04

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celebrity
live cooking sessionscelebrity
live cooking sessions

chefs
chefs

23rd Abu Dhabi International Book Fair

24 - 29 March 2013

UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and

Ruler of Dubai His Highness Sheikh
Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum

celebrity

live cooking sessions

at the 23rd Abu Dhabi International

Book Fair (ADIBF) on Friday April 26

I had a good time today touring the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair. It was very well-organized with a
large variety of books - HH Sheikh Mohammed via Official Twitter : @HHShkMohd

01

www.adbookfair.com | Wednesday to Monday 09:00 - 22:00 | Friday 16:00 - 22:00

Abu Dhabi International Book Fair 2013

04

Is a Digital
Book as
Devout as
a Physical
Copy?
by Roger Tagholm
Walking the aisles in the air-conditioned
splendor of the Abu Dhabi International
Book Fair this week, the physicality of
Islamic holy books is impossible to ignore.
Lavishly decorated Holy Quarans, religious
texts or works by Arab poets of old glint
at you from almost every corner, their
intricate, tooled covers catching the light.
Theres enough gold leaf on display here to
pay off the UKs national debt.
This year, Beirut-based Dar Al-Baroudi,
which specializes in high-quality,
traditional leather-bound books, has even
brought its gold-blocking machine with
it, so fair-goers can see beautiful books
being made, as if they are in an ancient
workshop. Its strange to look at its giant
lever pointing towards the heavens and

realize that this was once new technology.

One of the paradoxes of the Arab world is
that people will tell you there is no culture
of reading, yet at the same time there is
clearly huge respect for its religious and
poetic heritage, as evidenced by the many
beautiful editions on display.
Holding a beautiful, $350 edition of
Arabias most famous poet Al-Mutanabbi,
Dar Al-Baroudis MD Mohammed Omeirt
said: You cannot do this with digital. This
is art. You want to see. You want to touch.
The devout of all faiths adore their books.
They carry them to services, mark their
most cherished passages and pass them
on to the next generation. Can the same
ever be said for a digital edition?

The beauty of Islamic print books is

unsurpassed
MASTHEAD
Editor:
Edward Nawotka
Deputy Editor:
Irum Fawad
Design Manager:
Nada Baroudy
Bylined articles do not
necessarily reflect the
views of the editors.
Abu Dhabi International Book Fair
2013
All rights reserved.
Duplication, either in whole or in part,
permissible only with the prior written
consent of the Abu Dhabi International
Book Fair.

02

www.adbookfair.com

Beneath the
Tree of Bliss
by Roger Tagholm

She calls it the tree of bliss or the tree

of blessings, and its foliage is one
of the more striking sights in the hall.
Coloured cards bearing messages like
Give away whatever it is you want to get
or Strangers are friends we havent met
yet gently sway, while beneath them, their
author, Dr Reem El-Mutwalli, organises a
team of university student volunteers who
are giving away balloons and fliers for
her unusual book, called simply Sadaqah
(philanthropy).
The book contains 600-odd instructions,
exhortations and encouragements to be
kind, ranging from Bring flowers to an
unmarked grave to Let someone merge
during traffic hour. The accumulative
effect is touching and has echoes of the
sort of projects Workman produces in the
US and Catherine Ryan Howards novel
(and film) Pay it Forward.

An Iraqi academic, now living in Abu

Dhabi, El-Mutwalli self-published the title
as a way of giving something back. Her
first three books on architecture, art and
costume were all published through the
Cultural Foundation and ADACH (the Abu
Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage),
but she wanted to do this one herself, to
practice what I preach.
We printed 2,000 before Christmas and
they all sold and weve printed another
3,000, she said, with skilful use being
made of social media to spread the word.
She also believes it has notched up a little
milestone in Arabic publishing. As far as
I know, its the first title on philanthropy
published in the Arabic language.
The authorities certainly seem pleased
with the title. The Abu Dhabi Educational
Council bought the book as an aid for
teachers and for school libraries, said
El-Mutwalli, who adds: What Im hoping
to do with this book is change the way
people think a little. There are so many
things people can do, whether its buying
a stranger a cup of coffee or raking leaves
in your neighbors back yard.

