The following selection of books have been recommended and reviewed by the LEILA project’s jury members who are Arabic literature specialists, many of them translators and writers themselves. These recommendations have been chosen with European publishers in mind, who are interested in finding out more about books from the Arab world. When available, contact information for foreign rights (author, agent, or publisher) is provided.
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Striking a deal that initiates a woman’s fight for freedom. -
A writer caught between two lives, two languages, two women -
A polyphonic Palestinian novel that brings to life dreams of exile and return. -
Multiple themes, such as women’s place in society, and the beauty and depth of Arabic calligraphy are threaded through this novel which takes place during and after Lebanon’s civil war -
A thrilling and subtle historical novel about Italy’s invasion of Libya -
A tightly paced queer romance that explores how the relationships we build make us who we are -
A journey into Bedouin life and history in northern Syria -
Set in a remote mountain village, under the guise of a murder mystery, myths, illusions, and dreams play out among the villagers -
A vibrant and clever polyphonic tale of twentieth-century Muscat -
Rimbaud seen through the eyes of his Abyssinian lover -
A narrative journey across times and places -
A woman confronts her family’s displacement and dysfunction -
A marginalised Algerian neighbourhood tells one last tale -
A Libyan love story that questions ideas of gender and masculinity -
A realistic yet fantastical journey into post-revolutionary Cairo -
A page-turner about betrayal, guilt, and generational trauma -
The tragic life of a female writer in 1960’s Dubai -
A horror mystery that is also an allegory about the writing process -
A timely collection of stories about what happens when life suddenly goes wrong, from one of the finest authors of short fiction writing in Arabic today -
A Yazidi woman in northern Iraq fights against ISIS