Back Issues

IRAQI AUTHORS: Banipal’s first issue of 2010 celebrates authors from Iraq with over half its 224 pages devoted to fiction and poetry by writers from different generations, some spread across the world, but many writing from within the country. We celebrate, in particular, a new generation who are free to write the story of Iraq we’ve been waiting to hear, however hard.  Banipal is indebted to all the translators and copy-editors who made the issue possible.

• Nazum al-Obeidi • Nassif Falak • Hussain al-Mozany • Lutfiya al-Dulaimi • Luay Hamza Abbas • Diya al-Jubaily • literary pioneer, the late Mahdi Issa al-Saqr • PLUS works by eleven poets . . .

PLUS  • the powerful fiction of Yemeni author Ali Mohammed Zayd, Egyptian novelists Mohamed al-Bisatie and Ezzat el-Kamhawi • also Flemish author Rachida Lamrabet Epic • and an epic poem by Algerian poet Habib Tengour

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Banipal 36 – Literature in Yemen today presents a rich selection of novel excerpts, short stories and poetry from 17 of today’s Yemeni authors, most of whose work has never before been translated into English.

Many are well-known in Yemen and the Arab world, and some are now regularly invited to European festivals; they include: Huda Ablan, who is currently the secretary-general of the Union of Yemeni writers, the controversial Ali al-Muqri, whose first novel Taste Black . . . Smell Black (excerpted) was published in 2008 to high acclaim, Wajdi al-Ahdal, the winner of numerous Yemeni literary prizes, also, the poet and literary critic Abdel Aziz al-Maqalih, whose modernist voice and pioneering efforts have made the cultural movements in Yemen what they are today.

Also included in the issue are Nadia Alkowkobani, Shawqi Shafiq, Bassam Shamseldin, Habib Abdulrab Sarori, Samir Albufattah, Yasser Abdel Baqi, Ahmad Zein, Fathi Abul Nasr, Mohammad al-Shaibani, Mohammad al-Qaood, Sawsan al-Areeqi and Nabila al-Zubair.

PLUS more . . .

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Writing in Dutch presents ten talented authors who live in the Netherlands and Belgium and write in Dutch, and whose origins are in Morocco, Palestine and Iraq. All ten, explains our guest editor Victor Schiferli in his introduction, are making important contributions, their "new and energetic voices" having enriched and broken "the mould of Dutch literature, taking up themes that had never before been explored". The authors include Ramsey Nasr, the new Poet Laureate of The Netherlands.

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Cover: Photograph taken by Samuel Shimon

The theme of the first issue this year is The World of Arab Fiction, presenting fiction from Egypt and Iraq, from Libya, Tunisia, Morocco, Palestine and Syria, and from Saudi Arabia, in pages redesigned and resized in book format...(read more)

Cover photograph of Mahmoud Darwish by Arts Alliance Productions

This issue opens with a major 70-page feature on the life and legacy of Mahmoud Darwish. It includes articles, tributes, poems and many photographs of the great Palestinian and world poet, who passed away on Saturday 9 August following complications after major heart surgery in Houston, Texas, at the age of 67...(read more)

Cover Artist: Zena Assi

Banipal 32, Summer 2008, introduces a number of new voices for the first time in English. There is the young Egyptian author, Mohamed Salah al-Azab, who is 27 with already several literary awards to his name. The excerpt from his novel [Repeated Stopping] is an urban story of a young man not in control of his life, who easily falls for an older attractive woman, but must be with his father on his death-bed from lung cancer...(Read more)

Cover artist: Mehdi Qotbi

This issue pays tribute to publisher Suhail Idriss, founder of Al-Adab publishing house, and to pioneer Iraqi author Fuad al-Takarli. A new departure for Banipal is a dialogue from The Visitor, an enthralling, and fast-moving playscript by Lebanese poet, translator and author Paul Chaoul...(read more)

Banipal 30 – Celebrating Ten Years
Cover artist: Jaber Alwan

Banipal celebrates ten years of publishing – of translating and showcasing hundreds of authors who have never had their works published in English before, presenting newly emerging writers as well as those well-established in the Arab world and beyond ones...(read more)

Cover artist: Ahmed Moualla

Banipal 29 is packed with Summer reading, excerpts of novels, features and photo-reports. We pay tribute to the late Iraqi poet Nazik al-Malaika who revolutionised modern Arabic poetry, and to Moroccan author Driss Chraïbi. The issue opens with an excerpt from Hassan Daoud’s novel Year of the Revolutionary New Bread-Making Machine, due out in October, his second in English translation...(read more)

Cover artist: Adel El Siwi

Every issue now we seem to be saying farewell to a well-known Arab literary figure. We open sadly with a tribute to Mai Ghoussoub, the London-based Lebanese co-founder of Saqi Books, writer and artist, who died so suddenly in February. We dedicate our major feature on Lebanese poetry to her memory...(Read more)

