Written by
Anat Ismael works as an interpreter at the Canadian Embassy in Damascus where she translates for asylum seekers. She is pregnant, and as her body changes, she reflects on her life as she waits for her husband, a political prisoner, to be released. The stories she hears from the asylum seekers, victims of repression from throughout the Arab world, are linked to hers and those of her friends.
Approximate number of pages: 249
Foreign right: contact the author
This book successfully intertwines the stories of political prisoners and asylum seekers with the sensory experience of women and their bodies. It refuses to let some stories take precedence over others: here sexual frustration, immigration and ancient poetry are all put on the same level. It likewise does away with the divide between Syria before and after 2011, portraying the violence and injustice of Syria in 2009.
translation
by Federica Pistonopublished as
I guardiani dell’aria in Italy in 2017 by Poiesistranslation
by Emmanuel Varletpublished as
Les Gardiens de l’Air in France in 2014 by Actes Sud (249 p.)translation
by Stephan Milich and Christine Battermannpublished as
Wächter der Lüfte in Germany in 2013 by Alawi VerlagI guardiani dell’aria: narrare per superare il trauma (in Italian) by Arabesque, January 2022
Rosa, la Syrienne au stylo résistant (in French) by Le Journal du Dimanche, May 2014
Ce roman est l’un des plus représentatifs d’une nouvelle littérature qui, transgressant tous les tabous, s’est employée à ressusciter la mémoire interdite de deux décennies marquées par l’infinie brutalité de la répression (in French) by Le Monde, April 2014
