More Flexibility with Foreign Words Might Help Arabic Flourish
Using foreign terms in Arabic does not weaken or devalue it, a scholar argues, but rather allows it to develop and keep pace with the modern world.
10 Books, 10 Years Later: Literature After the ‘Arab Spring’
A sampling of how writers from the Middle East and North Africa responded to the chaos and frustrations of the “Arab Spring” uprisings.
An Educator and Translator Confronts a Decline in Teaching Arabic
Maha Saleh believes that the fragmented nature of Arabic teaching curricula has negatively affected the language.
Palestinian Diaspora Literature Resurges from Obscurity
Publishers are showing new interest in creative poetry and fiction by young Palestinians whose works reflect the emotional and physical scars of displacement.
Collection Brings Pioneering Iraqi Poet to New Audiences
Though considered “one of the most significant Arab writers of the twentieth century,” Nazik al-Mala’ika was little known in English. A new bilingual edition creates a fuller portrait of her work.
Recommended Reading, 2020: Books From and About the Arab World
A sampling of works published, translated or honored in the past year illustrates the diversity of scholarly and literary writing by Arab authors.
Bahrain Translation Project Makes 50 Key Texts Available in Arabic
The “Knowledge Transfer Project” is winding down, but leaders hope other initiatives will continue its efforts to improve knowledge-sharing in the Arab world.
Sharjah Book Fair Brings Back In-Person Events
The opportunities for personal encounters that book fairs typically provide have been missing since the coronavirus shutdowns began last spring. That’s about to change.
Series Brings Alive Classical Arabic Texts for Young Readers
The Library of Arabic Literature’s new Young Readers series reframes classical Arabic tales and poetry in ways that make them engaging to readers of all ages.
Digital Archive Collects Arabic Book Covers of the 20th Century
The Arabic Book Cover Archive project focuses on book cover designs from the 1940s to 1990s. The goal isn’t to collect pretty images but to provide the raw material for research.