Canuck books in Beirut
National Book Critics Circle member Rayyan Al-Shawaf, a Beirut-based writer and freelance reviewer, has posted an extensive survey of the Lebanese book scene on the NBCC blog. Al-Shawaf discusses the lengthy traditions of tolerance and diversity in the country and its capital, which he says are known as “the Arab world’s publishing hub for quality books of all kinds,” and the names of a few Canadian writers crop up.
Books by Lebanon-born novelist Rawi Hage (De Niro’s Game) and Iraqi-raised man of letters Naim Kattan (Farewell, Babylon), both of whom are now based in Montreal, are cited as examples of, respectively, thriving contemporary Lebanese writing and Jewish literature that is widely published and available in Beirut.
The often-controversial Irshad Manji also earns a mention:
A lively debate on the role and relevance of Islam in modern societies has long been underway in the Arab literary world; the same can be said of more detailed issues concerning Islamic law. Fascinatingly, however, Beirut is a place where one can also find works by Western writers of Muslim origin who have decided to plunge into the debate. These include a number of polemical books familiar to Western readers.
Occasionally, these books are translated into Arabic, as with Irshad Manji’s The Trouble with Islam Today, which appeared under the more circumspect title Muslimoun wa Ahrar (loosely translated as “Muslims and Freethinkers”), courtesy of Cologne-based publishing house Al-Kamel Verlag; as an added cautionary measure, no translator is credited. More common is for the work to be sold in English – thereby lessening the potential for controversy.
