This week, our editors from around the globe report on new magazine releases in Palestine and book launches in Mexico. Read on to find out more!
Alan Mendoza Sosa, Editor-at-Large, reporting from Mexico
Even amidst the present global turmoil, the independent editorial scene in Mexico has been thriving. In the first quarter of 2022, thirteen independent publishing houses joined forces to put out Placeres mínimos, a book with texts by a diverse group of both local and international authors. The book is free for readers with any purchase from one of the participating publishers. The writers anthologized in the collection include several authors familiar to Asymptote readers, such as Mariana Enriquez, Ariana Harwicz, and Patrycja Pustkowiak. It is the second year that such a collaborative effort has taken place, and Jacobo Zanella and Mauricio Sánchez—the editors who coordinated the collection—show enthusiasm for continuing the tradition every year.
I attended the book’s launch event on April 29 in Querétaro’s Center for the Arts. Editors from the publishing houses Gris Tormenta and Minerva talked about the long process of coordinating the collection, highlighting how enthusiastic and committed to the project all the editors involved were. The collection’s theme was “Environments,” an abstract prompt that allowed the editors to curate an eclectic selection of texts. Among these are older pieces such as “Pasaje del diario de viaje de un navegante”—an except from the travelogue of Antonio Pigafetta, an Italian from the sixteenth century—but also more modern texts, such as “The Painter of Modern Life” by Charles Baudelaire, and many contemporary essays by living authors.
Carol Khoury, Editor-at-Large, reporting from Palestine
All signs suggest that the summer cultural and literary scenes in Palestine will be vibrant and exciting. The agenda is filling up quite quickly with all sorts of events. Wisely enough, the Palestinian International Book Fair is scheduled for October—when the hustle and bustle of the summer and back-to-school month is over.
The month of May bears the early fruits of summer’s coming richness. Three Palestinian books are coming out in English translation: Cry in a Long Night, a classic Palestinian novel by award-winning writer Jabra Ibrahim Jabra and translated by William Tamplin; Among the Almond Trees: A Palestinian Memoir, written by Hussein Barghouthi and translated by Ibrahim Muhawi; and Maya Abu Al-Hayyat’s poetry collection You Can Be the Last Leaf, translated by Fady Joudah (read six of her older poems in Asymptote).
But the most exciting of all of May news is the publication of the twenty-third issue of The Common earlier this month. The issue contains a portfolio titled “Arabic Short Stories from Palestine” with ten short stories by Palestinian authors. Starting with Samira Azzam (1927-1967), the “princess of the Arabic short story,” the line-up builds, reaching aspiring young authors of today. Similar to what Asymptote does in Asymptote for Educators, The Common supplements its issues with teaching aids. In fact, the material to accompany the Palestinian portfolio is worth exploring. Not only have they collected a rich list of resources on literary translation in general, and Arabic in translation in particular, but they have also chosen an assortment of delights pertaining to the portfolio’s authors and translators. Their collected material includes a podcast, interviews, discussions of politics and the ethics of translation, audio material (songs, for example), links to other Palestinians selections, and much more.
Still want more? The issue has a bonus: the Art section features selections from the Palestinian collection of the Hindiyeh Museum of Art. Located in Jordan, the museum exhibits a distinguished collection of contemporary Arab art from the start of the twentieth century to the present, with frequent new acquisitions from established and emerging artists.
Stay tuned, as the coming months are sure to satisfy your interest in Palestinian literature.
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