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Z e n a A s s i The artist in her studio Zena Assi was born in 1974 in Lebanon. She graduated with honours from L’Academie Libanaise des Beaux Arts (ALBA) with a D.E.S. in publicity. She worked for two years for the Saatchi and Saatchi advertising agency in their creative department, then taught Visual Communication at the University of Balamand in north Lebanon and later Visual Communication and Drawing at ALBA, before turning full-time to her painting. “City and Citizens” is Zena Assi’s first solo exhibition and was held in July at the Alwane Gallery, Beirut.The works concern the weight and the baggage of civilization on the ordinary person, and the link and dichotomy between the two.They reflect and comment on the situation in Lebanon and address the issues of war, peace, hope, silence and individual frustration. Zena Assi’s paintings have been on display since April 2000 in continuous collective exhibitions at the Ligne Roset and Roche Bobois and Le Cercle Hitti Galleries in Beirut, and from May 2006 at the Alwane Gallery, Beirut. Since October 2007 she has showed in collective exhibitions at the Musée Sursock and Salon d’Automne Galleries in Beirut, and in new collective exhibitions that took place in March this year. El Karem, 220 by 180 cm, mixed media and oil on canvas, 2008 Hate this country, love this country, hate this country , 120 x 120 cm, mixed media on canvas, 2007. One of a composition of 4 paintings Front cover: Between earth and cables, 140 by 140 cm, mixed media on canvas, 2008 Him and himself, 180 by 100 cm, mixed media and collage on canvas, 2006
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PUBLISHER / EDITOR Margaret Obank DEPUTY EDITOR Samuel Shimon COVER ARTIST Zena Assi CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Sinan Antoon Fadhil al-Azzawi Issa J Boullata Peter Clark Khaled Mattawa Anton Shammas Paul Starkey Saadi Youssef Mona Zaki CONSULTING EDITORS Etel Adnan Roger Allen Mohammed Bennis Gamal el-Ghitani Marilyn Hacker Erdmute Heller Herbert Mason Yasir Suleiman Susannah Tarbush Saif al-Rahbi EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS: Shela Sheikh, Zuzana Kratka Deborah Horton LAYOUT: Banipal Publishing BANIPAL PO Box 22300 LONDON W13 8ZQ, UK Tel: +44 (0)20 8568 9747 Fax: +44 (0)20 8568 8509 editorial email: editor@banipal.co.uk subscriptions: subscribe@banipal.co.uk website: www.banipal.co.uk PRINTED BY Short Run Press Ltd Bittern Road, Sowton Ind. Est. EXETER EX2 7LW ISSN: 1461-5363 Photographs not accredited have been donated, photographers unknown All material © Banipal, authors, translators and artists. All rights reserved. Contact the publisher for permission to reproduce any of the material published here. Suppor t ing Patron THANI AL-SUWAIDI CONTENTS No 32, Summer 2008 2 EDITORIAL 3 TRIBUTE TO ALBERT COSSERY 1913–2008 4 Mohamed Salah al-Azab – Excerpt from Repeated Stopping 13 Ahmad Ali El-Zein – Excerpt from The Edge of Oblivion 22 Abdulaziz Al Farsi – Excerpt from Weeping Earth . . . Laughing Saturn 34 May Menassa – Excerpt from Walking in the Dust 43 TRIBUTE TO DORIS KILIAS 1942–2008 44 Ahmad Yamani – Two Poems 49 Mohamed Metwalli – Three Poems 53 FEATURE ON CONTEMPORARY SYRIAN LITERATURE – Part 2 54 Mamdouh Adwan – Four Poems 62 Haidar Haidar – A short story Pollen 74 Maher Sharafeddine – The Hand An excerpt from a novel 88 Mohja Kahf – A Poem for Hamsa Newmark’s Sixieth Birthday 95 Adel Karasholi – Twelve Poems 102 Haifa Bitar – A short story Love 106 Abdel Khaliq al-Rikabi – Excerpt from Seventh Day of Creation ATRAVELLING TALE 126 Mahmoud Shukair – Windows of Jerusalem INTERVIEW WITH ATRANSLATOR 136 Hartmut Fähndrich – Arab Literature is now on the map BOOK REVIEWS 141 Khaled Hroub Wahat al-Ghuroub [Sunset Oasis] by Baha Taher 146 Judith Kazantzis Tender Spot by Naomi Shibab Nye 148 Lulu Norman Banquet of Lies by Amin Zaoui 150 BOOKS IN BRIEF EVENTS 154 Ledbury & London: Syrian Poets in the UK 156 Coburg, Germany: Inaugural Rückert Prize 159 CONTRIBUTORS, including TRANSLATORS Subscribe today! Turn to page 160 Banipal takes its name from Ashurbanipal, last great king of Assyria and patron of the arts, whose outstanding achievement was to assemble in Nineveh, from all over his empire, the first systematically organised library in the ancient Middle East. The thousands of clay tablets of Sumerian, Babylonian and Assyrian writings included the famous Mesopotamian epics of the Creation, the Flood, and Gilgamesh, many folk tales, fables, proverbs, prayers and omen texts. Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica BANIPAL NO 32, SUMMER 2008 1

