Worldwide success forThe Almond Tree by Michelle Cohen Corasanti

Following huge success in the English speaking market, the Pontas Literary Agency has announced that The Almond Tree by first-time author Michelle Cohen Corasanti will now also be available in Spanish, Catalan, and Norwegian.

Norwegian rights to The Almond Tree have just been acquired by Schibsted Forlag, the Norwegian publishers of well-known authors such as Khaled Hosseini, Kate Morton and Victoria Hislop. Editor Inger Marit Hansen said:

‘We have read The Almond Tree and we simply love it! It’s such a beautiful and strong story – and it made me cry several times. We will do our best to make sure that this beautiful novel gets all the readers it deserves.’

Shortly before the 2013 London Book Fair, world Spanish rights to the book were sold at auction to Ediciones B, one of the five largest Spanish language publishers, who also has a strong presence in Latin America. They will publish The Almond Tree under their literary imprint Bruguera, which publishes a range of renowned UK and US authors such as Lisa See and P. D. James. Carol París, Foreign Fiction Editor for Ediciones B, commented:

‘It has been a long time since a book struck me so hard. (…) It is an honest novel. There is no death or tragedy in it that leaves you indifferent or that comes across as sensationalist. (…) I felt captured from the first moment by her voice and her style. It is an honest story, exciting, with touching moments… It addresses a subject which is always present. A novel that shows pain, but also hope.’

Simultaneously, Catalan rights for The Almond Tree were sold to Amsterdam Llibres, an independently owned imprint of Ara Llibres. This imprint publishes a very varied list from literary to commercial, and includes Khaled Hosseini amongst its stable of successful authors. Commenting on the acquisition, Izaskun Arretxe, Editor and Director of Ara Llibres, said:

‘Last night I could hardly sleep. I am excited. From the first 50 pages I knew that I wanted topublish the novel in our Amsterdam imprint. (…) I really loved it, it had me gripped, it made me cry (more than laugh), it made me think and, in a way, it transformed me, which is what I ask most of in a book. Yes, yes, yes, we want to publish it!’

The Almond Tree is the story of a young Palestinian, Ichmad, who is gifted with a mind that continues to impress the elders in his village, and who struggles with the knowledge that he can do nothing to save his friends and family. Living on occupied land, his entire village operates in constant fear of losing their homes, jobs, and belongings. More importantly, they fear losing each other.

On Ichmad’s twelfth birthday, that fear becomes reality. With his father imprisoned, his family’s home and possessions confiscated, and his siblings quickly succumbing to hatred in the face of conflict, Ichmad begins an inspiring journey using his intellect to save his poor and dying family. In doing so he reclaims a love for others that was lost through a childhood rife with violence, and discovers a new hope for the future.

Since its publication in October 2012, the book has received glowing reviews both in the UK and the USA:

‘A story that grabs you from the first page and makes your heart go out to the Palestinians without pointing fingers at anyone.’Guillermo Fesser, Huffington Post.

‘The Almond Tree, intelligent, never over stated and written with love, informs and educates – it reminds us that there could be a better way to share this land and that if you allow intellect to blossom only good will come from it.’ Sam Hawksmoor, Hackwriters.

‘Corasanti’s accomplished debut novel offers a humanistic look into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict…Sensitive, moving and competently written; a complex novel as necessary as ever.’ ”Kirkus Reviews”.

‘With the onset of adulthood, one already must cope with so much. The Almond Tree follows the struggles of young Ichmad Hamid as his family is lost to strife, imprisonment, and everything they hold dear. The twelve year old learns it may be on him to use his limited talents to help his family and bring back something of a life. The Almond Tree is a strong addition to coming of age fiction collections, highly recommended.’The Midwest Book Review.

Pontas Literary agency reports that a number of other foreign editors are currently considering the novel, and they are confident that more foreign rights deals will follow. Pontas is also taking the project to next week’s Cannes Film Market, in the hope of attracting a film rights deal for the novel.

