Beirut 39: New Writing from the Arab World »

Samuel Shimon is the co-founder and deputy editor of Banipal, a highly respected magazine of new Arab writing in English translation. He is also the founder and editor of Kikah, the most popular cultural website in Arabic. His autobiographical novel An Iraqi in Paris was long-listed for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.

Amin Maalouf is the author of many works of fiction, including Leo the African and Samarkand, as well as non-fiction, including The Crusades through Arab Eyes and In the Name of Identity: Violence and the Need to Belong

www.beirut39.com

Beirut is the 2009 World Book Capital, as designated by UNESCO, and at the center of the festivities, in collaboration with the world-renowned Hay Festival, is a competition to identify the thirty-nine most promising young talents in Arab literature. The selection of the "Beirut 39" follows the success of a similar competition in the 2007 World Book Capital, Bogotá, celebrating achievements in Latin American literature.

This year, for the first time, the winners—nominated by publishers, literary critics, and readers across the Arab world and internationally, and selected by a panel of eminent Arab writers, academics, and journalists—will be published together in a one-of-a-kind anthology. Edited by Samuel Shimon of Banipal magazine, the collection will be published simultaneously in Arabic and English throughout the world by Bloomsbury and Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Publishing.

Beirut 39 provides an important look at the Arab-speaking world today, through the eyes of thirty-nine of its brightest young literary stars.

Publishers Weekly

This fascinating collection of pieces by 39 young Arab voices from all over the world was put together by the Hay Festival in celebration of Beirut's 2009 selection as World Book Capital. Incorporating stories, poems, and novel excerpts, the enormously varied lineup includes Abdellah Taia's “The Wounded Man,” about a gay university student in Morocco watching a forbidden French film during Ramadan; an excerpt from Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmad Saadwi, in which a garbage-diver searches for the perfect nose to complete the “hybrid body” he's assembling; and “Haneef from Glasgow” by Mohammad Hassan, in which a Kashmiri immigrant is viewed through the eyes of his Saudi employers' son. Nazem El Sayed contributes delightfully compact revelations in his “Thirteen Poems”; Randa Jarrar takes a tender look at a Palestinian boy in “The Story of My Building”; Hala Kawtharani explores the Beirut of the 1950s and '60s in “Lebanon/Switzerland? Beirut/Paris?” Because they are so involving and diverse, readers may be frustrated by the entries' brevity, though anyone working on their to-read list will find plenty of ideas. (June)

Preface Hanan al-Shaykh v

Judges' Announcement xi

Introduction Abdo Wazen xiii

Editor's Note xv

from the novel Bedouins on the Edge Abdelaziz Errachidi 1

from the novel The Trip to the Slaughterhouse Abdelkader Benali 8

The Wounded Man Abdellah Taia 17

Amazigh Abderrahim Elkhassar 24

from the novel Skin of Shadow Abderrazak Boukebba 28

from the novel The Twentieth Terrorist Abdullah Thabit 34

At the Post Office Adania Shibli 43

from the novel Frankenstein in Baghdad Ahmad Saadawi 51

eight poems from The Utopia of Cemeteries Ahmad Yamani 57

Coexistence Ala Hlehel 62

Three Poems Bassim al Ansar 68

Two Stories Dima Wannous 72

Mimouna Faïza Guène 82

Three Stories Hala Kawtharani 92

from the novel Secret Pleasures Hamdy el Gazzar 98

from the novel The Last Hanging Poem Hussein al Abri 109

Three Poems Hussein Jelaad 118

Layla's Belly Hyam Yared 123

Who Are You Carrying That Rose For? Islam Samhan 128

from the poem 'The Geology of the I' in The Book of J Joumana Haddad 131

from the novel The Scalpel Kamel Riahi 137

from the novel The Threshold of Ashes Mansour El Souwaim 146

The Path to Madness Mansoura Ez Eldin 155

Haneef from Glasgow Mohammad Hassan Alwan 161

A Boat That Dislikes the Riverbank Mohammad Salah al Azab 168

four poems from Like the Blade of a Knife Nagat Ali 175

The Pools and the Piano Najwa Binshatwan 182

Six Poems Najwan Darwish 194

Thirteen Poems Nazem El Sayed 198

from the novel America Rabee Jaber 204

The Story of My Building Randa Jarrar 215

Guardians of the Air Rosa Yassin Hassan 223

from the novel The Scent of Cinnamon Samar Yezbek 230

Nine Poems Samer Abou Hawwash 237

A Crime in Mataeem Street Wajdi al Ahdal 242

from the novel Raven's Leg Yahya Amqassim 255

Two Stories Yassin Adnan 264

Suicide 20, or The Hakimi Maqama Youssef Rakha 272

Nine Poems Zaki Baydoun 282

Notes on the Text 287

Notes on the Authors 295

Notes on the Translators 301