https://arab.news/jfq9p
Author: David Runciman
The book asks the big questions about politics: What is it, why we do we need it and where, in these turbulent times, is it heading?
From the gap between rich and poor to the impact of social media, via Machiavelli, Hobbes and Weber, Runciman’s comprehensive short introduction is invaluable to those studying politics.
Fusing animation and images from the award-winning animators behind RSA Animates, beautifully adapted to both print and digital formats, the Ideas in Profile series boldly reinvents what introductions can and should be in the twenty-first century.
Concise, clear, relevant, entertaining, original and global in scope, the book makes essential reading — and viewing for students and general readers, according to a review on goodreads.com.
The “Sands of Arawiya” duology — “We Hunt The Flame” and “We Free The Stars” — is written by Hafsah Faizal.
Although the books are for everyone, the Arab community can especially relate to it as the descriptive narrative emulates Arab culture and traditions.
The story starts with a kingdom divided into lands led by different caliphs under a single sultan and revolves around the main characters Zafirah and Nasir.
Zafirah is a huntress who dresses up like a man and refuses to reveal her gender to her town while she travels to a dark and dangerous forest to hunt for her people. Nasir is a trained assassin prince who kills for his father and sultan as he tries to gain the affection of his father and earn his place as the prince.
The two travel to the cursed island of Sharr on separate routes but decide to unite to retrieve an ancient item to bring magic back to the land.
A personal favorite character was Altair who, from the beginning, seems shady but his nonchalant behavior and witty humor make him someone who makes the reader laugh every time he appears on the page.
Arab readers will find themselves completely immersed in the story with its mentions of gahwa, dates, kunafah, and so much more.
Perhaps the most brilliant thing about the books is that, even though they are based on Arab culture, they can be enjoyed by anyone.
In terms of genre, the books are a healthy mix of romance, fantasy, adventure, found family trope, and an enemies-to-lovers trope in the duology, making sure everyone has a good time.
The characters, their emotions, and their journey are described so intricately that they feel like real people. Each character brings their personal touch that makes the story so much better. An interesting read, the books are available on Amazon in all formats.
Authors: Nikolas Rose and Des Fitzgerald
Most of the world’s people now live in cities and millions have moved from the countryside to the rapidly growing megacities of the global south. How does the urban experience shape the mental lives of those living in and moving to cities today? Sociologists study cities as centers of personal progress and social innovation, but also exclusion, racism, and inequality. Psychiatrists try to explain the high rates of mental disorders among urban dwellers, especially migrants. But the split between the social and life sciences has hindered understanding of how urban experience is written into the bodies and brains of urbanites. In The Urban Brain, Nikolas Rose and Des Fitzgerald seek to revive the collaboration between sociology and psychiatry about these critical questions. Reexamining the relationship between the city and the brain, Rose and Fitzgerald explore the ways cities shape the mental health and illness of those who inhabit them.
Drawing on the social and life sciences, The Urban Brain takes an ecosocial approach to the vital city, in which humans live and thrive but too often get sick and suffer.
DUBAI: “Cairo Maquette” by Egyptian writer Tarek Imam, “Rose’s Diary” by Emirati author Reem Al-Kamali, “Dilshad” by author Bushra Khalfan from Oman, “The Prisoner of the Portuguese” by Morocco’s Mohsine Loukili, “The White Line of Night” by Kuwaiti novelist Khaled Nasrallah and “Bread on the Table of Uncle Milad” by Libyan writer Mohammed Al-Nu’as have been announced as the shortlisted works for the 15th International Prize for Arabic Fiction.
The novelists are competing for a $50,000 award, and the winner will be revealed on May 22 during a ceremony in Abu Dhabi, which will also be streamed online.
The shortlist was chosen by five judges, which include Tunisian novelist and previous IPAF winner Shukri Mabkhout and Libyan doctor, poet and translator Ashur Etwebi, who picked from 19 longlisted works that were selected among 122 entries from nine countries across the Arab world.
“The six novels represent a strikingly diverse range of topics and forms around identity and freedom. Some of them took us on a journey to the past, inspired by the aspirations and struggles of people living in various regions across the Arab world,” Mabkhout, chair of the 2022 judges, said in a released statement.
“Other novelists on this shortlist portrayed freedom from various angles, such as the freedom of imagination to reconstruct a reality in which fantasy and truth intertwine, the freedom of expression and creativity in the face of visible or hidden oppression, and the freedom of individual identity,” he added.
