Book Club: A collection of short stories by one of the Arab world's most accomplished writers, Najwa bin Shawtan's Catalogue of a Private Life takes on the Libyan psyche, veering between the serious and the surreal to entrance readers into her world.
We met with Samar Haddad, the woman at the helm of the historic Dar Atlas publishing house in Damascus. Since the 1950s, Dar Atlas has published, among other things, what Haddad describes as “beautiful books” both inside and out. “The true publisher, whether small, medium or large, is the freedom fighter of our age. As a publisher, I’m a resistance fighter in this age of consumerism.”
“I’m telling just one story, but from many different angles and directions as I’m trying to think about what it means to be Arab American. What is it like to inhabit that identity?”
Publishing Perspectives readers know, this is a prize that honors writers under 39 years of age because that’s the age at which the award program’s eponymous poet died. It also offers a handsome amount of money to its annual winner. It carries a purse this year of £20,000 (US$28,192) for its winner.
Namita Gokhale, who has returned this year as chair of the Dylan Thomas jury, is quoted in media messaging, saying, “
Luster is an accomplished and fearless novel that carries the ache, uncertainty, and vulnerability as well as the harsh reality of being a young black woman in America.