Topic: Translation

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Young people in the Arab world (image: Getty Images/AFP/F. Belaid)

Philosophy, Arab world trend

Erich Fromm's advice for troubled times

The writings of German-American philosopher Erich Fromm (1900-1980) are trending in the Arab world. Claudia Mende asked Hamid Lechhab, translator of Fromm's works into Arabic, what might be behind thisMore

″Religious criticism around 1900″: Middle Eastern philosophy's take on IslamIslamic thinker Fehmi Jadaane: What is the essence of Islam, and does it need reforming?Islam and enlightenment: Beware of the myth Egyptian philosopher Hassan Hanafi: "Globalisation is Western gegemony"
Language areas of the brain in native speakers of German and Arabic (source: MPI CBS/DW)

Language and language acquisition

How the brain processes German and Arabic

Language develops in different areas of the brain. Researchers have been able to show that the way these are linked varies according to the respective native language – knowledge that could prove useful. By Katrin EwertMore

The demise of Modern Standard Arabic: Tongue-tied ArabsArabic in Latin script: Lost in ArabicMoroccan school curricula: French, Arabic, Moroccan, Amazigh?
Lebanese writer Alawiya Sobh (image: IMAGO/Ex-Press)

Lebanese writer Alawiya Sobh

I'm not afraid for myself

In her latest novel, Lebanese writer Alawiya Sobhwrites about the failure of the Arab Spring and how religious bigotry and patriarchal structures are impacting people's health. Interview by Lena BoppMore

Interview with Alawiyya Sobh: Telling stories to surviveIman Humaidan-Junis: "B as in Beirut"Raschid al-Daif: Writing to combat memory loss
The window of the Forough bookshop and publishing house in Cologne, Germany (photo: privat)

Iranian literature in exile

"A great demand for Persian books"

Cologne-based publisher Anahita Redisiu sells Persian books that have been banned or censored in Iran. She regards the situation in Iran with concern and has harsh words for Germany's stance towards the Iranian regime. Gerrit Wustmann spoke to her about politics and literatureMore

Iran protests 2022: Tehran fatally oblivious to social changeFrankfurt Book Fair: Iran drops out, citing interferenceProtests in Iran: Murderous repression by a desperate regime Mahsa Amini's death: Iranians unite in rage and mourning
Image of Rumi on a marketplace (photo: Marian Brehmer)

New release to mark 750th anniversary of Rumi's death

Complete edition of the "Masnavi" in German

For the first time ever, a complete edition of Rumi's "Masnavi" has been published in German in verse. At the Sufi Festival in Hamburg in late November, Marian Brehmer met translator Otto Hoeschle and spoke to him about the significance of this masterpiece of Islamic mysticismMore

God's love for all: Sufism is not just MuslimThe hidden treasures of Sufism: In the footsteps of RumiAttar’s "The Conference of the Birds": There is no person whose soul has not suffered
Al Saqi Books shopfront in Bayswater, London (photo: Al-Saqi Facebook)

Middle East literature

Al Saqi, Europe’s largest Middle Eastern bookseller, to close

London-based Al Saqi Books, Europe’s largest specialist bookseller for publications from the Middle East, has been forced to close because of the hike in prices of Arabic-language books and because Brexit has been "detrimental" to businessMore

LGBTQ+ Pride: Being queer and ArabLondonʹs Mfest and the anthology "Donʹt Panic, Iʹm Islamic": The first great anti-Trump bookQantara dossier: Arabic literature
Turkish writer and journalist Nedim Turfent (source: English PEN)

Nedim Turfent’s freedom of speech

Beyond the walls of Van

Kurdish journalist Nedim Turfent has been in prison in Turkey since 2016 – because he reported on police violence. A collection of his writings penned while behind bars is now available in German. Gerrit Wustmann read the bookMore

The Turkish-Kurdish conflict: Friend and foeFreedom of the press in Turkey: Recep Tayyip Erdogan tightens the media thumbscrewsViolence against journalists increasing: Press freedom under fire in TurkeyCreeping authoritarianism: Turkeyʹs one man band
What is Palestinian? The Israeli population includes about twenty percent Arabs, they are Muslims or Christians and often refer to themselves as Palestinians. Many of them live in the big cities like Jerusalem or, as here, in the old city of Jaffa in Tel Aviv (photo: AFP)

Adania Shibli's "Minor Detail"

What is Palestinian literature exactly?