Prof. Yasir Suleiman, chair of the board of trustees, called the shortlist of works “daring” and commended the authors for exploring “topics that are frowned upon” and adding “credence to the claim that the novel is a surrogate form of political and social expression.”
Collectively, the writers, who range in age from 34 to 52 and represent six Arab countries, address a range of important issues including identity, access to education, poverty, gender roles, fear, revenge and freedom of expression.
All six shortlisted authors will receive $10,000 each.
Jordanian writer Jalal Barjas won the prize last year for his work “Notebooks of the Bookseller,” announced at an online ceremony in May. In addition to the $50,000 prize, the author also received funding toward securing an English translation of his novel.
Read on to discover the shortlisted books.
“Cairo Maquette”
Tarek Imam uses creative literary techniques to explore Egypt’s political, social and cultural transformation.
“Rose’s Diary”
The first novel by Emirati author Reem Al-Kamali is set in Dubai’s old neighborhood in the 1960s where Rose reveals her emotions in a secret diary.
“Dilshad”
Inspired by Omani history, Bushra Khalfan’s novel tells the story of one family’s hardships over three generations in early to mid 20th-century Oman.
“The Prisoner of the Portuguese”
Moroccan author Mohsine Loukili explores the relationship between a man and his jailor in a Portuguese prison on the coast of Morocco.
“The White Line of Night”
Kuwaiti writer Khaled Nasrallah is the youngest novelist to be shortlisted for his book that follows a man struggling with the banning of a controversial novel.
“Bread on the Table of Uncle Milad”
Libyan author Mohammed Al-Nu’as explores gender roles and ideas of masculinity in a remote village of his native country.
CHICAGO: “Catalogue of a Private Life” is a collection of short stories by one of Libya’s most acclaimed authors, Najwa Bin Shatwan.
She is the first Libyan to be shortlisted for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction. Her collection has been translated into English by award-winning translator Sawad Hussain, and each of the eight tales teeter between historical and fictional, and real and surreal as they move from rooted centuries-old villages to futuristic traveling cities.
The collection begins in Ajdabiya, Libya, a village which residents consider a city for the centuries it has stood. Baqrallah and his family live a traditional life where his word is final, his mother is the only woman he listens to, his wife is unhappy because he never considers her opinion, and a folly of girls follow duty because they threaten to bring him ill-repute until they marry. While Baqrallah is out, a thief enters his house with only the women and a young boy to deal with him. Never having seen the world nor being in the presence of a stranger, the women deal with the thief cautiously and curiously. Their existence is hidden in a patriarchal cloud where even a little semblance of life is worth the pain of a lifetime.
The story moves to a bodyguard who dreams about killing the general he guards to take over a non-existent war with a non-existent enemy. Mercy is a distant dream when surrounded by weapons for a fight that has yet to materialize. Moving to Benghazi, Shatwan conveys a tale where politics reside parallel to reality, where warring factions torture those who suffer to live as they hold onto threads of love and hope to survive. Between the cow who starts a war, the refugees who seeks shelter in a school, and a marathon for Palestine, Shatwan’s stories paint a volatile and vulnerable picture of a people and a place steeped in uncertainty but for its history and resilience to survive.
Shatwan’s power comes in her ability to say so much with so few words, the impact of her fiction imbedded in reality and truth. The suffering of her characters who live ordinary lives is pushed to the fore as they live the best they know how. Her dialogue and context, which transports and transforms, such as the hopeful cinematographer who enjoys understanding different professions because they are “reincarnation” in a way, shows that her characters love life and all aspects of it. In a world that is unpredictable, Shatwan graces readers with eight ordinary stories with extraordinary insight.
This textbook introduces undergraduates to the concepts and methods of global warming science, covering topics that they encounter in the news, ranging from the greenhouse effect and warming to ocean acidification, hurricanes, extreme precipitation, droughts, heatwaves, forest fires, the cryosphere, and more.
This book explains each of the issues based on basic statistical analysis, simple ordinary differential equations, or elementary chemical reactions.
Each chapter explains the mechanisms behind an observed or anticipated change in the climate system and demonstrates the tools used to understand and predict them.
Proven in the classroom, Global Warming Science also includes “workshops” with every chapter, each based on a Jupyter Python notebook and an accompanying small data set, with supplementary online materials and slides for instructors.
The workshop can be used as an interactive learning element in class and as a homework assignment.