Cover artist: Nabil Abu Hamad

Farewell, Naguib Mahfouz! The issue opens with tributes to the “writer of the world”, the late Nobel Laureate Naguib Mahfouz, by Banipal’s editor and contributing editors Roger Allen and Peter Clark. Further on in the issue, the well-known Iraqi author Jalil al-Qaisi is remembered by Fadhil al-Azzawi...(read more)

Cover artist: Sattar Kawoosh

This issue was designed especialy for Summer reading and includes much thought-provoking and captivating fiction. There's a short story by Jamal Mahjoub, an excerpt “Earthquake Nightmare” from a novel by Tunisian author Hassan Nasr which,...(read more)

Cover artist: Mai Refky

100-page feature of works by Egypt's new generation of cosmopolitan young writers who use their pens to debunk the heroic self, the totalitarian idea of the nation and the single voice...(read more)

Cover artist: Mohamed Melehi

Includes excerpts from novels by Hanan al-Shaykh and Vénus Khoury-Ghata plus an extract from The World of Saddam Hussein and from Samar Yazbek. There are short stories by Ahmed Bouzfour, the late Samir Naqqash, and Ali al-Kasimi, and others by Huzamah Habayeb, Haifa Bitar, Jamila Omairah, Aroussia Naluti and Salwa al-Neimi...(read more)

Cover artist: Dima Hajjar

Opening authors are Palestinians Ala Hlehel and Mahmoud Darwish. There are two major features – on Omani poet Saif al-Rahbi and on the late Syrian poet Saniya Salih. Two powerful figures from North Africa, both writing in French, are Abdellatif Laâbi from Morocco and Abdelwahab Meddeb from Tunisia...(read more)

Cover artist: Sadradeen

Includes excerpts from novels by Najwa Barakat, Ali al-Domaini, Baha Eddine Taoud and Aziz Chouaki, poems by established poets Abbas Beydhoun, Ibrahim Nasrallah, Salah Hassan, Nazih Abu Afash, Inaya Jaber and Rasha Omran and from Palestinian-Americans writing in English Lisa Suher Majaj and Fady Joudeh...(read more)

Cover artist: Azzawi

c. Fiction of Gamal el-Ghitani, Mahmood Abdel Wahab, Jalil al-Qaisi and others. LITERARY INFLUENCES file is by Lebanese poet Abbas Beydhoun – The Stranger, The Outsider and the Foreigner

Cover artist: Feryel

Includes a 13-page interview with poet Saadi Youssef, a 57-page feature on the novel in Saudi Arabia with eight authors, including Abdul Khal, Turki al-Hamad and Ghazi Algosaibi (profile). Plus fiction from Mahmoud Shukair and four other authors. Poetry from Mohammed Al-Harthi and two others...(read more)

Cover artist: Youssef Abdelké

New size 245 x 170mm - 160 pages illustrated. Tributes to the late Abdelrahman Munif and Mohamed Choukri. Part 3 of series (49 pages) on Iraqi literature with 11 authors. Profile and poems of Mohammed Bennis. And other works by 7 poets and 6 fiction-writers. New series on LITERARY INFLUENCES: Hassouna Mosbahi writes on James Joyce in Tunisia.

Cover artist: Kareem Risan

Includes Farewells to Edward Said and Wilfred Thesiger. Part Two of series (47 pages) on Iraqi literature with 22 authors. 11-page feature on novelist Habib Selmi. Poems by Khaled Mattawa, Nouri al-Jarrah and four others. Profile of novelist Hassan Nasr by Hartmut Fähndrich

Cover artist: Kadhim al-Khalifa

Includes Part One of 3-part series on contemporary Iraqi authors with 27 authors (50-pages); 12-page feature on author Rabee Jaber. Plus work by novelist Alawiyya Subuh, introduced by Nirvana Tanoukhi. Profile of poet Qassim Haddad

This issue is now out of print.  Because of requests for this issue, we are investigating the possiblity of a small reprint. If you would be interested in purchasing a copy of a reprint, please email us directly on subscribe@banipl.co.uk, to let us know.

Cover Artists: Vladimir Tamari, Samira Badran

Special 131-page feature on contemporary Palestinian literature with 54 authors – poems, fiction, reviews, profiles. PLUS Poems from Abd al-Aziz al-Maqalih, Saadi Youssef and others.

Cover artist: Faisal Laibi Sahi

27-page feature on Iraqi fiction with 6 authors including Mohammad Khodayyi, Mahdi Issa al-Saqr and Fuad al-Takarli. 17-page feature, with interview, on Syrian Kurdish novelist-poet Salim Barakat. Fiction from five authors including Rafik Schami and Miral al-Tahawy. Poems from Paul Chaoul.

