In Short: ArabLit & ArabLit Quarterly

Like http://arablit.org/, but shorter. And with more pictures.

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From Najwa Bin Shatwan’s ‘Tree of Soap’ Libyan writer Najwa Binshatwan’s latest novel, شجرة الصابون (Tree of Soap, Dar Arab 2026) unfolds with her signature sarcastic-surrealism. In this world, the State encourages citizens to express themselves, ensures their participation, and provides them everything necessary to practice democracy. Nothing is forced, exactly; it’s just that absence is unwelcome and silence requires explanation.... https://arablit.org/2026/06/04/from-najwa-binshatwans-tree-of-soap/

From Najwa Bin Shatwan's 'Tree of Soap'

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From Charles Akl’s ‘Red Like Orange’ "Before singer-songwriter  Yousra Hawwari, who made great use of the accordion, it was nobody’s favorite instrument despite being widely used. Perhaps it earned a kind of universal dislike precisely because it was overused in Egyptian songs from the 1990s, songs from other Arab countries that imitated Egyptian songs, and Turkish songs that either plagiarized Egyptian ones or vice versa."...

From Charles Akl's 'Red Like Orange'

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Words, Music, and Translating ‘Red Like Orange’ This month, Hoopoe Fiction (an imprint of AUC Press) publishes Charles Akl’s debut novel Red Like Orange, which won a 2023 Sawiris Cultural Award. Now, three years later, Sarah Enany’s translation of this novel is available to a new readership....

Words, Music, and Translating ‘Red Like Orange’

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Forthcoming June 2026: YA, Classics, and More

As publication dates often slip — and new books surface — we try to have a glance at what’s really (to the best of our knowledge) coming in translation from Arabic at the start of each month. If you have more books to add, please let us know. Asad’s Secret, by Najlaa Attaallah, tr. Sawad Hussain (Levine Querido, June 2, 2026) From the publisher: Asad lives in Gaza, in a tiny house, on a narrow…

Forthcoming June 2026: YA, Classics, and More

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A Look Back at ArabLit in May 2026

~May 2026~ Particular thanks this month to editors & contributors Dana Al Shahbari, Ibtihal Rida Mahmood, May Ziadé, Rose DeMaris, Mennan Salih, Yasmeen Hanoosh, Sarah Enany, Neil Hewison, Leonie Böttiger, Amr El-Zawawy, Danae Fonseca, Nashwa Nasreldin, and Tugrul Mende.  On ArabLit, this has been the “Month of May“: A look forward at new engagements with May Ziadeh, including our collective…

A Look Back at ArabLit in May 2026

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Join Us Tomorrow for the Inaugural May Ziadeh Salon and Book Pre-Launch

Who was May Ziadeh (1886-1941) and why was she an important part of Arabic letters? Tomorrow, we invite you to an introductory salon at which we’ll discuss and read from Ziadeh’s Musings of a Young Woman (forthcoming, ArabLit Books). Join scholars, translators, editors, & poets on Sunday May 31, 2026 at 12 p.m. ET, 5 p.m. London, 7 p.m. Lebanon and Palestine to learn more about May Ziadeh, her…

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'On the Greenwich Line' Wins James Tait Black Prize

MAY 29, 2026 — Katharine Halls’ translation of Shady Lewis’s On the Greenwich Line won this year’s James Tait Black Prize in the fiction category. The prize is one of the UK’s oldest, and many at its home, Edinburgh University, didn’t want it to go ahead during a marking boycott. The James Tait Black Prizes were established in 1919. This year, they announced two winners: The fiction prize went to…

'On the Greenwich Line' Wins James Tait Black Prize

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Five Poems by May Ziadeh

The following translations are from May’s first book, Fleurs de Réve, a collection of poems she wrote in French during her adolescence and early twenties. She published it in 1911 under the pen name Isis Copia. –Rose DeMaris. Five Poems by May Ziadeh Translated by Rose DeMaris In Forest Sweet dews in these tender stems flood my eyes. This breeze holds her breath— then ripples through heaven’s…

Five Poems by May Ziadeh

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'My Father Chased the Free Bird'