Iraqi-born
Emirates author
encourages
readers to be more
generous

23rd Abu Dhabi International Book Fair

24 - 29 April 2013

Italys Fulvio Ervas

and
Cristiano
Cavina:
Giving a Voice to Those Who Cannot Speak for Themselves
by Chiara Comito

Nobody knows
where it is, but
to me has always
been the most
magical, moving
and rickety place
in the universe
Writing for those who
do not have a voice:
this is the implied
message in the works
of Fulvio Ervas and
Cristiano Cavina, the
authors representing
contemporary Italian
literature at this years ADIBF
Fulvio Ervas, born in 1951, is the author of
Se ti abbraccio non avere paura (Marcos y
Marcos, 2012), which translates roughly to
If I Hug You, Dont Be Afraid, a bestseller
that has already been translated into seven

03

www.adbookfair.com

languages, including Chinese.

The book tells the true story of a
courageous father (Franco) and his son
(Andrea, now 18 years old), autistic since
the age of three, who last year traveled
together by motorbike from Miami to
Brazil, to show the world that it is possible
to enjoy life despite autism. When this
incredible trip was turned into a book,
its success was unexpected: This book
was born out of a random encounter with
Franco and Andrea, says Ervas. The story
was tough to tell. And although full of
energy, it was unlikely that it would appeal
to everyones taste.
The book delivers a strong message:
When life knocks you down, you can
still do something important out of it,
continues Ervas, but it is up to you. Life is

not all about the pain and the suffering you

go through.
Despite the challenges, autism never
discouraged Franco from his trip and he
continues to battle authorities to secure
Andreas rights to receive adequate care
for his condition a battle that has
become the cause of every family with an
autistic child in Italy.
Novelist Cristiano Cavina says he writes in
order to save things from being forgotten:
I intend to give voice to who have never
had it. Like my illiterate grandparents,
my friends, and especially those in my
hometown of Casola, where people still
love to tell stories.
Born in 1974 in the small village of Casola

Valsenio, in Emilia Romagna region, Cavina

is the author of six books written over the
last 10 years. Critically acclaimed and much
loved by readers, he won the prestigious
Premio Strega in 2009, as well as several
other prizes. Cavina still lives in Casola,
the place of his dreams, he says where
he still continues to works as a pizzaiolo
(a pizza maker). With just a few thousand
inhabitants, the village is the perfect
theatrical setting for Cavinas stories:
Nobody knows where it is, but to me has
always been the most magical, moving and
rickety place in the universe, full of amazing
stories and one in a million characters.
Fulvio Ervas and Cristiano Cavina
will sign books tomorrow at 17:00 at
theSignatures at the ADIBF.

04

Childrens
Author
Maitha alKhayat Sets
Example
for Other
Ambitious
Emiratis
by M. Lynx Qualey

Childrens
Apps vs.
Childrens
Books
by M. Lynx Qualey

Neither Jordans Al-Salwa Publishing House

nor the UAEs Kalimat, two of the strongest
Arabic childrens book publishers, have
made a profit off e-publishing.
Taghreed Najjar, founder of Al-Salwa,
and Tamer Said, Business Development
Manager for Kalimat, gave a panel on
Childrens Apps vs. Childrens Books along
with Spanish publisher Eva Mejuto at the
E-zone this past Thursday.
Thirty-four percent of our books are
available as digital, Said said. And [this
accounts for] zero percent of our income.
That doesnt mean Arabic apps and other
digital content havent been popular with
children and their parents. Najjar began the
digital adventure in 2010 by making her first
interactive CD, a companion to the book A
Home for Arnoub. This sold well, but Najjar
wanted to try creating apps in an effort to
lower the price for consumers and to make
interactive content more easily accessible.
Al-Salwas first two apps were both
appreciated and received wide distribution,
she said.
One of the apps we put on the Android
store for free, Najjar said. The other one
we put on the Apple store. And the cost of
the app on the Apple store was very cheap,
99 cents.
The free app on the Android store got over
50,000 downloads, Najjar said. However,
despite vigorous marketing, the 99-cent
one on the Apple store saw almost no
movement. Things changed when she got
the app mentioned on a popular blog,
where they offered it for free for a single day.

