Literature
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Showcasing the writing of Iraqi women
Close to the wounds, but even closer to hope
The second volume of “Mit den Augen von Inana” (Through the Eyes of Inanna) is an impressive collection of purely female perspectives on modern Iraq, from the Saddam era through to the contemporary Tahrir Revolution. Christopher Resch spoke to three of the authors
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Interview with Iranian translator Mahmoud Hosseini Zad
A naked image of the truth
Iran's capital city, Tehran, is firmly in the grip of the coronavirus pandemic. The cultural scene is suffering because of it too. But in the face of adversity and the often arbitrary interventions by the censor, books are still being published – such as the diaries of David Rubinowicz, who was murdered by the Nazis. Mahmoud Hosseini Zad translated the book. He spoke to Gerrit Wustmann about his work and the current situation in Iran
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Interview with author Ronya Othmann
Fighting the obliteration of Kurdish-Yazidi identity
Ronya Othmann's novel "Die Sommer" (The Summers) tells the story of Leyla – the daughter of a German and a Yazidi Kurd – who visits her grandparents' Yazidi village in northern Syria every summer until the village ceases to exist. Schayan Riaz spoke to the author
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Non-fiction: Taran Khan's "Shadow City"
Taking a fresh look at Kabul and the Afghan people
Penned by Indian journalist Taran Khan and thus devoid of the customary Western perspective, "Shadow City" presents a refreshing portrait of this long-suffering, multi-layered city. By Marian Brehmer
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Aziz Binebine's "Tazmamart: Eighteen years in Morocco’s secret prison"
We were robbed of our health, our youth and our innocence
Spring 2020 finally saw the publication of Aziz Binebine's Tazmamart memoir in English, translated by Lulu Norman. While it has now been nearly 30 years since the prisoners left their underground cells, Tazmamart remains synonymous both with hidden military prisons and with the terrors of Morocco’s Years of Lead. Marcia Lynx Qualey read the book
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Book review: Cihan Acar's "Hawaii"
Hawaii in Heilbronn
The hero of Cihan Acar's engrossing debut novel is a young Turkish-German man who has returned to "Hawaii", a troubled district in his native city of Heilbronn, searching for a new beginning in life after the premature end to his football career. As he does so, the simmering animosity between the city's self-appointed vigilante civil defence groups and Turkish mafia clans descends into full-scale war. By Volker Kaminski
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Remembering Mohammed Dib
The grand seigneur of French-language Algerian literature
21 July marks the centenary of the birth of Mohammed Dib, one of the founding fathers of French-language Algerian literature. Born in 1920 in Tlemcen, Algeria's national writer spent the greater part of his life in exile. He passed away on 2 May 2003 in the Parisian suburb of La Celle-Saint-Cloud. By Regina Keil-Sagawe
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Book review: Amir Hassan Cheheltan's "Der Zirkel der Literaturliebhaber"
A literary cocoon
For decades, lovers of literature would gather at the house of writer Amir Hassan Cheheltan's family to debate classical Persian works – until politics forced its way into the readers' cocoon. By Gerrit Wustmann
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Tangiers, Morocco
Of myths and modernity
It was American literary figures who propagated the myth of the city of Tangiers in north-western Morocco as a den of permissiveness and danger. Notwithstanding this Western view of the city, Tangier is to this day a city that belongs to no specific culture or continent. Claudia Mende takes us on a literary tour
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Book review: Ava Homa's "Daughters of Smoke and Fire"
Living with the sting of hatred
While "Daughters of Smoke and Fire" – Kurdish author Ava Homa's heart-rending debut novel – is about Leila, a young Kurdish woman, coming of age in contemporary Iran, the portrayal of a minority's struggle against oppression and assimilation transcends the personal. Richard Marcus read the book
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Obituary: Tunisian author Albert Memmi
Adieu, Albert!
Albert Memmi, Tunisian author and pioneer of a sociology of de-colonisation, died on 22 May 2020 in Paris. He was nearly 100 years old. He was the last of a generation of Maghreb novelists writing in French. A personal obituary by Regina Keil-Sagawe
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Book review: Sahar Khalifeh's "Passage to the Plaza"
It's all a question of timing
When Sahar Khalifeh’s "Passage to the Plaza" appeared in English this year, thirty years after its initial publication, it seemed out of sync – too late and too overshadowed by the coronavirus. Yet perhaps this is just the right time: its locked-in world of curfews and domestic violence speak to 2020 as much as it did to 1990. By Marcia Lynx Qualey