What do we mean when we talk about Palestinian literature: an exploration using the example of Adania Shibli’s slender novel "Minor Detail". By Miryam SchellbachMore

Recreating Palestine in literature: A nation crafted from wordsProfessor Timothy Brennan: Why Edward Said still mattersPalestinian American writer Susan Abulhawa: ″Literature is a facet of society″Palestinian-Israeli writer and artist Aida Nasrallah: "We have to re-think the concept of identity"
Illustration from Fariduddin Attar's "Vogelgespraeche" published by Edition Orient 2022 (source: Edition Orient)

Attar’s "The Conference of the Birds"

There is no person whose soul has not suffered

Fariduddin Attar’s "The Conference of the Birds", one of the seminal works of Islamic mysticism, has recently been published in sumptuously illustrated German translation. It makes an excellent introduction to the Persian poet. By Gerrit WustmannMore

Women and Islamic studies: Annemarie Schimmel’s pioneering take on Islam The hidden treasures of Sufism: In the footsteps of RumiLaury Silvers' "Sufi Mysteries Quartet": Sleuths on a Sufi pathQantara dossier: Mysticism | Sufism
Kurdish author Bachtyar Ali (photo: KEYSTONE/picture-alliance)

Kurdish author Bachtyar Ali

Tackling the tornado of history

Bachtyar Ali sends the hero of his latest novel – "Mein Onkel den der Wind mitnahm" – literally flying. Jamshid is so thin after his years as a political prisoner that a gust of wind sweeps him through the bars of his prison cell and out to freedom. Volker Kaminski read the bookMore

Interview with Kurdish author Bachtyar Ali: "I only exist where my words take flight"James Joyce′ "Ulysses" in Kurdish: Across snotgrean seas"Min Dît – The Children of Diyarbakir": Fairytale and social Utopia
Cover of "dort" literary magazine, showcasing contemporary Persian literature (source: publisher)

Young Persian fiction

"Dort": weird fiction fresh from Iran

Literature by young Iranian authors is rare in German. Publisher and translator Arash Alborz aims to change this with his literary magazine, 'dort'. Do the first two editions live up to that promise? Gerrit Wustmann took a look for Qantara.deMore

Official 'dort' websiteModern Persian literature: Five Farsi novels and their impact on Iranian pop culturePersian poetry in the 21st century: The poem in contemporary IranCaught between tradition and modernity: Will ancient poet Hafez win the "soft war" in Iran?
Jadd Hilal (photo: Lenos Verlag)

Jadd Hilal's debut novel

Women searching and yearning for home

In his debut novel, "Flügel in der Ferne" (Wings in the Distance), award-winning French author Jadd Hilal gives voice to four women from four different generations who tell the stories of their uprooted lives in Europe and the Middle East. By Volker Kaminski
 More

Amjad Nasser's "Land of No Rain": A milestone of modern Arabic literatureKhaled Khalifa’s “No One Prayed Over Their Graves”: The maelstrom of AleppoQantara dossier: Literature
Turkish author Hakan Gunday (photo: picture-alliance/dpa)

Turkish author Hakan Gunday's "Verlust"

The ghosts of the army

Hakan Gunday is one of the most exciting authors on today’s Turkish literature scene. His novel "Ziyan", now published in German as "Verlust" – literally 'loss' – takes a radical and contemplative look at a country mired in permanent military conflict. Gerrit Wustmann read the bookMore

Kurdish director Selim Yildiz: When one dies, the next goes up into the mountainsBerlinʹs Binooki publishing house: Cultural rapprochement hamstrung by ErdoganTurkey – past, present and future: After Erdogan, what then?
Nobel prizewinning author Abdulrazak Gurnah (photo: Amrei-Marie, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons)

Nobel winner Abdulrazak Gurnah

"It's good to make right-wingers cry"

Abdulrazak Gurnah, the British-Tanzanian Nobel-winning writer, has spent a lifetime confronting colonialism and racial politics – and welcomes a new generation keeping these issues aliveMore

Abdulrazak Gurnah's "Paradise": "Freedom is not something they can take away"Abdulrazak Gurnah and Tsitsi Dangarembga: Can the Nobel Prize "revitalise" African literature?Abdulrazak Gurnah – "Pilgrim's Way": As foreign as a drop of oil in water
Sadly familiar with disasters: iftar meal in Aleppo, another city destroyed by Russian bombs, pictured in late April 2022 (photo: picture-alliance)

Khaled Khalifa’s “No One Prayed Over Their Graves”

The maelstrom of Aleppo

Longlisted for the 2020 International Prize for Arabic Fiction and now available in German translation, Khaled Khalifa’s novel “No One Prayed Over Their Graves” details lives and loves lost against the backdrop of a city undergoing seismic change. Joseph Croitoru read the bookMore

Khaled Khalifaʹs "Der Tod is ein muehseliges Geschaeft": A funeral cortege through hell Syrian author and poet Ra′id Wahsh: Who ate the sky?Syrian writer Samar Yazbek: Divided society, divided souls
Algerian ethnologist and poet Habib Tengour (photo: private)

Book fair in Algiers

Habib Tengour and the "Poems of the World"

The Algiers book fair has taken place for the 25th time, following a two-year break owing to the pandemic. Independent Algerian publisher APIC used the occasion to showcase its avant-garde poetry series, initiated by the Algerian poet and ethnologist Habib Tengour. Interview by Regina Keil-SagaweMore

Habib Tengour's "Le Vieux de la Montagne": True legendsFady Joudah's "Footnotes in the Order of Disappearance": A web of living tissuePersian poetry in the 21st century: The poem in contemporary Iran

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