04

www.adbookfair.com

Profiting from
the production
and marketing of
digital content in
Arabic remains
challenging
On this day, we got 15,000 downloads.
The large number of downloads, Najjar
thought, should translate into a word-ofmouth buzz. However, even though the
app was appreciated and well-reviewed, it
did not turn to Al-Salwas advantage in any
concrete way. What we had was very good
reviews, Najjar said. And that gave us the
idea that we were on the track. As far as
getting back the money that was invested by
us and our partners, we didnt come close.
Najjar, Said, and audience members
speculated about the reasons why
Arabic apps were not yet selling. Zaidoun
Karadsheh, managing director of MediaPlus,
which helped produce digital content both
for al-Salwa and for Kalimat, said that Arab
consumers still need time to [get used to]
using our credit card and paying online.
However, Karadsheh added, Youre leading
the market by digitizing your content, and
the market will follow.

Maitha al-Khayat on how she found

herself as a writer.
When Emirati author Maitha al-Khayat
and her younger sister were growing
up in the UK, they often fought over
Maithas reading habits. While still a
girl, Maitha lost interest in playing with
dolls and became engrossed in reading
fiction. This is when we always got into
fights. I used to read even more than I
would study. And she used to catch me,
and tell on me.
Although Maithas younger sister never
developed a taste for books, she did
enjoy hearing Maitha read aloud. Years
later, Maithas sister became a teacher
and said: Were sick of seeing your nose
in a book all the time. When will you start
writing?
That was the sentence that changed my
whole life, Maitha said.
Maitha was delighted with the idea of
being an author, but wasnt sure where
to begin. The idea of a book about an
errant nit was her sisters. Maitha took
the idea, ran with it, and it became the
story The Runaway Louse.
Maithas sister loved the results. Once
the floodgates had opened, Maitha

found she had many more stories to tell.

Another book came soon after, I Love My
Dads Long Beard. But although Maithas
sister loved The Runaway Louse, she
didnt think much of I Love My Dads
Long Beard.
So there was a bet. I said, Okay,
Im going to send both of these to
publishers, and Ill see which one theyll
choose. And both publishers wanted, I
Love My Dads Long Beard.
After that, Maitha published two other
books, My Own Special Way and
When a Camel Craves Loquaimat.
Then, when the UAEBBY and GoetheInstitut contacted her about speaking
at their 2012 workshop, she saw a great
opportunity. She asked them, Instead
of being a speaker, can I be one of the
participants?

Its not enough

just getting
Emiratis to read.
We also need to get
them writing.
Maitha said she was afraid it was only
luck that shed published her first
books, and wanted to know: Am I truly a
childrens book author?
Through the Made in UAE workshop,
Maitha was able to return to The
Runaway Louse, which was illustrated by
Abdullah al-Sharhan and published by
Jarrous Press. She also prepared a book
idea for this years workshop, although
because of scheduling issues she wont
be able to participate.
Currently finishing her bachelors, Maitha
eventually wants to get a Masters in
creative writing. Its not enough just
getting Emiratis to read, she said. We
also need to get them writing. I want to
be able to teach creative writing.

23rd Abu Dhabi International Book Fair

24 - 29 April 2013

Publisher Profile:
Dar Al Saqi,
Beirut, Lebanon

by Olivia Snaije

The Lebanese publishing house, Dar al Saqi, has been

present at the Abu Dhabi book fair for 17 years. Since 2011 it
has had books on the long and shortlists for the IPAF prize;
this year its Saudi author, Mohammed Hasan Alwans novel,
The Beaver, was on the shortlist.
Lesbian Life in the Middle East, and Hannah
Arendts On Violence.
Rania Mouallem, Dar al Saqis editorial
manager commented on the Arab book
market, which is very difficult now because
of the political and economic instability in
Arab countries. Were not really sure where the
Arab readers are and what they want, but for
the past year novels have been selling better
than political books which could suggest
escapism.
Mouallem said Abu Dhabi was an important
fair for them in terms of sales, and that most
of her customers are Emirati women who
are strong Arabic readers, favoring romantic
novels, preferably written by Emirati and
Saudi authors, signaling a relatively new

