reading
Sabreen Kadhim and the halfwits at the UK Border Agency
I’ve had occasion to get all irate and ranty about the impact of the UK Border Agency on art in this country before. Sadly, the cluelessly racist pairing of the … Continue reading
Ibrahim Nasrallah, Edinburgh, 12th March
After a string of depressing things, I just got a very nice press release from the Centre for the Advanced Study of the Arab World in Edinburgh, saying that the … Continue reading
New article: Nihad Sirees’ The Silence and the Roar reviewed
ArabLit, 31st January 2013 Sirees’ novel depicts one day in the life of a writer in an unnamed city, in a country ruled by a dictator known only as The … Continue reading
New article: Khaled Furani’s ‘Silencing the Sea’ reviewed
Electronic Intifada, 22nd January 2013 It’s impossible to capture in one review the multifaceted richness of this book. It isn’t special only because of the range of topics it interweaves … Continue reading
Haifa’s ‘path of poetry’
This is the second (possibly last, not sure yet) post expanding on some of the points from Khaled Furani’s Silencing the Sea which I couldn’t shoehorn into the proper review … Continue reading
Sarah Irving 