2. كتب ومنشورات

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Al-Tanki, in the Footsteps of an Iraqi Woman (ARABIC)

نشرت 26 مايو 2022

Casa Árabe and Ediciones del Oriente y del Mediterráneo are presenting Alia Mamduh's most recent work on Wednesday 1 June in Madrid. The event will feature the author of the book, Alia Mamduh, who will be accompanied by her translator and prologue writer, Ignacio Gutiérrez de Terán, professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies at the Autonomous University of Madrid. This bewildering symphony of disparate narrative voices draws us into the search for Afaf, the Iraqi painter whose traces are lost in Paris. The Iraqi writer who has lived in France for decades has long been experimenting with the Arabic language, trying to generate a peculiar way of expressing her life experience as an exiled Arab woman who returns again and again, paradoxically, to her native country. Writing about the violence, dictatorships and invasions that forced her to leave; about the marginalisation that women continue to suffer in the cities and towns of Iraq in the shadow of the omnipotent power exercised by the man, the father, the elder brother or the great military, civil and religious leader; or about the repression of basic freedoms, starting with freedom of expression and ending with sexual freedom. All this comes to the surface from the very first page of this detailed account of an Iraqi family and the street where its members live, in spite of a Baghdad that languidly declines... (from the presentation by Ignacio Gutiérrez de Terán) Al-Tanki's publishing novel is complemented by the reissue of Alia Mamduh's previous novel, Naphthalene, also published by Ediciones del Oriente y el Mediterráneo in 2000, in which her play of subtlety, acidity and linguistic distortion both confuses and uncovers the tragic experience of millions of Iraqis forced to leave their homeland.

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“Yogurt with Marmalade: Or how my mother became Lebanese” (ARABIC)

2018.26.11. Lebanon’s Lena Mehrej presented her graphic novel, published by Ediciones del Oriente y del Mediterráneo, at the Casa Árabe headquarters in Madrid. She held a dialogue with graphic novelist Quan Zhou, author of Sweet-and-sour Gazpacho. "In Lebanon, yogurt has been eaten with salt and grated cucumber (very finely grated) since the beginning of time. One day, Lena Merhej (Beirut, 1977) was stunned when she saw her mother eat yogurt with marmalade. Years later, she sketched this lovely story about her mother, a German woman from Hannover, and created a portrait of the peaceful co-existence of contradictions” that existed in her family and, perhaps to a lesser extent, her country. A closer look at the Arab world through the eyes of a women from old Europe, proving that the East is not so far and also has a memory, nostalgia and open wounds." Alfonso Zapico, Babelia - El País, April 21, 2018 Lena Merhej (Beirut, 1977), born to a German mother and Lebanese father, completed her studies in Art and Graphic Design. She has given classes in illustration and animation at the Lebanese American University. With more than twenty illustrated albums for children, she formed part of the founding team of Samandal, the first magazine of comics in the Arab world. Her animated film Dessiner la guerre (Drawing War) won the jury’s award at the New York Festival in 2003, and her graphic novels Kamen sine (Another Year) and Yogurt with Marmalade received the award for best comic book at the International Comics Festival of Algiers in 2009 and 2013, respectively. In 2016, she coordinated the monographic issue of Samandal on youth, sexuality and poetry. More info: http://en.casaarabe.es/event/“yogurt-with-marmalade-or-how-my-mother-became-lebanese”

نشرت 05 ديسمبر 2018
Homenaje a Nizar Qabbani

Casa Árabe organizó el 5 de noviembre de 2018 una velada homenaje al poeta sirio en el 20º aniversario de su muerte. Nizar Qabbani (Damasco, 1923- Londres, 1998) es un gran poeta árabe de nuestro tiempo, inmensamente popular e internacionalmente reconocido. Expresó los sentimientos e ideas, íntimos y colectivos, en el anhelo y la defensa de todas las libertades, tanto amorosas, como intelectuales y de creencias, sociales como políticas, y llamó a la rebelión frente a las tiranías. De 1952 a 1966 ocupó diversos puestos diplomáticos representando a su país, Siria. Tras dejar el cuerpo diplomático, se trasladó a Beirut y se dedicó plenamente a la literatura. A mediados de los años setenta empezó su exilio, que lo llevó finalmente a vivir en Londres, aunque siguió viajando y en contacto con sus públicos. Su relación con España se inició en 1952, y ocupa un lugar propio y singular en su obra y biografía. Desde Casa Arabe se le rinde tributo de homenaje. Participan en el acto Pedro Martínez Montávez, arabista y profesor emérito de la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM); Maysoun Choucair, escritora y poeta siria; Carmen Ruiz Bravo-Villasante, arabista, catedrática de la UAM jubilada; y Abdul Hadi Saadoun, poeta e hispanista. Musicalizan: Hames Bitar y Linda Alahmad. Más información: http://www.casaarabe.es/eventos-arabes/show/homenaje-a-nizar-qabbani

نشرت 08 نوفمبر 2018
Prodigios: An anthology of Arabic poems (FRENCH)