Established in 1987 in Beirut, Dar al Saqi is

Saqi Books in Londons sister company. It
releases close to eighty new fiction, nonfiction, and childrens titles a year.
It has built up a reputation of publishing
progressive works in Arabic and in translation,
with authors including poetry giants such
as Mahmoud Darwish and Adonis, and
controversial works (often banned in the
Middle East) by writers from the region
including Egyptian Nawal El Saadawi, Iranian
Shirin Ebadi, Palestinian-Israeli Sayed
Kashua, and Saudi Rajaa al-Saneh (Girls of
Riyadh). Dar al Saqi publishes western titles
such as Candice Bushnells Sex and the City,
Richard Dawkinss The Selfish Gene and
Brian Whitakers Unspeakable Love: Gay and

phenomenon. Dar al Saqi consequently

looks for authors from these areas. Mouallem
gave the example of outspoken Saudi writer
Badriya al Bishrs book entitled Love Stories
from Al Asha street, which had an initial print
run of 3000 and sold out in one month. Dar
al Saqi, of course, reprinted. (Bishr was on
Forbes magazines 2013 list of the 100 most
powerful women in the world.)
Eighty percent of Dar al Saqis books are
published in Arabic, and twenty percent are
translated, a number of which come from their
sister company, Saqi Books.
Even though its very expensive for Dar al
Saqi to buy rights, to pay for translation,
and keep the public price of the book the
same, we know these translated books

have their readers, said Mouallem. Readers

ask for translated novels, so we continue to
translate
This year they will be translating Atiq Rahimis
The Patience Stone from the French, as well
as the late Ray Bradburys Farenheit 451, a
project we have had for many years.
Dar al Saqi branched into childrens publishing
five years ago and produces about 20 titles
a year, but Mouallem hints that they are still
finding their way. They translated books
such as TimeRiders for young adults into
Arabic, but found that the potential buyers
for these books were either Francophone or
Anglophone. They will be publishing a book
for adolescents written in Arabic this year, and
will focus more on books for younger children.

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The National thereview

Friday, February 10, 2012 www.thenational.ae

A great survivor

books

The National thereview

Friday, February 10, 2012 www.thenational.ae

this weeks essential reading

A lesson
in tolerance

Adonis: a life in writing

by Maya Jaggi,
The Guardian

Im against Assad ... and against the Islamist opposition, because I dont
want to fight one despotism for the sake of another, states the poet

Books about major US universities are typically heavy coffee-table

affairs, with colourful photos of
grinning football players, hoary
professors and hand-holding couples, posed appealingly by campus
landmarks on glorious spring afternoons. American Sheikhs: Two Families, Four Generations, and the Story
of Americas Influence in the Middle
East, however, is none of that.
Instead, the US Naval Academy
historian Brian VanDeMark, whose
previous memoir of the former US
defence secretary Robert McNamara, was a bestseller, has focused his
new book on the American University of Beirut (AUB), while pursuing
a much broader goal.
Specifically, VanDeMark makes
AUB a kind of stand-in for Washingtons relationship with the Middle
East: how the US got into the region
in the first place and what its done
there since both good and bad.
The story of AUB is also a metaphor
for something bigger and more
important, VanDeMarek writes.
Enduring themes of American
mission, American nationalism,
Americas encounter with imperialistic politics, American idealism
and American frustration as a great
power in the region have all played
out in vivid and dramatic detail.
AUB is the story of two families, the
Blisses and the Dodges, whose descendants controlled AUB for four
generations. Its an unfamiliar story,
VanDeMark adds, because it doesnt
conform to the prevailing narratives
of oil, Israel and security.

American Sheikhs
Brian VanDeMark
Promotheus Books
Dh108

Indeed, the lack of focus on those

themes is actually refreshing. With
American Sheikhs we learn how, as
early as 1866, the newly founded
Syrian Protestant College in Beirut
offered the Arab world not just an
exceptional faculty but something
relatively new among the regions
institutions of higher learning: free
intellectual enquiry. Its faculty did
not merely fill Arab students heads
with facts, VanDeMark writes of
AUB. It taught them how to organise and interpret facts. Character-