Michelle Cohen Corasanti is a Jewish American writer who has lived in France, Spain, Egypt and England, and spent seven years living in Israel. She currently lives in New York with her family.

For more information please visit www.garnetpublishing.co.uk/book/almond-tree

Homo superior, or psychopath? The Father, the Son and the Pyjama-Wearing Spirit

Garnet Publishing is pleased to announce the acquisition of the world rights to The Father, the Son and the Pyjama-Wearing Spirit, the debut novel of Dominic Kingaby. In this intriguing novel the author presents a highly complex alternative philosophy on creation and the evolution of humankind, which is championed by Gian Paulo Friedrich, a young Cambridge student convinced that he represents the next phase of human evolution.

Genre: Philosophical fiction, literary fiction, mystic/fantasy fiction.

Black Chalk: An edgy journey into twenty-first century morality

Garnet Publishing is pleased to announce the acquisition of the world rights to Black Chalk, the debut novel of Albert Alla, from Peter Straus of Rogers, Coleridge and White Ltd. Literary Agency. This Contemporary thriller fiction centres around a school shooting and its enduring impact on the life of its sole survivor, Nate Dillingham, as he embarks on adulthood, trying but ultimately failing to avoid the aftermath.

In the Oxfordshire countryside, a student walks into a classroom and starts shooting. Nate Dillingham, friends with shooter and victims alike, is the sole survivor and only witness. Easily led and eager to please, his recollections weave around others’ hopes, until he loses track of what really happened that day.

The Almond Tree, by Michelle Cohen Corasanti, reaches number 1 in Political Fiction on Amazon.co.uk

Michelle Cohen Corasanti‘s novel The Almond Tree (Garnet Publishing), reached number 1 in the category of Political Ficion on Amazon.co.uk in January 2013 and has been listed among the top 100 political fictions on amazon.com. This outstanding novel is available both as paperback and ebook.

The International Writers Magazine has called the novel ‘so personal, so harrowing, yet so full of hope and triumph over evil, you desperately want it to be real.’

The Almond Tree, compared to the Kite Runner, is the story of the Palestinian young man Ichmad, who gifted with a mind that continues to impress the elders in his village, struggles with the knowledge that he can do nothing to save his friends and family. Living on occupied land, his entire village operates in constant fear of losing their homes, jobs, and belongings. But more importantly, they fear losing each other.

On Ichmad’s twelfth birthday, that fear becomes reality. With his father imprisoned, his family’s home and possessions confiscated, and his siblings quickly succumbing to hatred in the face of conflict, Ichmad begins an inspiring journey using his intellect to save his poor and dying family. In doing so he reclaims a love for others that was lost through a childhood rife with violence, and discovers a new hope for the future.

Michelle Cohen Corasanti is a Jewish American writer who has lived in France, Spain, Egypt and England, and spent seven years living in Israel. She currently lives in New York with her family. The Almond Tree is her first novel.

You can listen or read the first chapter and see a video trailer on The Almond Tree here.

The Winner of the European Union Prize for Literature in English

The Experiment Winner of the European Union Prize for Literature 2010 by Myrto Azina Chronidi

Garnet Publishing has recently launched The Experiment by Myrto Azina Chronides (translated by Irena Joannides).

This fictional work describes a literary experiment in which the main characters, He and She, undertake to write a play together, to see if they can succeed where others have failed in achieving true collaboration and union through their writing. The result is a stream of consciousness in which a collection of tales embodying themes such as love, sex, religious ecstacy, psychiatry and myth are intertwined. The book’s style is unique, attempting to unify subtly coded narratives and partial tales, and leaning toward the structure of a synthetic prose piece rather than a conventional novel.

The book in its original Greek was awarded the prestigious European Union Prize for Literature in 2010. This prize aims to put the spotlight on the creativity and diverse wealth of Europe’s contemporary literature in the field of fiction, promoting the circulation of literature within Europe and encouraging greater interest in non-national literary works.

Now available in English for the first time, The Experiment offers the reader an enriching experience that transcends literary and cultural norms.

A review on A Land without Jasmine on the Daily Star: Magical realist tale masks critique of Yemeni gender issues

BEIRUT: The power of a fairy tale lies not only in its magic, but in its moral. Controversial Yemeni author Wajdi al-Ahdal’s latest novel is a critique of Yemeni society, hidden in a modern day fairy tale every bit as bleak as the Brothers Grimm.

The events of the Arab Spring have caused a sudden surge of interest in works of Middle Eastern art and literature among an English-speaking audience in recent months. As a result, a number of Arabic-language works of fiction are being translated into English for the first time, targeting readers seeking to better understand the current situation in the region.

Ahdal’s “A Land without Jasmine” (originally published under the title “A Land without Sky”) is the latest in this number. Originally published in Arabic in 2008, Ahdal’s 82-page novella tackles sexual politics, blackmail and revenge in Yemen, recounting the tale of Jasmine – an exceptionally beautiful university student – who mysteriously disappears one morning.

The author’s previous work caused considerable controversy in his homeland, particularly his first novel “Mountains Boats,” published in 2002, in which the novelist was accused of using Quranic language to describe sexual scenes. The book was banned in Yemen and Ahdal was forced into exile, only permitted to return in 2010.

Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Culture/Books/2012/Oct-20/192066-magical-realist-tale-masks-critique-of-yemeni-gender-issues.ashx#ixzz2APdfRN8f
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)

The nicely designed official website for The Almond Tree has been launched

Michelle Cohen Corasanti has launched the official website for her novel The Almond Tree.

You can visit the website at: http://thealmondtreebook.com/

There, you can read about the novel, about the author, listen to and read excerpts of the novel, comntact the author and read her blog.

This fall, Michelle Cohen Corasanti’s stunning debut The Almond Tree sheds new light on the Arab Israelis. An insightful and inspiring novel, The Almond Tree recasts a culture frequently seen in the news but often misunderstood.

Reminiscent of The Kite Runner and One Thousand Splendid Suns, Michelle Cohen Corasanti’s The Almond Tree is an uplifting read, which respectfully travels a controversial history and delivers an enriching experience that is a testament to the human spirit and a hope for peace

 

Related articles

• The author of The Almond Tree inspired by Rachel Corrie (garnetpublishing.co.uk)

Book Review on The Land without Jasmine: An Occult Tale of Sexuality in Yemen

Leah Caldwell, Al-Akhbar English, August 7, 2012

Wajdi al-Ahdal’s A Land Without Jasmine depicts the lives of Yemeni women under the ever-watching eyes of men.

If you were to go missing, to vanish into thin air, who – after your friends and family – would the police interrogate as to your last whereabouts? If you live in a city, the next batch questioned might be relative strangers. Those individuals – a neighbor, a shopkeeper, a construction worker – who casually keep watch on your everyday activities from afar. For females, this tacit surveillance might be more acute, especially when it’s male strangers doing the watching.

When a Yemeni university student, Jasmine, disappears in Wajdi al-Ahdal’s novella A Land Without Jasmine, it’s these male observers who are able to narrate her life to investigators with pathological detail. We wonder if the girl, in fact, disappeared, or merely managed to escape their “mass gaze.”

Ahdal, a Yemeni novelist, published his novella under the title A Land Without a Sky in Yemen in 2008, but its English translation, by William Maynard Hutchins, will be released by Garnet Publishing in September 2012. The 82-page novella touches on several themes that have put Ahdal’s life on the line in the past. Namely, involving sex. His 2002 novel Mountain Boats was banned in Yemen for what the Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram described as using “Quranic expressions in describing sexual scenes.” He fled to Lebanon and didn’t return to Yemen until 2010 when he was guaranteed protection by the president.

A Land Without Jasmine is equally defiant; a translator’s note states that three sexually explicit passages not contained in the Arabic version were included in its English counterpart. This explicitness is perhaps essential to understand the world of a girl whose every move comes under a gaze that, in her words, is “a noxious type of male violence.”

