Banipal 36 – Literature in Yemen today is published just as this year’s Frankfurt Book Fair begins, and not long after the Berlin International Literature Festival, which had its international focus on the Arab world – an ideal time to introduce the rich and diverse fiction and poetry that is being written in Yemen.• The 160-page feature presents a rich selection of novel excerpts, short stories and poetry from 17 of today’s Yemeni authors, most of whose work has never before been translated into English.
Many are well-known in Yemen and the Arab world, and some are now regularly invited to European festivals; they include: Huda Ablan, who is currently the secretary-general of the Union of Yemeni writers. The controversial Ali al-Muqri, whose first novel Taste Black . . . Smell Black (excerpted) was published in 2008 to high acclaim. Wajdi al-Ahdal, the winner of numerous Yemeni literary prizes, allso, the poet and literary critic Abdel Aziz al-Maqalih, whose modernist voice and pioneering efforts have made the cultural movements in Yemen what they are today.
Also included in the issue are Nadia Alkowkobani, Shawqi Shafiq, Bassam Shamseldin, Habib Abdulrab Sarori, Samir Albufattah, Yasser Abdel Baqi, Ahmad Zein, Fathi Abul Nasr, Mohammad al-Shaibani, Mohammad al-Qaood, Sawsan al-Areeqi and Nabila al-Subair.
There is no holding back on any subject matter in either fiction or poetry – the family, love, taboos, customs and superstitions, being a woman, coming to terms with the country’s history, life in Yemen today, the sky and the sea, myths and legends, dreams and nightmares, individual guilt, responsibility and atonement – a full and fascinating panorama of human life and society. Produced in collaboration with the Yemen Book Shop and its managing director Nashwan Ali Al-Maghafi, the 2008 Young Publishing Entrepreneur of the Year.
(More information HERE.)