building and hard work were other

major tenets expected of the colleges all-male students who attended classes in an Islamic-style
property, built atop a headland on
Beiruts outskirts, with glorious
views of St Georges Bay.
Just as AUBs architecture honoured Arab tradition, so too did
its educational philosophy, which
blended Islamic culture with modern concepts from the West.
The students, their families, and
local leaders admired this approach
enough to rapidly fill AUBs ranks.
Mostly they admired its founder,
the Rev Daniel Bliss, whod come
to them from America. Bliss, whod
had a poor upbringing in rural Ohio,
was a strait-laced Christian missionary whose original official intent was to civilise the populace
through compassionate Christian
service. But Bliss soon realised
that proselytising Muslims was a
bad idea because it was antithetical to Islamic culture. Converting
Eastern Christians was equally illadvised because those Christians
Maronists and Orthodox Greeks
already considered their American
brothers arrogant.
That impression was deserved:
Protestant missionaries went
abroad in those days ingrained
with notions of their own superiority; and westerners impression of
Arabs, gleaned from The Arabian
Nights, was as desert nomads
who lived in an exotic and faraway
world of sand dunes, camels and
harems. The term Middle East

}
related reads =
College days:
more on AUB

In his vibrantly written new book, Brian VanDeMark

takes an in-depth look at the history of the American
University of Beirut and its complex and sometimes
troubled relationship with the region, writes Joan Oleck

The American University of Beirut was established as an alternative to Christian evangelism, which was antithetical to Islamic culture. Joseph Barrak / AFP

wasnt even popular until 1900; in

Blisss day, the region was simply
the Orient.
Bliss meant to have an impact
there. Having gained a handle on
local language and customs, he
set out to change Middle Eastern
society from within, by education,
rather than from without, through
politics. Evangelism should give
way to education, Bliss believed.
His ally in this project wasnt so
much Americas missionary board,
which oversaw his work, as a wealthy
American businessman (and religious Puritan), William Dodge, who
helped Bliss beat the Jesuits who
also planned a college in Beirut
and get AUB up and running. Word
spread that this new college was the
best in the Middle East, and power-

From page 158 A terrible wind was gathering force. AUB had always been an icon of the
US in the Middle East. Now that icon had become a target for those who hated America

ful leaders from multiple nations

quickly enrolled their sons.
By 1909, AUB had grown to 1,000
students; Blisss middle son
Howard inherited the presidency
and created a melting pot on campus amid a city that had grown into a
major commercial and cultural centre. Meanwhile, local Arabs had begun to forge a sense of identity separate from their Turkish and French
masters; VanDeMark posits that
AUBs environment of free thought
helped give birth to Arab nationalism.
That movement grew stronger after the First World War, when Britain and France notoriously split the
region (with former Ottoman-controlled Lebanon and Syria going to
France), and when Britains Balfour
Declaration pledged support for a
Jewish homeland in Palestine. The
Paris Peace Conference swiftly dismissed US President Woodrow Wil-

sons call for self-determination in

the region.
Meanwhile, a different kind of
challenge resulted from the arrival of modernity in the 1920s. But
Bayard Dodge, who had married
Blisss daughter and become AUBs
president in 1923, responded, expanding the universitys curriculum
in Arabic language and culture and
melding together Arab and Jewish
students in the dorms and on sports
teams. A young Palestinian student
confessed that some of his best
friends were Jews, but: as soon as
we get back to Jerusalem, I cant allow myself to be seen speaking with
them. In 1924 AUB even admitted
its first woman: she wore two veils
and attended class with her husband in tow.
Between 1920 and 1940, enrolment doubled again, to 2,000; womens numbers also increased, and
men and women openly socialised.

Then came the Second World War,

introducing, for the first time, a chill
between Arabs and the West. The US
had become a net importer of oil for
the first time and later eyed AUB as
an asset in the Cold War.
Although Time magazine in 1948
said of Bayard Dodge that no other
American had done as much to win
and keep goodwill for the US in the
Near East, those living in the region
werent so sure. Things hardly improved when 14,000 US marines
landed in Lebanon in 1958, in response to a coup in Iraq, and when
Tapline, a 2,000km Saudi-American
pipeline from the Arabian Gulf, was
built in that decade right through
Lebanon.
The Arab-Israeli war of 1967 with
the US supporting Israel caused
tensions to worsen further; AUBs
Jewish enrolment fell to zero.
Newsweek sarcastically tagged
AUB Guerrilla U: Where the cam-