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Masoud Behnoud’s note on his novel The Knot in the Rug

The Knot in the Rug

Masoud Behnoud

ISBN: 9781859642887, Paperback, August 2012, £14.95

China, Egypt, India, Greece and Iran, the five standard bearers of civilisation, have never shown as much interest in their own history as civilisations to come. The five nations preferred to picnic on the plains of beautiful fables and welcome the imagination of stylish people rather than make an effort to discover historical truth amid stone tablets and often-neglected historic remains. The Iranian people, perhaps even more so than the others, are keen to blend their history with fables, myths and legends.

Professor Edward Granville Browne, the British orientalist who spent many years living among the Iranians and was a keen supporter of the Constitutional Revolution of 1906, produced a travelogue for British diplomats in which he considered the Iranians a difficult nation to know as the they are not concerned with knowing themselves, or making themselves known to outsiders. For this reason, the history of Persian literature, a country proud of its authors and poets prior to the discovery of oil in 1905, had not been written until Edward Browne committed it to paper at the beginning of the twentieth century.

Until the middle of the last century the most important historic work as far as most Iranians were concerned was Ferdowsi’s Book of Kings, comparable to Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey. This great, eleventh-century epic was based on a collection of myths.

For Iranians, accepting myth in lieu of history has always been 520 easier and more pleasurable than searching for history amid ruins and remains, or entering a never-ending debate on where the truth lies. For years after the Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution in Europe, the Iranians were still content to spend long winter evenings under the korsi, a low table covered with blankets with a charcoal brazier underneath, enjoying its pleasant warmth, watching the snowflakes fall from the sky and listening to the great poets, Hafez and Sa’di, and enjoying their grandmothers’ tales of their great past.

After many years of research and study of documents I completed my trilogy of books on the contemporary history of Iran. The three books tell the stories of three women who lived in Europe and spent part of their lives among the Europeans. The first is Ameeneh, the story of a woman who was the mother of all the Qajars. In her lifetime Ameeneh met Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, Montesquieu and Voltaire, and was received in the courts of Europe and Russia.

In the third book, The Broken Urn, we learn about Alice, the daughter of an English general who served his country in the colonies. She was instrumental in the fate of the last Iranian monarchy, the Pahlavi regime. Alice went to school with the last king of Iran, developing a bond with him and two other Iranian students which led Alice to a long-term interest and involvement in the affairs of Iran, including the 1979 revolution. But what did motivate Alice in taking such an active role? Was it love, hatred, or was it, in fact, carrying out her duties as an employee of MI6?

Khanoum (published here as The Knot in the Rug) is the second book in the trilogy and spans a period from the fifth Qajar ruler at the turn of the nineteenth century to the events of 11 September 2001. Its heroine, Khanoum, was born at the beginning of the twentieth century and her life is a gripping story encapsulating the history of Iran and Europe across the century and including two World Wars. ‘This is a myth that can be believed in’ is written on the cover of the first edition of Khanoum, now in its fourteenth edition in Persian, although all of my books, including this one, have been banned in Iran since Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has become president. The Iranian people have had no difficulty believing the story, but has there ever been such a woman?

My work is akin to taking a faint old photograph and reviving it with colour: the sky in the photograph is not blue and nor are the trees green, but in these stories they are brought to life. The substance of the story is a picture of reality; this is quite common in the clandestine world of history and Persian stories. Like the fine and intricate Persian rugs found in many Iranian households, when the strong Persian sunlight penetrates through the stained glass of the Orussi windows and spreads over the floor every knot in the rug seems to come alive and begin to move; the trees sway with the breeze and the nightingale’s song rises from the four corners of the rug.

