Parisian teenager Lou has an IQ of 160, OCD tendencies, and a mother who has suffered from depression for years. But Lou is about to change her life-and that of her parents-all because of a school project about homeless teens. While doing research, Lou meets No, a teenage girl living on the streets. As their … Continue reading USBBY Outstanding International Book Pick: No and Me by Delphine de Vigan
Lament for Syria by Amineh Abou Kerech Syrian doves croon above my head their call cries in my eyes. I’m trying to design a country that will go with my poetry and not get in the way when I’m thinking, where soldiers don’t walk over my face. I’m trying to design a country which … Continue reading “Lament for Syria”
'Breaking Knees': Sixty-three Very Short Stories from Syria is not about refugees or civil war. Nor do the stories involve terrorists. Conversely, Zakaria Tamer’s very short tales take place behind the front door, in living rooms and over coffee, between neighbors, and, most importantly, between the sheets. Relationships between women and men lay at … Continue reading Breaking Knees
Riad Sattouf's The Arab of the Future, a widely acclaimed graphic novel published first in French and then in translation in English, German, Spanish, Portuguese and several other languages, is a work of extraordinary candour. Sattouf, who has a Syrian father and a French mother, shows minimal restraint when he portrays in pictures and … Continue reading The Arab of the Future
For such a small collection of stories, Folktales from Syria packs an interesting punch for an English reader. Beginning with an introduction by Andrea Rugh, this collection works to inform and educate the reader as much as it does to entertain. In the Preface, Rugh takes the reader through her meeting with Samir Tahhan, … Continue reading Folktales from Syria
'[...] she held out a hand above my head. "Do you swear by God that you'll tell the world what I have to say?" she asked. "I swear." "Swear by the thing you hold most dearly deep in your heart." I swore quietly, and as her palm came down on my head … Continue reading The Crossing: My Journey to the Shattered Heart of Syria
Award-winning publisher Arsenal Pulp Press has a reputation for championing quality international literature, and it only takes a scan of their forthcoming titles to prove this reputation to be well-earned. Founded in 1971, the Vancouver-based indie has consistently produced gorgeous books from diverse viewpoints, with special attention paid to underrepresented communities. Translated titles, such as … Continue reading Publisher Spotlight: Arsenal Pulp Press
Review by: Lindsey Hilsum Channel 4 News' International Editor Most western TV viewers know Aleppo as a violent, divided, destroyed city where children covered in bomb dust cry amongst jagged ruins, or are rushed to makeshift hospitals along debris-strewn streets. Khaled Khalifa’s Aleppo, by contrast, is a place of alleyways and elegant perfume stores, of … Continue reading No Knives in the Kitchens of This City
By Nuri Al-Khalaf Syrian Literature Month Editor It has been said that Arabs took soil with them while they travelled - to smell it and be reminded of their homelands. Today, Syrians are taking with them their dreams, hopes, pains, memories and literature wherever their feet take them after the disastrous events in their country. … Continue reading Amid the Literature of Syria, the Cradle of Civilization
When a translated book for children makes the shortlist of an award also open to grown-up books, my heart leaps. Because yes, children’s literature is literature. And translators of children’s books need plenty of credit and support for their careers, made tenuous by the (currently—we can change this) low demand for #worldkidlit translated into English. … Continue reading A Warwick Prize Shortlist and Clementine Loves Red
Global Literature in Libraries Initiative 