pus formerly had supplied Middle

Eastern countries with presidents,
prime ministers, doctors and ambassadors, now it was producing
hijackers and guerrillas, the
magazine said. Certainly, Arab students viewed AUB as a symbol of
imperialism and hypocrisy, and
such views frustrated Dodge, who
futilely tried to bring the campuss
melting pot back together. Shortly
before his death in 1972, he said, It
is truer than ever before that history
is a race between education and catastrophe.
His words predicted the subsequent years, as the new disillusionment with secularism, together
with surging Palestinian nationalism, pushed Lebanons Maronite
Phalangist minority into a terrorist act that initiated civil war. USbacked AUB became a bombing
target of terrorists, and there was
more: president David Dodge was

held captive by Hizbollah for a year

in 1982 and his successor, Malcolm
Kerr, was assassinated in 1984.
US marines and soldiers took up
residence in Beirut a terrorist
bombing in 1983 killed 241 of them.
Then came the first Gulf War in 1991
followed by the September 11 attacks, and in turn by the 2006 Israeli
invasion of Lebanon in retaliation
for Hizbollah rocket attacks against
its citizens.
The new generation of Middle
Eastern students at AUB and newer
institutions such as the American
University of Kuwait, Education
City in Qatar, and the American University of Cairo objected to many
things in American policy, an Arab
educator once remarked, except
for one thing: American-style education.
So what is an American-style
education worth today? American
Sheikhs could have been a dry academic tome, but VanDeMarks vibrant writing and in-depth reporting make AUBs story an allegory
about what it takes to calm ethnic
and religious tensions.
At AUB, he writes, Arabs and
Jews and Americans and Muslims
became humanly familiar to each
other through dialogue and learnt
tolerance, and therefore politically
plausible partners to each other.
These components, VanDeMark
adds, are the most powerful and
enduring antidotes to extremism
of any kind words worth thinking about too as more and more USlinked institutions, from New York
University-Abu Dhabi to the American University of Sharjah, take root
and flower in the UAE and across the
Middle East.
Joan Oleck is a freelance writer based
in Brooklyn, New York.

review

TheNational
Music
Wileys wildly
eccentric
world r10

Books
Experimental
fiction in the
Soviet era r12

Knocked
out of play

First published in 1941

to mark AUBs 75th
anniversary, Penroses
book resurfaced in
paperback last year.
The author notes in his
introduction that the
uni has a penchant for
anniversaries in the midst
of [world] war.

How economic stagnation and

political repression fuelled recent
revolts and why activists were able
to kick certain regimes into touch r4

The American
University of Beirut
Betty S Anderson
Sub-titled Arab
Nationalism and Liberal
Education, Andersons
scholarly text is another
history of AUB, [but] only
one of the many stories
that can be told.
Mathew Kurian of The National

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The desert
sounds of
Tinariwen r10

Books
Terrorism and
the fight for
justice r12

th

Friday, January 20, 2012 www.thenational.ae

Stephen B L Penrose Jr

Painting
over the
cracks
After rising through the ranks
of South Africas ANC party,
Julius Malema now faces ruin. But what
does his expected expulsion from
political life say about the state of a
nation and, indeed, its ruling elite? r4

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www.adbookfair.com

Friday, February 3, 2012 www.thenational.ae

That They May

Have Life

05

review

13 r

th

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Friday, January 6, 2012 www.thenational.ae

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TheNational

Friday, February 17, 2012 www.thenational.ae

Music From
Kuwait to
NY via the
Vatican r10

Books In the
footprints
of the Asian
giants r12

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review
r

The power of
the possible
How a pioneering Jaipur-based humanitarian
organisation is changing the lives of amputees
in India and all around the world r4

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04

Rachid Boudjedra:

Subversive, Pugnacious, and Versatile

Rachid Boudjedra has

been writing for over forty
years and is probably, if
not certainly, the writer
from the Maghreb who has
sparked the most passion
in his readers, both
positive and negative.
Born in colonial French Algeria in 1941, he
became a maquisard before the age of
twenty in the Algerian resistance movement,
eventually representing the FLN (National
Liberation Front), working as an advisor
to the Ministry of Culture as well as being
secretary-general of the Algerian Human
Rights League.
Alternately described as subversive,
pugnacious, and versatile, a Marxist in
a Muslim world, Boudjedra has happily
criticized both Algerian and French societies
in his books and poetry over the years. He
first began to write in French, and in 1981
switched over to writing in Arabic, eventually
writing in both and often translating his work;
he is considered both a French and Arab
author, like Kateb Yacine and Assia Djebar.
There is no difference between writing in
Arabic or in French for me, said Boudjedra.
The writer imposes his vision and his

