Banipal is keen to promote live literature events that include Arab authors. Check out this section for news of events that Banipal is organising or is involved in. For a photo report of a recent event, click here.
Tour
From the heart of the Arab world,
four young writers on tour
The Banipal Live UK tour of young Arab writers took place in August with a series of performance-readings and live discussions at bookshops, theatres and libraries. Poets Joumana Haddad from Lebanon and Abed Ismael from Syria, and fiction writers Mansoura Ez-Eldin from Egypt and Ala Hlehel from Palestine were the authors of the tour, which was a partnership of Banipal magazine with the British Council, generously supported by Arts Council England.
The tour was launched on 14 August at a Welcome Reception in Bloomsbury, the heart of literary London, and attended by a number of important figures from the British and Arab literary scenes, media and publishing. The first reading took place at the popular London Review Bookshop, with the tour finale at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, and performance-readings in Derby, Chesterfield, Manchester and South Shields en route. All the authors read their own works in translation, along with short extracts in the original Arabic.
Host of the tour is Banipal's assistant editor and Iraqi author Samuel Shimon.
The paperback volume, Unbuttoning the Violin,
featuring selected works by the four writers, celebrates their tour of
the UK, and is available at all readings and can be purchased directly
from Banipal. It is published by Banipal Books, ISBN 0-9549666-2-7,
price £3.95.
London Monday 14 August
Writers’ Reception Party in Bloomsbury
London Tuesday 15 August
London Review Bookshop,
14 Bury Place, London WC1A 2JL
Chesterfield Joumana Haddad and Mansoura Ez-Eldin
Wednesday 16 August
Chesterfield Library, New Beetwell Street, Chesterfield S40 1QN
Derby Abed Ismael and Ala Hlehel
Wednesday 16 August
Derby Central Library,
The Wardwick, Derby DE1 1HS
Manchester Thursday 17 August
Manchester Central Library,
St Peter’s Square,
Manchester M2 5PD
In Tour...
Customs House, Mill Dam, South Shields NE33 1ES
Introduced by Peter Mortimer
Peppers Theatre,
Charlotte Square Gardens, Edinburgh
For more information email info@banipal.co.uk
Tour Host: Iraqi author Samuel Shimon
Tour Producer: Banipal Publisher Margaret Obank
Tour Manager: Freelance Live Literature Producer Julia Bird
The paperback volume, Unbuttoning the Violin,
featuring selected works by the four writers, celebrates their tour of
the UK, and is available at all readings and can be purchased directly
from Banipal. It is published by Banipal Books, ISBN 0-9549666-2-7,
price £3.95.
Banipal Live 2006 Partners
Banipal magazine was founded in 1998, and since then has presented in its pages over 500 different authors from the Arab world. It's a magazine for avid readers. To subscribe or buy a back issue, click here. For more information about us, click here.
"Banipal has given modern Arabic literature . . . a new voice and a compelling presence within the English language. It has also proven that nothing is lost in translation" Anton Shammas