Want to find out what’s happening in the literary world? This week, our Editors-at-Large bring you news from Palestine, where a landmark issue of World Literature Today features nearly two dozen of the most eminent Palestinian writers; India, where lockdown is slowly being lifted, and bookstores begin to bustle; and Central America, where writers from Guatemala to Costa Rica are releasing new books. Curious about this wide-ranging itinerary? Read on to find out more!
Carol Khoury, Editor-at-Large, reporting from Palestine
“While most writers offer their writing to the masses, Palestinian writers offer their very souls,” writes the Guest Editor Yousef Khanfar in his introduction to “Palestine Voices,” the Summer 2021 issue of World Literature Today (released earlier this month). Throughout its ninety-five-year publishing history, World Literature Today (published at Oklahoma University), has never devoted a cover feature—let alone a dossier—exclusively to the literature, art, and culture of Palestine. Even when WLT dedicated an issue in 1986 to “Literatures of the Middle East: A Fertile Crescent,” Palestinian writers were conspicuously absent from the lineup, reveals Editor Daniel Simon. Indeed, in Mona Mikhail’s essay introducing the 1986 issue, one of the most pivotal events during the modern era of the Middle East—the Palestinian Nakba that led to the creation of the state of Israel in 1948—isn’t even mentioned.
With less attachment to the Nakba but more freedom for exploration and imagination, the expanded issue, at 128 pages, “represents a long-overdue—and especially timely—attempt to remedy this deficit” writes Simon. “As with other recent dossiers dedicated to so-called “stateless” literatures, WLT’s Summer 2021 issue recognizes an autonomous literary tradition that dates back centuries and now, in the diaspora, is one of the most cosmopolitan literatures in the world.” The voices gathered in “Palestine Voices,” according to Khanfar, “speak a universal language: one of life filled with human dignity that celebrates a rich cultural heritage and vibrant present along with aspirations for freedom, justice, and hope for a better future.”
Nearly two dozen of the most eminent Palestinian writers and poets are gathered in WLT’s Summer 2021 issue, along with the work of twenty renowned artists and photographers. Since a number of the pieces are web exclusive, it is all worth it to explore the issue online, and to appreciate the well-chosen art works that compliment the texts. As “colonization slowly dehumanizes Palestine and the Palestinians,” according to Khanfar, Simon believes that the work by the writers featured in this WLT issue “rehumanizes a people who have much to offer the world.” At any rate, trust them when they say “these voices are designed to captivate and not to convince.”
Suhasini Patni, Editor-at-Large, reporting from India
As lockdown restrictions are slowly being lifted in India, literary endeavors are regaining momentum: bookshops are opening their doors to customers and independent publishers are releasing new books. In Delhi, feminist publisher Zubaan wrote: “As a small, independent publisher hit hard by the pandemic, any and all sales help. Please browse our titles and consider buying independent and direct, from us and from other small businesses.” Not only are they offering a 15% discount on their titles, but they are also celebrating the release of their latest book, The Inheritance of Words: Writings from Arunachal Pradesh, edited by Mamang Dai. The book is a part of an anthology series on writings from Northeast India.
Prolific Bengali translator Arunava Sinha has also been at work, celebrating the opening of bookstores by visiting The Bookshop in Delhi to talk about his latest release Khwabnama. On social media, he wrote: “Akhtaruzzaman Elias’s Khwabnama, The Book of Dreams, is perhaps the finest—and most difficult—novel I have translated, ever.” The book details the Tebhaga Movement, a significant peasant agitation in Bengal during the final years of the Independence Movement, wherein the peasants demanded two-thirds of the harvest they produced on the land of the zamindars.
A new journal, On Eating: A Multilingual Journal of Food and Writing was started by Sumana Roy and Kunal Ray: “Our aim is to create a journal of contemporary writing about eating in English and the Indian languages (also translated into English) as well as contemporary art on the subject.” The inaugural essay, written by Dalit writer and activist Manoranjan Byapari, speaks of his experience working as a cook in school hostels, and being beaten by an upper-caste groom:
I was a child of Partition, born into a family of refugees. Forget nutritious food—we seldom had a full belly. In the past, my father had been able to bring home some food by working as a labourer. Now he’s broken, down with a gastric ulcer. He couldn’t go to work anymore. Our family had had to make do with whatever little I earned. All I could buy with my daily earnings were wheat or some ears of corn. There were days when I couldn’t even buy salt or vegetables.
The essay was originally published in Bangla, and translated into Hindi and English. In the essay, Byapari details not just the injustices of caste, and hints at criticisms of the Prime Minister of India, but also shares a recipe and recalls the experience of feeding Mahasweta Devi. The journal is open for submissions.
José García Escobar, Editor-at-Large, reporting from Central America
In late-May, Costa Rican poet David Cruz won the 2021 Premio Internacional Manuel Acuña de Poesía en Lengua Española (PIMAPLE) with an unpublished book of poems called Lazarus. Previous PIMAPLE winners include Antonio Gamoneda, Juan Malibran, and Isabel Conejo. Lazarus will be released in September. Ten years ago, he also won the prestigious Premio Mesoamericano de Poesía “Luis Cardoza y Aragón.” Read some of David’s poetry here and here.
In late June, the Guatemalan poet and researcher Carolina Escobar Sarti released her latest book of poems called Diarios de saliva y encierro—Diaries of saliva and confinement (F&G Editores). Gioconda Belli has called the book “a dazzling bright arrow that cuts through these dark times.”
Finally, in July, Tinta Hispana (Italy) published Esilio, a translation of Vania Vargas’s story Exilio, which is part of her book of short stories Después del fin—After the end.
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This week on the Asymptote blog: