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Lebanon

Bright green fabric
Photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash
Man of Satin
By Souhaib Ayoub
He smoked incessantly. I watched him with a silent longing.
Translated from Arabic by Sharon Grosso
The covers of The King of India, Dogs of Summer, Yoga, Three Streets, Boulder, and A Summer Day...
The Watchlist: August 2022
By Tobias Carroll
Tobias Carroll recommends new and exciting books in translation from Lebanon, China, Spain, Japan, and France.
Boat on the sea, an image from Mazen Kerbaj's graphic novel Dear B
Dear B.
By Mazen Kerbaj
I still miss you after all this time.
Translated from French by Mercedes Claire Gilliom
A Subjective History of Lebanon
By Mazen Kerbaj
Translated by Edward Gauvin
Six Proposals for Participation in a Conversation about Bread
By Rasha Abbas
“That’s what we get for supporting Communism: standing in line for this black loaf.”
Translated from Arabic by Alice Guthrie
Letter from Beirut: Writing as Memory in the “Capital of Amnesia”
By Maya Jaggi
If the collapse of the nation-state reinvented the Lebanese novel, its reconstitution could galvanize literature.
Framing the Story: Six Graphic Narratives
By Susan Harris
These artists capture both words and images to convey narratives individual and collective.
Beirut Trilogy
By Barrack Rima
Protests against the government's incompetence multiply.
Translated by Carla Calargé & Alexandra Gueydan-Turek
Vienna
By Sahar Mandour
After I fell for him, I never cheated on him again, except that time in Paris. And that other time.
Translated from Arabic by Nicole Fares & Sara Ramey
Through a Glass Brightly: Languages, Politics, and Contemporary Literature from Lebanon
By Olivia Snaije & Mitchell Albert
Lebanese literature preceding the civil war represented a friendly place, a land of milk and honey; the Mediterranean…” The war “swept all that away.”
The Night Post
By Hoda Barakat
I write my letter with no idea where to send it.
Translated from Arabic by Robin Moger
Checkpoint
By Jabbour Douaihy
He pleaded for him to believe him.
Translated from Arabic by Paula Haydar
Fairuz in My Grandfather’s Shop
By Lamia Ziadé
Fairuz was only to sing on stage.
Translated from French by Edward Gauvin
Painful Games
By Lena Merhej
A shattering pain, or intense euphoria
Translated from Arabic by Ghenwa Hayek
The Jewish Nose
By Sabyl Ghoussoub
I looked like a Jew, an Islamist, a Portuguese, an Iranian, an idiot.
Translated from French by Mitchell Albert & Olivia Snaije
After Midnight
By Charles Chahwan
“You need to take your clothes off,” she continued.
Translated from Arabic by Suneela Mubayi
Beyond Queer: The Queer Issue
By Susan Harris
The contributors to our Queer issues produce narratives that elude facile compartmentalization.
Mina
By Sahar Mandour
One day this violation will be in the past, consigned to oblivion, long forgotten.
Translated from Arabic by Alice Guthrie
In Praise of Nonconformity: The Queer Issue
By Susan Harris
Behind the bigotry and hyperbole lurk the fear of the unknown, the threat to the status quo.
She, You, and I
By Elham Mansour
What’s the point of love without suffering?
Translated from Arabic by Elisabeth Jaquette
Graphic Novels at WWB: The First Ten Years
By Susan Harris
The narrative threads that weave through the last ten years tell a tale in themselves.
from Le Piano Oriental
By Zeina Abirached
Fifteen years later, I was the one who left.
Translated by Edward Gauvin
Flapflap Blues
By Mazen Kerbaj
In the sky, never much. In the streets, always too much.
Translated by Mercedes Claire Gilliom
Solitary Confinement on the Seventh Floor
By Mazen Maarouf
One day / I’ll tear off my lips / and eat them / like candy.
Translated from Arabic by Kareem James Abu-Zeid & Nathalie Handal
Walt Whitman and Me: Notes on a Poetic Education
By Abdel-Moneim Ramadan
I was possessed by memory and forgetfulness and by Arabic poetry.
Translated from Arabic by Michael Beard & Adnan Haydar
My Cloud
By Mazen Kerbaj
Translated by the author
Mazen Kerbaj's Graphic Work We Have, Page Eight
We Have
By Mazen Kerbaj
We have nations that we don't want.
Translated from French by the author
It was a November of bitter rain and snow blackened by use
By Vénus Khoury-Ghata
A child would liquefy as soon as a snowflake touched the ground.
