Past Events

The Book Smuggler

by Omaima Al-Khamis

translated by Sarah Enany

the winner of the 2021 Saif Ghobash Banipal Translation Prize

The Arabic original of The Book Smuggler, Masra al-gharaniq fi mudun al-aqiq (Voyage of the Cranes over the Agate Cities) won the 2018 Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature and was longlisted for the 2019 International Prize for Arabic Fiction.

The Book Smuggler is published by Hoopoe Fiction in paperback and ebook editions. Read an extract here.

In the epic fashion of the great Arab explorers and travel writers of the Middle Ages, scribe and bookworm Mazid al-Hanafi narrates this journey from his remote village in the Arabian Desert. Dreaming of grand libraries, his passion for the written word draws him into a secret society of book smugglers and into the famed cultural capitals of the period―Baghdad, Jerusalem, Cairo, Granada, and Cordoba.

He discovers a dangerous new world of ideas and experiences the cultural diversity of the Islamic Golden Age, its sects, philosophical schools, wars, and ways of life.

Omaima Al-Khamis’s magical storytelling and her vivid descriptions of time and place trace a route through ancient cities and cultures and immerse us in a distant era, uncovering the intellectual debates and struggles which continue to rage today.

Reviews

"An exercise in exquisite language" — The National

“Extraordinary. . . filled with vivid descriptions, incredibly detailed history and a vibrant lightness. . . . Through her perfectly paced, patiently illuminating tale, Al-Khamis pays homage to a deep-rooted history, one that is tense and joyful, in which the passion of men and women outweighs the fear of the time and those who want to control thoughts and lives.” — Manal Shakir, Arab News

"This deeply informed view of the medieval Islamic world will absorb readers of serious historical fiction, and knowledge lovers like Mazid." — Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal

OMAIMA AL-KHAMIS

Omaima Al-Khamis was born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in 1966. A prolific writer, columnist, critic, social reformer, and women’s rights activist, she has published novels, short-story collections, opinion pieces, and children's books. The Book Smuggler, her fourth novel, won the Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature, and was longlisted for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction, both under the title, Masra al-gharaniq fi mudun al-aqiq (Voyage of the Cranes over the Agate Cities.

This novel is her English language publishing debut. She lives in Riyadh with her husband, two sons, and daughter.

THE TRANSLATOR

Sarah Enany is a literary translator and an Assistant Professor in the Department of English Language and Literature at Cairo University. She won the 2021 Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for her translation of The Girl with Braided Hair by Rasha Adly. She has translated a number of other works including by Yusuf Idris, Mohamed Salmawy, Ahmed Aboul Gheit (Witness to War and Peace: Egypt, the October War, and Beyond) and is best known until winning. the Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for her translation of the three novels of Kamal Ruhayyim’s “Galal” trilogy – Diary of a Jewish Muslim (2014), Days in the Diaspora (2012) and Menorahs and Minarets (2017), all published by AUC Press. She also translated Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables into colloquial Egyptian Arabic.

All welcome

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If you have difficulty getting hold of a copy, please email us at bookclub@banipal.co.uk and we'll try to help.