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Founded in 1998 Banipal is an independent literary magazine publishing contemporary authors and poets from all over the Arab world in English translation.

Banipal 42 – New Writing from the Emirates

Banipal 42 focuses on the literature being written now in the United Arab Emirates. In previous issues we have introduced the contemporary literature of Syria, Jordan, Morocco, Palestine and Lebanon. We have given you Libyan Fiction, New Writing in Egypt, Literature in Yemen Today Modern Tunisian Literature and The Novel in Saudi Arabia. It is now the turn of Emirati literature. As readers begin their journey into the works of 27 writers, three introductory essays open up the background to the short story, the development of modern poetry and the state of the novel in the UAE today. Among the stories that stand out are Abdul Hamid Ahmed’s Kuya’s Little Things about an Indian worker’s struggle to provide for his far-away family, the excerpt from Sara al-Jarwan’s novel Letters to my Lord the Sultan, spelling out the complexities of life in a family of one man with four wives and Adel Khozam’s poetic reflection, "Music", in stanzas echoing the musical scale.

It proved impossible to keep the feature within its designated limits, and we are pleased to say that instead of pulling some works out we decided to continue them online – and miss nothing. Nine of the authors have selected works continued online. Just go to current issue, scroll down to the list of Selections and click the one you want to read.

Banipal’s Guest Literature feature this issue comes from Germany: eight great authors at the top of their fields. We welcome enormously this unusual literary collaboration and look forward to furthering the dialogue between cultures in a myriad of ways.

Banipal 42 opens with a return to the popular feature – Literary Influences. Prize-winning Saudi Arabian author Raja Alem recounts her passion for reading as a child and how she got to read Gorky, Dumas, D H Lawrence, Proust and so many of the world’s great fiction writers.

We also present two young Egyptian authors, Ahmed Mourad and Ahmed Khaled, through excerpts of their respective novels, Vertigo and Utopia, just being published by Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Publishing.

For full list of Banipal 42's contents, and links to selections, reviews and information about all authors, translators, writers and reviewers, click here
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Banipal magazine showcases contemporary Arab authors in English translation, from wherever they are writing and publishing. An independent magazine, Banipal's three issues a year present both established and emerging Arab writers through poems, short stories or excerpts of novels. From Banipal 41 they include Guest Literature feature, plus the occasional features of LITERARY INFLUENCES, TRAVELLING TALE, interviews with authors, publishers and translators, book reviews and photo-reports of literary events. Each issue has a main theme, as well as being illustrated throughout with author photographs and the full colour covers often feature prominent Arab artists.

Banipal is one of four resident organisations at the Arab British Centre.
Banipal magazine and books are available directly from our office there.

Banipal magazine and books can be purchased online from our distributor Inpress Books

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Banipal 42
New Writing from the Emirates

The New Writing from the Emirates feature was kindly supported by the Emirates Foundation
Emirates Foundation supported Banipal 42 – New Writing from the Emirates

To read a new interview with RAMSEY NASR click here

Heavenly Life – selected poems of Ramsey Nasr, translated from the Dutch by David Colmer, is shortlisted for the Popescu Prize for European Poetry in Translation. For more, click here

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ISSUES 1 – 42

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