04.20.2018. Casa Árabe joined the celebrations of Book Night 2018 (La Noche de los Libros) with the presentation of this work illustrated by Rachid Koraïchi. The event included talks by Koraïchi, a calligrapher and one of the finest visual artists today, and Pedro Martínez Montávez, an Arabist, translator and professor emeritus of the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. Presented by Pedro Martínez-Avial, the General Director of Casa Árabe. This anthology contains Arabic poems written from the sixth century to the modern day, the most notable of which include both classical and contemporary poets. Created with the voices of 5 poets, some of whom have never been translated into Spanish until today, the edition combines poetry from the Arab world in general, Al-Andalus and Algeria with illustrations by Koraïchi, thereby joining two paths of creativity: image and word. On the evening of the presentation, Rachid Koraïchi spoke to us about these surprising and inspiring illustrations. Along with Arabist Pedro Martínez Montávez, who coordinated this edition, we traveled through the book, capturing the essence of a culture in which poetry is, has been and will remain a meeting point and a pathway that opens up new horizons. More info: http://en.casaarabe.es/event/prodigios-an-anthology-of-arabic-poems

نشرت 26 ابريل 2018
Syria: The impossible revolution (ARABIC)

04.17.2018. Syrian political opposition leader Yassin Al-Haj Saleh presented his work at the Casa Árabe headquarters in Madrid. This is a compilation of texts which the author has been publishing since the beginning of the insurrection in his country. Along with the author, the event included speeches by Santiago Alba Rico, a Spanish writer, essayist and philosopher, and Naomí Ramírez Díaz, the book’s translator and publisher. The event was presented by Karim Hauser, Casa Árabe’s International Politics Coordinator. The work which we are presenting, published by Ediciones del Oriente y del Mediterráneo, is a compilation of texts which Yassin Al-Haj has written since the insurrection in Syria, when that process began on March 15, 2011. Though not well-known in Spain, Yassin Al-Haj is one of the most important intellectuals among Syrian dissidents. “Someone might think that this book talks about Syria and its defeated revolution, about the Assad dictatorship and the Near East, about imperialism and the Kurdish question (Chapters 10, 11 and 13 are quite interesting and controversial), on Jihadism and violence. But it is more than that. This book speaks about us all. One of the theories that Al-Haj Saleh has upheld in recent years is that Syria reveals and represents a universal destiny, and therefore it is impossible to think about Syria, and even less so about the globalized world, without thinking about our common fate. This is why every time we produce a discourse to forget, negate or avoid Syria, we are really just doing damage to ourselves.” Santiago Alba Rico Yassin Al-Haj Saleh spent sixteen years in jail for his Communist militancy. Since the year 2000, after finishing his studies in Medicine, which he was forced to give up because he was imprisoned, he has been writing a book of stories about his experience in jail, as well as The Syrian Question, published in France by Sindbad-Actes Sud. He regularly contributes articles to the newspapers Al-Hayat, Al-Quds al-Arabi and Al-Jumhuriya. In 2012, he was granted the Prince Claus Award of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the social impact of his writings, though he was unable to collect the award since he was living underground in Damascus. He is currently an associate researcher at the Wissenschaftskolleg in Berlin. His wife, Samira Khalil, the author of Diary of the Siege on Douma in 2013, has been missing since she was kidnapped in December of 2013, along with Razan Zaituneh, Wael Hammada and Nazem Hamadi. More info: http://en.casaarabe.es/event/syria-the-impossible-revolution

نشرت 24 ابريل 2018
Presentation of “The Incense Burner” and “Flight of Seagulls” by Omar Berrada (FRENCH)

03.06.2018. Casa Arabe organized the presentation of two books by the moroccan writer Omar Berrada. With the particpation of Omar Berrada: Painter, sculptor and author of the books; and Paloma Monsonís: A professor of Spanish and translator. “The incense burner is the instrument in which we burn a substance considered to be a conjurer of misfortune. It is also used to perfume, to honor and to express oftentimes excessive flattery. My incense burner is the anti-incense burner: it is focused on a part of our society, lifting a spiral over what we share in our everyday lives and the difficulties it has just to exist. I have attempted to write this with a touch of humor, and above all with neither complacence about human suffering nor overstated pity.” These are the words which the author uses to describe his first novel. Translated into Spanish by Paloma Monsonís as “El incensario” and “Vuelo de gaviotas,” they portray Moroccan reality with both its lights and shadows, placing an emphasis on the disowned, people who live in extreme poverty. Omar Berrada describes their everyday life with talent and a touch of humor, and he does so using language that is, at the same time, poetic and heart-wrenching, almost mystical, combining an extraordinary wealth of nuance, images and traditional expressions. This style all his own, both elaborate and ruthless, makes his novels a suggestive narrative and aesthetic experience for readers. More info: http://en.casaarabe.es/event/presentation-of-“the-incense-burner”-and-“flight-of-seagulls”-by-omar-berrada

نشرت 08 مارس 2018