The Frankfurt Book Fair 2004 saw the first joint appearance of the majority of the Arab countries on an international culturally ambitious platform. The countries were divided on several issues and had to accept the presence of exiled Arab authors at the fair. We're taking a look behind the scenes.
The decision to invite the Arab League to the Frankfurt Book Fair was a further step in German-Arab dialogue. Youssef Hijazi asked Abbas Beydoun for his view on the current state of the dialogue and Arab participation at the Book Fair.
The fact that the League of Arab Nations is this year's Guest of Honour at the largest book fair in the world goes almost unnoticed in most countries of the Arab world. Jürgen Stryjak reports from Egypt's capital
Many popular Arab authors remain unknown in the West. That may change as the Frankfurt Book Fair invites the Arab League as guest of honor this year. But the issue of censorship might not be touched upon at all. By Mona Naggar
Novelist Gamal El-Ghitani is one of Egypt's most renowned novelists. Al-Ghitani argues that the program of the Frankfurt Book Fair should have been organised by intellectuals, not by bureaucrats.
The focus on the Arab world at the upcoming Frankfurt Book Fair has prompted not only positive expectations, but a fair share of skepticism as well. Hassan Dawud takes a look at the status of the book in Arab society.
In Beirut's cultural scene nobody seems to know about the the book fair in Frankfurt. Lebanese authors are worried, but also get their hopes up. Hannah Wettig reports
Algerian novelist Assia Djebar is one of North-Africa's best-known and most widely acclaimed writers. In her books she explores the struggle for social emancipation and the Muslim woman's world in its complexities.
Ibrahim Farghali is one of six authors from the Arab world invited by the Goethe Institute to work as city chronicler in Germany. In his portrait, Frederik Richter talked with him about Hermann Hesse, Günther Grass and censorship in Egypt.
Egyptian writer Ahdaf Soueif is an Egyptian writer who made it big in Great Britain. As a nominee for the Booker Prize she is among the growing number of authors who are developing a so-called "Euro-Arab Literature", writes Yafa Shanneik
The Egyptian Mohieddin Ellabbad is one of the greatest book illustrators and artists in the Arab world. His work is also published in the West, where he has won numerous awards. Jürgen Stryjak visited the artist in his workshop in the Heliopolis district of Cairo
For over twenty years the Unionsverlag in Switzerland has been publishing non-European literatures, including a considerable number of Arabic authors. Martin Zähringer read these books and spoke with the director of the publishing house.
The new German translation of Thousand and One Nights (Arabian Nights) makes the oldest Arabic version of this famed collection of Oriental tales available for German readers for the first time. Ludwig Ammann read the new translation by Claudia Ott.
His name inevitably comes up in any discussion of contemporary Moroccan literature: Mohammed Khair-Eddine. His last novel, first published in France seven years after his death, was now also published in German. By Mourad Kusserow
Raduan Nassar's highly metaphorical 1975 novel "Lavoura arcaica" is being published for the first time in German. It is a book that breaks patriarchal taboos and contains allusions to elements in Christian and Islamic culture. By Ilja Braun
There are distinct gaps in most European book markets when it comes to know creative writing from other countries – this is particularly true for the literature of the Arab World, writes Peter Ripken
In view of some intellectuals in the Islamic world the writings selected for translation from the Arabic serve to foster clichés of the distant and mysterious East. Samir Grees on why such mistrust is based on false perceptions.
Three gatherings of German-Arabic authors in Yemen have created a fragile cultural connection between the two countries. But the country's literature is still largely unknown in Germany. By Yemeni literature expert Günther Orth
Edge of Arabia opened the first exhibition of contemporary Saudi Arabian art in Berlin, Germany, on 9th June 2010 during the 6th Berlin Biennale. Click here to view some of the artwork on exhibition......
In this authors@google lecture, Salman Rushdie talks about his latest novel, "The Enchantress of Florence", which brings together the Italian cradle of the Renaissance with the enlightened Mughal Empire of Akbar the Great. More...
Known as an expert on Islam and Islamic art, in his book Titus Burckhardt presents in-depth analyses of seminal examples of Islamic architecture, from Spain and Morocco to Persia and India. Click here to have a look at an extensive excerpt...
Fadhil Al-Azzawi's novel The Last of the Angels, set in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk during the 1950s, was recently published in English. Read the excerpt chapter "Hameed Nylon" on Words Without Borders...
The online magazine Tehran Avenue provides information about cultural events in Tehran, including cinema, theater, music hall, and art galleries, focusing on issues that official or established media seldom do. More...