Translated from French by Marilyn Hacker
Multilingual
God, the mother claimed, is behind every tree in the forest
By Vénus Khoury-Ghata
Yet the storm announced festive disorder
Translated from French by Marilyn Hacker
Multilingual
Helicopter seeds on a maple tree
Photo by bales on Unsplash
When did their language mingle with ours
By Vénus Khoury-Ghata
The female branches made off with the laundry on our lines
Translated from French by Marilyn Hacker
Multilingual
How to find the mother when her face disappeared behind the hills
By Vénus Khoury-Ghata
if a storm broke she collapsed in soot
Translated from French by Marilyn Hacker
Multilingual
Dead
By Vénus Khoury-Ghata
the foxes who recognized her by her smell didn’t light their matches
Translated from French by Marilyn Hacker
Multilingual
As night became talkative
By Vénus Khoury-Ghata
Her kitchen utensils fled after the last guest deserted her
Translated from French by Marilyn Hacker
Her apron drawn on her skin
By Vénus Khoury-Ghata
The mother sent us out in the street naked
Translated from French by Marilyn Hacker
Multilingual
February 2012 International Graphic Novels Volume Vi Letter To The Mother Mazen Kerbaj Page Thumbnail
Letter to the Mother
By Mazen Kerbaj
Translated from French by Mazen Kerbaj & Ahmad Gharbieh
From “The Future of the Arabic Language”
By Khalil Gibran
Let your national zeal spur you to depict the mysteries of pain and the miracles of joy that characterize life in the East.
Translated from Arabic by Adnan Haydar
February 2010 Worth Ten Thousand Words Part Iv International Graphic Novels From A Game For Swallows Zeina Abirached Page Thumbnail
From “A Game for Swallows”
By Zeina Abirached
Translated from French by Edward Gauvin
The Tragedy of Narcissus The Comedy of Silver
By Mahmoud Darwish
They returned…
Translated from Arabic by Fady Joudah
The Dragon of Rabieh
By Alexandre Najjar
Some witnesses claimed to have seen a dragon, others a dinosaur.
Translated from French by Laurie Wilson
Dinner Party in Beirut
By Sélim Nassib
The druggist has closed up shop without a word to anyone, the scoundrel, and it's not even five o'clock.
Translated from French by Michael Reynolds
Crazy Zarifé
By Vénus Khoury-Ghata
Perused that evening by lamplight, that essay made the schoolmistress' hair stand on end.
Translated from French by Marilyn Hacker
The Garden of the One
By Salah Stétié
The snail is necessary the bindweed is necessary
Translated from French by Marilyn Hacker
Cadaver
By Joumana Haddad
I gaze at my corpse where it lies and I find myself beautiful.
Translated from French by Marilyn Hacker
March 2008 The Groves Of Lebanon A Short Description Of Lebanon Mazen Kerbaj Page Thumbnail
A Short Description of Lebanon
By Mazen Kerbaj
from “October 27, 2003”
By Etel Adnan
“Etel Adnan’s language takes the reader on passages that thread in and out of their own feelings, their own consciousness.”—Diana Abu Jaber
Translated from French by C. Dickson
From “Origins”
By Amin Maalouf
A name engraved on stone isn't much, I have to admit, but it is the name of my relatives and the missing proof of their transatlantic dream.
Translated from French by the author
Texterminators
By Mai Ghoussoub
As far as Bullet and his companions were concerned, these volumes were made of paper, and paper is good for warming their feet.
February 2008 Worth Ten Thousand Words A World Of Graphics Part Ii A Happy Childhood Mazen Kerbaj Page Thumbnail
A Happy Childhood
By Mazen Kerbaj
Translated from French by Edward Gauvin
From “The Assembly of Secrets”
By Elias Khoury
The death was expected. The only one to be taken by surprise was Ibrahim Nassar.
Translated from Arabic by Humphrey Davies
My City’s Ceiling Is Too Tight
By Hala Shurouf
O my city . . . Be a little larger / so that I may see my shadow free / on the sidewalks
Translated from Arabic by Issa J. Boullata
Mordechai’s Mustache and His Wife’s Cats
By Mahmoud Shukair
Mordechai is a simple person, like tens of thousands of others in Tel Aviv (though he would insist that there are few like him there).
Translated from Arabic by Michael K. Scott
Diary
By Mahmoud Darwish
If you were told: you're going to die here this evening What would you do in the remaining time?
Translated from Arabic by John Berger & Tania Tamari Nasir
A Lady Who Does Not Resemble Me
By Hala Shurouf
She opens the window to the friendly morning / and tempts its birds
Translated from Arabic by Issa J. Boullata
From “Yalo”
By Elias Khoury
Yalo didn't understand what was happening.
Translated from Arabic by Humphrey Davies
House Work
By Mahmoud Darwish
1How oftendid I go in the morning to Thursday’smarket. I bought our house supplies,and chose an orchid and mailed the letters.A rain made me wet and filled me with the scent of oranges.Did you tell…
Translated from Arabic by Fady Joudah
From “White Masks”
By Elias Khoury
Listen, fellows, the driver says, we should notify the police, or else they'll frame us for it.
Translated from Arabic by Maia Tabet
Omega: Definitions
By Zeina B. Ghandour
I don't usually talk about my religion.
Jameel Bouthaina, and I
By Mahmoud Darwish
She grows old, my friend, outside the heart / in others' eyes.
Translated from Arabic by Fady Joudah
From “Nettles”
By Vénus Khoury-Ghata
Statements of small importance / spreading like phosphorous fire on dry grass
Translated from French by Marilyn Hacker
From “Gate of the Sun”
By Elias Khoury
You're from Beirut? she cried, the words tumbling out of her mouth and her eyes filling with tears.
Translated from Arabic by Humphrey Davies