Salam, Sonallah

Dear friends,

I was saddened to hear of Sonallah Ibrahim’s passing last Wednesday and I’m writing to share how I remember him here: The Sixties Seer. Sonallah (pictured below in 1970 in Moscow, courtesy of see.news) remains an incredible inspiration. Here are another three of the pieces I wrote about him through the years: The Diarist, Tractatus Franco-Arabicus, and Past Plunder.

In other news, my Norwegian Literature House conversation with my very old friend, the Oslo-based Italian Arabist Teresa Peppe is now available in full—you can listen to it here; and a section of The Dissenters was chosen to be read out on The Bagus NG (through the #AijayReads series). I’m always delighted to see my work being read in Africa, so…

Thinking about Sonallah though I was, I had a beautiful time at the Edinburgh Book Festival, where I finally got to meet—among many beautiful people—my British publisher Will Rees and my old friend Matthew Teller (as well as Matthew’s coeditor on Daybreak in Gaza, the Jerusalemite bookseller Mahmoud Muna).

At the Talbot Rice Gallery, I experienced Wael Shawky’s beautifully monstrous puppets, which embody the violence of history by evoking dismemberment and deformation as characters in his video dramatization of the Crusades. That, along with almost everything else, was thanks to Mohamed Tonsy, the incredible Egyptian Ediburgher who guided me through the heart of the city. Tonsy, who also chaired the main feature—my fantastic conversation with Susan Choi—is the author of You Must Believe in Spring.

Warmly,

Y