The Arab World Market Focus at last week's London Book Fair in the Earls Court Exhibition Centre provided a succession of treats over three days. Has such a large number of Arab writers, publishers, critics etc ever before congregated in London? I think not.
Photo above: Maya Jaggi in a "breakfast" conversation with the Egyptian novelist Bahaa Taher in the English PEN Literary Cafe at the fair. This was one of the highlights of the Arab World Market Focus. Taher was warm, eloquent and inspring and I can't wait to read the English translation of his novel "Sunset Oasis" which last month won the first-ever International Award for Arabic Fiction (IPAF - AKA "the Arabic Booker"). This may entail quite a wait: although the translation is being done courtesy of funding from Granta owner Sigrid Rausing, a publisher has yet to come forward.
Another memorable event was the Arab Authors Evening at Foyle's bookshop, Charing Cross Road. The celebrated Egyptian author of The Yacoubian Building Alaa al-Aswany shared the platform with two writers of Libyan origin: Hisham Matar ,whose first novel In the Country of Men has won a string of awards and was shortlisted for the Man Booker, and the US-based poet, translator, creative writing university teacher etc Khaled Mattawa. They were interviewed by Dedi Feldman of Words Without Borders, the online magazine for international literature. The photo shows Hisham Matar and behind him Al-Aswany, deep in conversation with fellow dentist and best-selling novelist Raja Alsanea, the Saudi author of Girls of Riyadh. The coincidences multiply: the second novel of Al-Aswany's to be translated and published in English, Chicago, is due to be published by Harper in October. Al-Aswany studied dentistry in that city, and Alsanea is currently a postgrad student in dentistry at the University of Illinois of Chicago.
Syrian novelist Khaled Khalifa. He was shortlisted for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction with his novel In Praise of Hatred.
Ahmed Alaidy, the Egyptian author of Being Abbas el Abd
The Syrian poet Monzer Al Masri