In his Book of Kings, Ferdowsi tells of Rostam, Persia’s greatest epic hero, and the equivalent of Samson and Ulysses. Ferdowsi states that Rostam was a local hero from Sistan, and he made him the hero of his story. I spent many years with my hero, Khanoum, and shed many a tear on her grave. She is the most real of all the real creatures on earth and for the readers of this book she is the figure of a beloved grandmother, with whom many Iranians can identify.

M Behnoud
London
Autumn 2008
The Knot in the

Compete Review’s Review on Professor Hanaa by Reem Bassiouney

Complete Review has recently posted a thorough review on Professor Hanaa by Reem Bassiouney. Read the complete review here.

Reem Bassiouney’s interview with BBC World about her novel Professor Hanaa

Reem Bassiouney The novelist talks about creating a more complex, Egyptian answer to ‘chick lit’ with her bestselling book Professor Hanaa.

Listen to the interview here
http://garnetpublishing.co.uk/media/listen-reem-bassiouneys-interview-strand-bbc-world-service

Or read the transcript below:

Professor Hanaa, the story of the professor who would not be virgin on her 40th birthdaty, released in the United Kingdom

Professor Hanaa

by Reem Bassiouney

The Egyptian bestselling novel and the winner of the Sawiris literary award, the biggest award in Egypt, now in the UK

“Deep, original, fascinating…opens new doors to the modern novel in the Arab world and represents Egyptian society with all its complexities, paradoxes and pressing problems.” Gamal Al Ghitany, Novelist and editor in chief of Egypt’s premier literary journal, Akhbar Al Adab

On the eve of her fortieth birthday an Egyptian academic, Professor Hanaa, finds herself alone and unloved. For twenty years she has battled with an impossible love for an unobtainable colleague, and has become an outcast in a society where family and friends mean everything. Single-mindedly intent on changing her life, Hanaa determines she will lose her virginity before her birthday and sets her sights on Khalid, her teaching assistant. An earnest, hardworking and devout young man, Khalid is an unlikely accomplice; however Hanaa’s powers of persuasion know no bounds. What ensues is a humorous and wry commentary on relationships in the Arab world.

About the author

Reem Bassiouney is the author of five highly acclaimed novels in Arabic, all of which have been best-sellers in Egypt. Her second novel, The Pistachio Seller won the best Arabic translated novel award in 2009, and her new novel Professor Hanaa, which appeared in Arabic in 2008, won the first prize in the Sawiris literary award – the biggest award in Egypt.

Watch the author’s conference at Georgetown University

Listen to an excerpt by the author

Read the first chapter

Read more about Professor Hanaa and order here

Garnet Acquires the rights to the novel A Land Without Jasmin by Yemeni novelist Wajdi al-Ahdal

Garnet Publishing is pleased to annouce that it has acquired the world English rights to the novel A Land without Jasmine by the renowned Yemeni novelist Wajdi al-Ahdal, translated by William Maynard Hutchins.

A Land without Jasmin is a sexy, satirical detective story about the disappearance of a young woman student from Yemen’s Sanaa University.  Each chapter is narrated by a different character, beginning with Jasmine herself. The mystery surrounding her disappearance comes into clearer focus

The world rights to The Knot in the Rug, a novel by Masoud Behnoud, acquired by Garnet Publishing

Masoud Behnoud, Iranian author, journalist

Garnet Publishing has recently acquired the world rights to the novel The Knot in the Rug by the prominent Iranian journalist and novelist, Masoud Behnoud.

The Knot in the Rug (Khanoum), by Masoud Behnoud, encapsulates the massive upheavals of the first half of 20^th century from a point of view that the English-speaking readership rarely glimpses. The story contains a rich and compelling record of how these historic events affected lives of a group of people from different parts of the world.   It presents an overview of the fabric of the Iranian society with an emphasis on the last century’s privileged class.

In Khanoum, Behnoud takes us on a journey through turn of the 19th century Iran and follows the lives of three women. His heroine is Khanoum, a little girl born in the courts of Persia’s Qajar dynasty. At the same time, he unfolds the world events contemporaneous with two Persian dynasties up to the present day.