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PUBLISHER / EDITOR Margaret Obank DEPUTY EDITOR Samuel Shimon COVER ARTIST Zena Assi CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Sinan Antoon Fadhil al-Azzawi Issa J Boullata Peter Clark Khaled Mattawa Anton Shammas Paul Starkey Saadi Youssef Mona Zaki CONSULTING EDITORS Etel Adnan Roger Allen Mohammed Bennis Gamal el-Ghitani Marilyn Hacker Erdmute Heller Herbert Mason Yasir Suleiman Susannah Tarbush Saif al-Rahbi EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS: Shela Sheikh, Zuzana Kratka Deborah Horton LAYOUT: Banipal Publishing

BANIPAL PO Box 22300 LONDON W13 8ZQ, UK

Tel: +44 (0)20 8568 9747 Fax: +44 (0)20 8568 8509 editorial email: editor@banipal.co.uk subscriptions: subscribe@banipal.co.uk website: www.banipal.co.uk PRINTED BY Short Run Press Ltd Bittern Road, Sowton Ind. Est. EXETER EX2 7LW ISSN: 1461-5363 Photographs not accredited have been donated, photographers unknown All material © Banipal, authors, translators and artists. All rights reserved. Contact the publisher for permission to reproduce any of the material published here.

Suppor t ing Patron THANI AL-SUWAIDI

CONTENTS No 32, Summer 2008

2 EDITORIAL

3 TRIBUTE TO ALBERT COSSERY 1913–2008 4 Mohamed Salah al-Azab – Excerpt from Repeated Stopping 13 Ahmad Ali El-Zein – Excerpt from The Edge of Oblivion 22 Abdulaziz Al Farsi – Excerpt from Weeping Earth . . . Laughing Saturn 34 May Menassa – Excerpt from Walking in the Dust 43 TRIBUTE TO DORIS KILIAS 1942–2008 44 Ahmad Yamani – Two Poems 49 Mohamed Metwalli – Three Poems 53 FEATURE ON CONTEMPORARY SYRIAN LITERATURE – Part 2 54 Mamdouh Adwan – Four Poems 62 Haidar Haidar – A short story Pollen 74 Maher Sharafeddine – The Hand An excerpt from a novel 88 Mohja Kahf – A Poem for Hamsa Newmark’s Sixieth Birthday 95 Adel Karasholi – Twelve Poems 102 Haifa Bitar – A short story Love

106 Abdel Khaliq al-Rikabi – Excerpt from Seventh Day of Creation

ATRAVELLING TALE 126 Mahmoud Shukair – Windows of Jerusalem

INTERVIEW WITH ATRANSLATOR 136 Hartmut Fähndrich – Arab Literature is now on the map

BOOK REVIEWS 141 Khaled Hroub Wahat al-Ghuroub [Sunset Oasis] by Baha Taher 146 Judith Kazantzis Tender Spot by Naomi Shibab Nye 148 Lulu Norman Banquet of Lies by Amin Zaoui 150 BOOKS IN BRIEF

EVENTS 154 Ledbury & London: Syrian Poets in the UK 156 Coburg, Germany: Inaugural Rückert Prize 159 CONTRIBUTORS, including TRANSLATORS

Subscribe today! Turn to page 160

Banipal takes its name from Ashurbanipal, last great king of Assyria and patron of the arts, whose outstanding achievement was to assemble in Nineveh, from all over his empire, the first systematically organised library in the ancient Middle East. The thousands of clay tablets of Sumerian, Babylonian and Assyrian writings included the famous Mesopotamian epics of the Creation, the Flood, and Gilgamesh, many folk tales, fables, proverbs, prayers and omen texts. Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica

BANIPAL NO 32, SUMMER 2008 1

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