In this episode from a few years ago, we wandered through Arabic poetry and prose and talked about many different forms of literary love: regretful love, unreciprocated love, bad love, vengeful love, liberating love, married love.

We read this poem by Núra al-Hawshán:

“O eyes, pour me the clearest, freshest tears

And when the fresh part’s over, pour me the dregs.

O eyes, gaze at his harvest and guard it.

Keep watch upon his water-camels, look at his well.

If he passes me on the road

I can’t speak to him.

O God, such affliction

And utter calamity!

Whoever desires us

We scorn to desire,

And whom we desire

Feeble fate does not deliver.”

The Núra al-Hawshán poem, translated by Moneera al-Ghadeer, has a modern musical adaptation on YouTube produced by Majed Al Esa.

Yasmine Seale’s translation of Ulayya Bint El Mahdi. This poem and others were set to music on the album “Medieval Femme.”

Do’a al-Karawan (“The Nightingale’s Prayer”) by Taha Hussein

I Do Not Sleep, Ihsan Abdel Kouddous, trans. Jonathan Smolin

The Cairo Trilogy, Naguib Mahfouz (1956-57)

Al-Bab al-Maftouh (The Open Door) Latifa al-Zayyat, trans. Marilyn Booth (1960)

All That I Want to Forget, by Bothayna Al-Essa, translated by Michele Henjum.

Rita and the Rifle, Mahmoud Darwish, made into a song by Marcel Khalife.

Ode to My Husband, Who Brings the Music by Zeina Hashem Beck

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Egypt’s January 25 revolution was 15 years ago. Since then many of its young leaders have been persecuted and the history of what happened distorted or denied. After spending over a decade in prison, the activist and writer Alaa Abd El-Fattah was finally released from prison in September, and allowed to travel outside Egypt in December. We are re-running an episode we did about Alaa’s 2021 book You Have Not Yet Been Defeated, and other writing on the Egyptian uprising and its aftermath.

Show Notes

Alaa Abd El-Fattah’s You Have Not Yet Been Defeated was translated by a collective, and is out from Fizcarraldo Editions in the UK. A US edition is forthcoming in March 2022 from Seven Stories Press. There is also an Italian translation by Monica Ruocco.

Ahmed Douma’s second poetry collection, Curly, was set for release in September 2021 by Dar Maraya. But on the eve of its publication, state security officials confiscated copies of the book. Read Elliott Colla and Ahmed Hassan’s co-translations of a poem from this collection, and an excerpt from Douma’s “Blasphemy,” on ArabLit.

Basma Abdelaziz’s Here is a Body, which chronicles the Rabaa massacre and its aftermath, was published in Jonathan Wright’s translation by Hoopoe Fiction. You can read an excerpt on the Hoopoe website.

Also, join our #bulaqbookquiz for a chance to win a release from one of ten participating publishers. Send your answers to bulaq@sowt.com.

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Ursula traveled to Paris to talk to Lebanese novelist Hoda Barakat about writing in Arabic while living at a distance from home; listening to the voices of characters who are destined to defeat; and starting each of her books with a question.

This podcast is produced in collaboration with the Sheikh Zayed Book Award. The Sheikh Zayed Book Award is one of the Arab world’s most prestigious literary prizes, showcasing the stimulating and ambitious work of writers, translators, researchers, academics and publishers advancing Arab literature and culture around the globe.

Hoda Barakat was awarded the Sheikh Zayed Book Award in 2025 for her novel Hind, or the Most Beautiful Woman in the World. Barakat’s other award-winning novels include The Stone of Laughter, The Tiller of Waters and Disciples of Passion.

The Sheikh Zayed Book Award Translation Grant is open all year round, with funding available for titles that have won or been shortlisted for an award in the Children’s Literature and Literature categories. Publishers outside the Arab world are eligible to apply - find out more on the Sheikh Zayed Book Award website at: zayedaward.ae Barakat’s biography and a description of her novel can be found on the SZBA website.

During this episode, we read part of Marilyn Booth’s translation-in-progress. Booth also translated several other novels by Barakat, including her International Prize for Arabic Fiction-winning Bareed al-Layl, translated to English as Voices of the Lost.

You can subscribe to BULAQ wherever you get your podcasts. Follow us on Twitter @bulaqbooks and Instagram @bulaq.books for news and updates. If you’d like to rate or review us, we’d appreciate that. If you’d like to support us as a listener by making a donation you can do so at https://donorbox.org/support-bulaq.

BULAQ is co-produced with the podcast platform Sowt. Go to sowt.com to check out their many other excellent shows in Arabic, on music, literature, media and more.

For all things related to Arabic literature in translation you should visit ArabLit.org, where you can also subscribe to the Arab Lit Quarterly. If you are interested in advertising on BULAQ or sponsoring episodes, please contact us at bulaq@sowt.com.

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