Qantara.de - Dialog mit der islamischen Welt

Seit 2015 ist das Interesse an syrischer Literatur in deutscher Übersetzung stark gestiegen. Künstler*innen, Übersetzer*innen und Verleger*innen erzählen von ihren Erfahrungen – und darüber, wieso der Hype für sie nicht nur förderlich ist. Von Mari OdoyMore

Since 2015, war has been raging in Yemen – a country about which people in Europe know astonishingly little. Cologne-based writer Guy Helminger visited Yemen in 2009, six years before hostilities began. He describes his experience in his book "Die Lehmbauten des Lichts" (Clay buildings of light). Interview by Gerrit WustmannMore

Mustafa Khalifaʹs "The Shell – Memoirs of a Hidden Observer", which has been translated into ten languages, is one of the most famous prison novels in Arabic literature. Khaled Salameh spoke to Khalifa about the world of the novel, his identity, his country and his exileMore

The Arabic Childrenʹs Literature Festival held recently in Munich presented a selection of recommended childrenʹs books in Arabic. The catalogue is one of the early outcomes of a three-year project run by the International Youth Library, with the aim of bringing as yet unknown Arabic childrenʹs books to Germany. By Claudia MendeMore

Swedish translator Jonathan Moren recently asked how it was possible that Syrian writer Salim Barakat – praised by such towering literary figures as Mahmoud Darwish and Adonis – has not yet been translated into English. Here, Egyptian author and critic Mahmoud Hosny explains what a language loses by not embracing the creative vision of Salim BarakatMore

The famous mystic Ibn Arabi’s 61 poems have been translated into German for the first time by Stefan Weidner. But are the poems really all that easy to understand? By Marian BrehmerMore

Many Arab civil war refugees have been forced to abandon prosperous lives in a homeland destroyed by war in order to reach the safety of Europe. But traumatic experiences are not all they bring with them; there is also a wealth of literature which is still unknown to many of us. By Melanie Christina MohrMore