Includes special 56-page feature on contemporary Jordanian literature as Amman celebrates being the UNESCO Arab Capital of Culture in 2002, with 33 authors. PLUS 12-page feature, with interview, on the renowned Egyptian novelist Gamal el-Ghitani. Plus works of poets Mohammad al-Maghut and Abbas Beydhoun, fiction-writer Yasmine Khlat, and poet-author Abdul Kader el-Janabi.

Cover artist: Saad Ali

A4 – 80 pages illustrated. Interview with novelist and critic Elias
Khoury. Tribute to Mohammed Zefzaf (1945-2001) and works. Works by poets Sargon Boulus, Saadi Youssef, Mohammed Bennis, Fadhil al-Azzawi, Inaya Jaber, Ghassan Zaqtan, Kadhim Jihad, Mouayed al-Rawi and Mohja Kahf. Works by Bensalim Himmich, Rashad Abu Shawar, Samuel Shimon, Mohammed Mustagab and Issa J Boullata. Plus Book Reviews and Events.

Cover artist: Patricia Millns

22-page feature, with appreciations and profiles on Moroccan poet Mohammed Khaïr-Eddine. Interviews with author Tayeb Salih and poet Abbas Beydhoun. Poems by Adonis, Etel Adnan and 11 others. Works by Abduallah Laroui, introduced by Kamal Abdellatif, and novelist Halim Barakat introduced by Bassam Frangieh.

Cover artist: Mahi Binebine

A4 – 80 pages illustrated. Feature on one of Morocco’s best-known short story writer Mohammed Zefzaf, with introduction by Saadi Youssef. An annual fiction prize in his honour is awarded by the Assilah Festival. Interview with pioneer literary translator Denys Johnson-Davies. Lebanese fiction author Hoda Barakat is introduced by Anton Shammas. Plus works by Hani al-Raheb, introduced by Bassam Frangieh, and works by Said al-Kafrawi, introduced by Ferial Ghazoul. Also works by 7 poets and 8 fiction-writers, plus essay by critic and journalist Mohammad Ali Farhat.

Cover artist: Afifa Aleiby

22-page feature on novelist, poet and essayist Tahar Ben Jelloun from Morocco. Feature on works by Ten Iraqi Poets. Works by 6 poets and 10 fiction writers including appreciations. Article by Mahmoud Darwish on Translating Poetry.

Cover artist: Rachid Koraichi

A4 – 88 pages. Feature on poet Saadi YousseF. Feature on contemporary Algerian literature (44-pages) introduced by Algerian author Wacini Laradg. Testimony and Short Stories by Mahmoud Shukair. Works by 7 other poets and works by 5 fiction-writers. Tribute to the late Syrian novelist Hani al-Raheb.

Cover artist: Kamal Boullata

A4 – 88 pages illustrated
Feature on Jordanian novelist Ghalib Halasa. Interviews with Edward al-Kharrat and Rachid al-Daif. Poems by Fadhil al-Azzawi and 7 other poets. Fiction by Zakariyya Tamer, Salim Barakat and 7 other authors. Plus Tribute to the late Abdul Wahab al-Bayati. And . . .

Cover artist: Kacimi

A4 – 96 pages illustrated. Major 41-page feature on contemporary Moroccan literature with 20 authors, including interview with Mohamed Choukri. PLUS poems by Ounsi el Hage, Badr Shakir al-Sayyab, Nizar Qabbani, Sargon Boulus and four other poets. Works by 5 fiction-writers. interview with Ghazi Algosaibi.

Cover artist: Marwan

A4 – 96 pages illustrated. Includes feature on poet Mahmoud Darwish with poems, interviews and appreciations, interviews with and works of novelists Albert Cossery and Yusef Habshi al-Ashqar. Interview with novelist-playwright Ahmed al-Fagih. Plus works by 11 poets, six fiction-writers and articles on the Arabic Novel.

Cover artist: Azzawi

A4 – 80 pages illustrated. Interviews with novelist Abdelrahman Munif, film-maker Costa Gavras and poet Amjad Nasser, plus works by poet-novelist Anton Shammas and 11 other poets, 10 fiction writers, plus reviews.

Cover artist: Ali Fenjan

A4 – 80 pages illustrated. Interviews with poet Adonis and poet-painter Etel Adnan. Works by Saadi Youssef and 8 other poets, 9 fiction writers, a tribute to the late Nizar Qabbani, reports on the Quartet and Garnet publishing houses, and on Iraqi exile writing. Front cover painting created especially for Banipal by Ali Fenjan.

Cover artist: Youssef Abdelké

A4 – 80 pages illustrated. Banipal's first issue includes major interview with Iraqi poet Sargon Boulus, plus works by renowned poet Adonis and 11 other poets, 9 fiction writers. Reports on Al-Kamel and Al-Saqi publishing houses, and a tribute to the late Syrian playwright Sa’adallah Wannus. Front cover painting created especially for the magazine launch by Youssef Abdelké.