The dynasty, into which Khanoum was born, the Qajars, rose up during the tribal wars of eighteenth-century Iran to capture the Peacock Throne in 1785. Their rule lasted until 1925 when Reza Khan, a Cossack officer and British protégé became Prime Minister in 1921 and later established himself on the throne. The dynasty, which took the ancient Persian name of Pahlavi, lasted until the revolution of 1979. That year the Shii clergy, whom both the Qajars and the Pahlavis had done so much to foster and promote, declared the ancient institution of Persian monarchy to be a relic of the past.

Masoud Behnoud

(مسعود بهنود in Persian) a prominent Iranian journalist, historian and writer, was born on July 27, 1947 in Tehran. He started his work as a journalist in 1964. During his long career he worked as an investigating journalist for different newspapers. He founded more than 20 newspapers and magazines, none of them are currently in publication. Masoud Behnoud lives in the United Kingdom working as a freelance journalist for a number of media organisations, mainly BBC Persian Service, for which he has worked for the past fourteen years.

Behnoud started his career as a journalist in 1964 and became one of the most important and active figures in the trade union of the Iranian journalists. During his career Behnoud produced and presented programmes for the National Iranian Radio and Television, and he founded a number of newspapers and magazines many of which were banned with the advent of 1979 Islamic revolution of Iran, with the editor and senior members of staff being arrested. An attempt to publish other newspapers later on was met with public interest though they were all closed.

From 1979 till 1985, after the closure of the trade union of Iranian journalists Massoud Behnoud didn’t have any possibilities to continue his work. From 1981-1985 he led a low profile existence (more or less in hiding) in Teheran. In 1985 he was one of the founders of Adineh, the most prominent and influential social and literary monthly in Iran. For more than 13 years Massoud Behnoud was one of the leading members of the editorial board and published a great number of essays and commentaries in Adineh. In his articles he supported the freedom of speech and of the press. He struggled against censorship and tried to support the free circulation of information.

Once in 1995 the trade union of Armenian writers invited 22 Iranian writers and journalist for a visit to Armenistan. Massoud Behnoud was one of these delegates. In a conspiracy to kill all of the delegates the Iranian security police tried to divert the bus they were travelling with on a steep valley. They only survived by chance.

In 1996 the chief editor of “Adineh”, Faraj Sarkohi, was arrested and in 1998 Adineh was closed on the order of the Islamic court. The imprisonment of Faraj Sarkohi aroused an International campaign from Reporter sans Frontieres, the International PEN-Center, amnesty international and other human right organizations as well as the European Union. In 1997 Massoud Behnoud joined a host of other journalists to publish the Teheran daily Jameh. His articles and commentaries were received with a great deal of public interest. With the closure of Jameh he continued his work in the other newly found dailies Tous, Neshat, Asr-e Azadegan and the most lately Bonyan. All of this newspapers have been closed down.

Following a series of murders in 1999 during which some prominent Iranian writers and intellectuals have been killed by the security police, Massoud Behnoud’s name was also discovered on the list of those writers and intellectuals who hade been earmarked for assassination

After the crackdown on Iranian newspapers, Massoud Behnoud was imprisoned for 23 months.was fined the equivalent of 15.000 USD. The court accused him of “having provoked public opinion, insulting the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic and the commander of the Revolutionary guards”.

Serving a period of six months, two of which he spent in solitary confinement, Massoud Behnoud was released on temporary bail of approximately US$40,000.

On 1 June 2002, while Behnoud was engaged in a European lecture tour, the Iranian judiciary announced that an order for his arrest had once again been issued. On base of this order he had to come back to Iran to serve the remainder of his 16 months term in prison, but he refused to go back.

