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 journey into Bedouin life and history in northern Syria -
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 writer caught between two lives, two languages, two women -
A polyphonic Palestinian novel that brings to life dreams of exile and return. -
A tightly paced queer romance that explores how the relationships we build make us who we are -
A Libyan love story that questions ideas of gender and masculinity -
Rimbaud seen through the eyes of his Abyssinian lover -
A woman confronts her family’s displacement and dysfunction -
A horror mystery that is also an allegory about the writing process -
A vibrant and clever polyphonic tale of twentieth-century Muscat -
Set in a remote mountain village, under the guise of a murder mystery, myths, illusions, and dreams play out among the villagers -
A narrative journey across times and places -
The tragic life of a female writer in 1960’s Dubai -
A marginalised Algerian neighbourhood tells one last tale -
A realistic yet fantastical journey into post-revolutionary Cairo -
A page-turner about betrayal, guilt, and generational trauma -
Twelve stories about women’s lives in modern Morocco -
A Yazidi woman in northern Iraq fights against ISIS