When Jokha al-Harthi and Marilyn Booth won the Man Booker International Prize last year, for Booth’s translation of Sayyidat al-Qamr (Celestial Bodies), many hurried to note that al-Harthi was the “first Omani woman writer” to have a book in English translation.While true, this may give the mistaken impression that there is something new about women's writing from the Gulf. But women on the peninsula have been composing sophisticated literature for centuries. Al-Khansa (575-645 AD), who was born and died on the Arabian Peninsula, is said to have been told by an admiring male writer that she was “the greatest poet among those with breasts.” Al-Khansa is said to have replied, archly: “I am the greatest poet among those with testicles, too.” Her work can be read, in vibrant translation, in James Montgomery’s Loss Sings.Prominent poet-filmmaker Nujoom Ghanem, in a 2016 interview that focused on her literary ancestors, had a similar barb: “The majority of poets in our world are male, but quantity does not make quality.” Yet among the younger generation of writers, women often dominate. In Yemen, the UAE, Kuwait, and elsewhere, emerging women writers have been flooding into writing workshops and literary seminars. Each Gulf country could have its own list of 10 women writers. Here are just a few to seek out:Raja Alem (Saudi) – Alem was the first woman to co-win the International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF), for her classic Mecca novel The Doves’ Necklace (translated by Adam... Continue reading at 'British Council global'
[ British Council global | 2020-02-19 10:26:57 UTC ]
The Tokyo-based bookstore chain is announcing a second venue in the United Arab Emirates, the Dubai store having opened in 2008. The post Japan’s Kinokuniya Announces 33rd Overseas Bookstore in Abu Dhabi appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2019-07-16 05:30:52 UTC ]
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Semicolon—a vibrant new bookstore, community space, and gallery for Chicago’s street art scene—opened its doors on Tuesday with a party and mural unveiling. The store is just one of a handful of woman-owned bookstores in Chicago and its only bookstore owned by a black woman. An author... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-07-12 15:33:15 UTC ]
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In a popular trope present most often in YA novels, a character finds a secret key to another world. The key is rarely literal. More often, it’s an action as banal and everyday as leaning against a train platform barrier, walking into a phone booth, or looking for a winter coat in the back of... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2019-07-12 11:02:44 UTC ]
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Fig Tree will publish journalist and author Dolly Alderton’s debut novel, Ghosts, about a food writer with a dedicated online following whose personal life is falling apart. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-07-10 16:29:40 UTC ]
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For years, I had been hearing about a secret bookstore on the Upper East Side, run by the owner out of his apartment. I thought that you could show up only in the company of a regular attendee. (I would later learn that this was not true, that Michael was, as he liked to say […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-07-09 20:01:37 UTC ]
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Awesome daily roundup of the most interesting bookish links from around the web. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2019-07-09 10:30:07 UTC ]
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Michael Seidenberg, the beloved owner of New York City's Brazenhead Books, has died. In his later years, Seidenberg ran the bookstore out of his apartment, attracting the city's literati and bookworms. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-07-09 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Since its launch 25 years ago, Amazon's reach has extended well beyond an online bookstore. And while it may seem obvious today, at the time Jeff Bezos was working to get his idea to the masses, many investors thought it would be no match for bookstore giants like Borders and Barnes &... Continue reading at Silicon Valley Business Journal
[ Silicon Valley Business Journal | 2019-07-08 11:14:14 UTC ]
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Since its launch 25 years ago, Amazon's reach has extended well beyond an online bookstore. And while it may seem obvious today, at the time Jeff Bezos was working to get his idea to the masses, many investors thought it would be no match for bookstore giants like Borders and Barnes and... Continue reading at Silicon Valley Business Journal
[ Silicon Valley Business Journal | 2019-07-08 10:53:45 UTC ]
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Since its launch 25 years ago, Amazon's reach has extended well beyond an online bookstore. And while it may seem obvious today, at the time Jeff Bezos was working to get his idea to the masses, many investors thought it would be no match for bookstore giants like Borders and Barnes and... Continue reading at Silicon Valley Business Journal
[ Silicon Valley Business Journal | 2019-07-08 10:00:00 UTC ]
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EVERY YEAR, IT SEEMS, we receive a new diagnosis regarding the viability of books in the digital age: print is dead, print is back, the bookstore is dead, bookstores are back. The nostalgia for and anxiety about print is often reactive, hinting at other anxieties about feeling lonely and... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books
[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2019-07-06 19:00:22 UTC ]
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Since its launch 25 years ago, Amazon's reach has extended well beyond an online bookstore. And while it may seem obvious today, at the time Jeff Bezos was working to get his idea to the masses, many investors thought it would be no match for bookstore giants like Borders and Barnes and... Continue reading at Silicon Valley Business Journal
[ Silicon Valley Business Journal | 2019-07-05 17:38:09 UTC ]
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Tochi Onyebuchi’s young adult books, the duology Beasts Made of Night and Crown of Thunder, are fantasy novels with a Nigeria-influenced setting. His upcoming War Girls is set in a post-nuclear, post-climate change Nigeria of 2172. Riot Baby, his first novel for adults (also forthcoming), is a... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2019-07-04 11:00:10 UTC ]
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A Rioter not only got to visit the romance bookstore of her dreams, L.A.'s The Ripped Bodice, but also got a slew of recommendations from a co-owner! Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2019-07-02 10:36:13 UTC ]
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A Wisconsin indie has launched a fundraising campaign to benefit for RAICES, an organization that aids immigrants detained at the U.S. border. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-07-01 04:00:00 UTC ]
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What to do while you wait for Netflix’s Sarah Dessen Adaptations: Obviously, get thee to a bookstore and read her ... Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2019-06-29 10:31:00 UTC ]
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Ahead of the 10th birthday of What the Ladybird Heard, Lydia Monks reviews her career so far. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-06-26 21:08:25 UTC ]
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Book Culture, based in the same Queens neighborhood where Amazon wanted to set up shop, says it will be forced to close if the city or state doesn’t offer assistance. In New York City’s Long Island City neighborhood, down the road from where Amazon tried (and failed) to build a “second... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2019-06-26 15:56:45 UTC ]
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Penguin Random House division Puffin has acquired a picture book about a day in the life of two gay dads and their adopted daughter, by WriteNow mentee Gareth Peter, illustrated by Garry Parsons. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-06-25 03:54:45 UTC ]
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She published her first novel at 50, and her heroines were invariably rich, savvy, ambitious and preternaturally beautiful. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2019-06-24 20:37:23 UTC ]
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