This poem appears in our latest issue, SYRIA: Fall of Eternity, ed. Ghada Alatrash and Fadi Azzam. My Father Chased the Free Bird So Long, Feathers Began to Grow on Him By Marwan Ali Translated by Ghada Alatrash Spring 2022 The Hawk It is the free bird. I know it by the beat of its wings—by their straight stretch, how they unfurl to stir the saliva of the Kurdish hunters and their traps. They…

'My Father Chased the Free Bird'

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Translating for the Egyptian Stage

Translating for the Egyptian Stage Between Sarah Enany and Yasmeen Hanoosh In this “BETWEEN TWO ARABIC TRANSLATORS” conversation, Yasmeen Hanoosh and Sarah Enany talk about some of the particulars about translating for the stage and, particularly, for song. Yasmeen Hanoosh: You work with seeming ease from Arabic to English, and English (and other languages?) to Arabic. Introduce us to your…

Translating for the Egyptian Stage

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In Memory of May, by May Ziadé

In Memory of May by May Ziadé This text springs from a masochistic encounter with the sexist archive; though perennially provoked, I keep returning to it. My name is (also) May Ziadé. I (also) write, gather, and, if it weren’t for the year I was born, I would certainly have been confined in “The First Hospital for the Insane in Bible Land”, later known as Asfuriyeh, where May was sent for fresh…

In Memory of May, by May Ziadé

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Classic Short Fiction: East Is East

East Is East (Inspired by Paris) By Fouad Elshayeb Translated by Amr M. El-Zawawy He stood bewildered at the crossroads, not knowing which way to take. Before him lay the road that led to the broad boulevard; behind him, the side street from which you could see the Odéon’s façade . To his right was the only passage where the curve of the restaurant could just barely just be glimpsed; to his left…

Classic Short Fiction: East Is East

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Why Bring May Ziadeh into English? Why Now?

PRE-ORDER the BOOK | MAY ZIADEH SERIALIZED in your INBOX | LAUNCH EVENT MAY 31, 2026 We asked ourselves (and each other) why we wanted to bring May Ziadeh’s Musings of a Young Woman into English. Why May? And why now? From the Editorial Desk Dana Al Shahbari (foreword author, translator, concept initiator): May Ziadeh has accompanied me for many years now. I first worked with her literature…

Why Bring May Ziadeh into English? Why Now?

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On Arabic Young Adult Literature in Translation

Last month, The Centre for Book Cultures and Publishing and Outside in World hosted a conversation between Sawad Hussain, Marcia Lynx Qualey, and Susanne Abou Ghaida about Arabic Young Adult literature and translation. Scholar Susanne Abou Ghaida launches the conversation with a presentation about “Trends in Translating Arabic Children’s and YA Books into English: Authors, Illustrators,…

On Arabic Young Adult Literature in Translation

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Standing Tall Like Trees: From Gaza to Canada

Standing Tall Like Trees By Hedaya Shamun Translated by Nael Hijjo   A snowstorm was quick to greet me as I took the roads from Middletown, Connecticut to Ottawa, Canada. I was charmed by the trees, standing tall and defiant along the endless road that stretched for more than seven hours. I stared out into the white expanse—everything saturated with whiteness—and whenever the car stopped, I felt…

Standing Tall Like Trees: From Gaza to Canada

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'A City with No Secrets'

Later today, our monthly publishers’ newsletter comes out; this month, we put the spotlight on Oman. Amal Alsaeedi’s Side Entrance to the House is one we commend for translation. You can read another excerpt of the novel at The Common. A City with No Secrets From Side Entrance to the House By Amal Alsaeedi Translated by Nashwa Nasreldin The problem with this city has always been not a lack of…

'A City with No Secrets'

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Two New Poems by Marah Muhammad Al-Khatib

Two New Poems By Marah Muhammad Al-Khatib Translated by Ibtihal Mahmood Marah Muhammad Al-Khatib is a student in data science in Gaza who is one of the laureates of ArabLit’s Summer 2025 Gaza Literary Translation Series; her work has appeared in Spanish with Elvantodelsuimangr and Gaza Tarevista, and in English at ArabLit. (1)   Unyielding are the devil’s eyes when he lies he doesn’t blink he…

Two New Poems by Marah Muhammad Al-Khatib