Book Review: Once Upon a Time in Jerusalem

Once Upon a Time in Jerusalem, by Sahar Hamouda

Sahar Hamouda, Once Upon a Time in Jerusalem, London: Garnet Publishing Ltd, January 2010

From: Al-Ahram Weekly

Reviewed by Amira Nowaira

Despite its title, Once Upon a Time in Jerusalem is no fairy tale. It offers no simple answers and provides no happy ending. And neither does it rehash platitudes or sentimentalities about the traumatic decades in Palestinian history leading to the Nakba.

The book, straddling the space of memoir and social history, tells the story of a Jerusalem home, Dar Al-Fitiani, located within the walls of the Haram Al-Sharif (the Sacred Enclosure) in Old Jerusalem and built originally as an Islamic school in the 15th century. The book also tells the story of the Palestinian family that lived in it continuously for at least five hundred years until 1948.

I am Cyrus: The story of the real Prince of Persia, by renowned film director, Alexander Jovy

I am Cyrus: The story of the real Prince of Persia, by Alexander Jovi

London, UK, May 2011 — Garnet Publishing has acquired the world rights to the novel I am Cyrus, by Alexander Jovy. This debut novel by the renowned Oscar nominee film director Alexander Jovy covers the life and times of Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Persian empire in the sixth century BC.

Alexander Jovy, who according to the Guardian ‘has the Midas touch’, is one of the most sought-after film directors of his generation. Alex has directed over 40 television commercials as well as

On manuscript submissions – Fiction

Previously I discussed the guidelines for submitting nonfiction manuscripts. Now we are going to discuss the process for reviewing fiction submissions.

Everything discussed in submittion nonfiction applies here as well. But it’s a little bit more delicate. The fiction market is oversaturated. Everyday hundreds of books in various genres are being published, the bookstores are reluctant to stock any works of fiction which are not written by renowned authors and big publishers, and the readers too, are very meticulous in choosing the next book they want to read, and are less prone to risking their money on new authors, unless they have heard or read about them. So, the path for new novelists to get some exposure in the market is very challenging. Naturally, publishers too, are quite careful about the books they decide to publish.

Ibrahim al-Koni’s Great Desert is often mistaken for an empty land

Elliott Colla, Wednesday 22 Dec 2010

Ahram online

This year’s Egyptian State prize for the novel, awarded to authors who write in the Arabic language, has gone to Ibrahim Al-Koni. As an event attesting to the broad enthusiasm among Arab critics and readers for Al-Koni’s great art, last week’s award was only one moment of recognition among many. By now, Al-Koni has earned as many literary awards as any other living Arab author, and he has done so across the entire breadth of the Arab world, from the Gulf to the Atlantic Ocean. Unlike most Arab novelists who still tend to be read as national writers (Egyptians, Lebanese, Iraqis and so on), Al-Koni is one of a few whose reception has effectively transcended the national borders that divide the Arab world.

Man Booker International Prize finalists announced

Thirteen writers were announced as the Man Booker 2011 Prize finalists on March 2011. It is quite an international list, with two Chinese, one Indian, one Italian, one Spanish, one Australian, one Lebanese, and one Americal writer. The most renowned names in the list are Phillip Pullman, Amin Maalouf, John le Carre and Philip Roth.

Here is the full list, and if you want to read their bios, visit Man Booker’s website.

* Wang Anyi
* Juan Goytisolo
* James Kelman
* John le Carré
* Amin Maalouf
* David Malouf
* Dacia Maraini
* Rohinton Mistry
* Philip Pullman
* Marilynne Robinson
* Philip Roth
* Su Tong
* Anne Tyler

How many of these authors do you already know, and are you planning to read abook from them in 2011? That’s thirteen great reads, one for each month of the year, and one as a bonus to enjoy Christmas.

Middle Eastern 40 Year Old Virgin

Georgetown professor and Sawiris prize-winning author Reem Bassiouney’s PROFESSOR HANAA, pitched as a Middle Eastern take on Oleanna and the Forty Year Old Virgin, examining the role of the single, career-driven woman in the Arab world, translated from the Arabic, acquired by Arash Hejazi at Garnet, via Jessica Papin at Dystel & Goderich Literary Management (World English).