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feelings about the world on the language

he is using. I already manhandled the
French language a little in 1970 and then I
manhandled the Arabic language beginning
in 1981. A writer always has his or her own
lexicon, which can disrupt set phrases and
traditional language. In this sense, a writer is
or is not subversive!
Sparks flew right from the start of
Boudjedras literary career with the
publication of his first novel, La Rpudiation,
(The Repudiation) in 1969. Outspoken in his
views about what he saw as an intolerant,
archaic society, Boudjedra was embraced
by the literary world while his book was
banned in Algeria. Not only was he using
the language of the enemy, he was using
it to criticize Muslim traditionalism. For his
personal safety, Boudjedra lived in France
and Morocco for a time before returning to
Algeria.
He experimented with different styles of
writing, from the socio-realistic to fables, but
never shied away from writing (in explicit
language) about sexuality, rape and incest
in Algerian society. Violence is a recurring
theme in his books, whether it is inflicted by
the French on Algerian soil, violence among
Algerians, either cultural or political, and
racism and violence towards Algerians in
France.
After writing six novels in French, in 1981
Boudjedra turned to Arabic out of a desire

to subvert the language, he said in an

interview at the time. As soon as he began
writing in Arabic, Arabic language publishers
rushed to translate the novels he had written
in French.
I translated most of my novels in both
directions, only a few were translated by
friends and my first novel, La Rpudiation
was translated by my Arabic professor from
when I was in high school. This is something
wonderful that still moves me! (Arabia

by Olivia Snaije

screenplays:
Ive always written in a cinematographic
and pictorial style, taking inspiration from
great American writers and great European
painters: Faulkner and Dos Passos,
Picasso and de Stal. Its a question of
personal culture
Although many young Algerian authors
now write in Arabic, Boudjedra continues
to write in both Arabic and French. When
asked whether Algerian writers would

The Algerian author shares his views on

writing in Arabic courting controversy.
Books will publish Boudjedras The Barbary
Figs in English this fall, and his novel The
Funerals in 2014.)
Algeria is fertile ground for Boudjedra,
who in his essays, poems and novels has
treated subjects such as the unsung role of
the Berbers in the conquest of Andaluca,
the unsatisfactory outcome of the Algerian
revolution, bureaucracy during a Socialist
regime, his plea for democracy during the
period of Islamic terrorism, and the beauty
and magic of the Sahara desert. He has
also written screenplays for films, one
of which won the Palme dOr at the 1971
Cannes Film Festival. His writing has been
called cinematographic, but Boudjedra
said he wrote this way long before writing

continue the current trend of writing in

Arabic, or would go back to writing in
both languages, Boudjedra commented,
In my opinion French has no future for
North African writers because Arabic is allpervasive. For example, 6,000,000 Arabic
language newspapers are sold each day in
Algeria whereas Francophone newspapers
sell only 700,000 copies.
Rachid Boudjedra will be interviewed by
Khaled Bin Quqa today at19:00 and will
be discussing the career of author Albert
Camus, with Jerome Ferrari and Vital
Rambaud on Monday, April 29 at 17:45.
Both events take place at the
Discussion Sofa.

23rd Abu Dhabi International Book Fair

24 - 29 April 2013

Interactive teaching materials

created through the iBooks
Author programme are
significantly increasing
student engagement and
pushing teachers to use
more exciting classroom
methods, according to staff
at the United Arab Emirates
University.

An Adventurous
Life Lived
Through Line
Drawings
by Olivia Snaije

The Middle East had never particularly

interested the Quebec-born cartoon artist,
Guy Delisle. So when he discovered in 2008
that he was moving to Jerusalem, one of the
most divisive, hotly contested cities on the
planet to follow his partner Nadge, who
worked for Doctors without Borders, it was
entirely new terrain for him.
Delisle had lived in Burma in 2005 with
Nadge and their young son, which had
resulted in his enormously successful Burma
Chronicles travelogue, in which he recounts
in his neat ink drawings, his experience as
a stay-at-home dad discovering a country
living under a brutal dictatorship. Delisle had
already experienced and recorded Asia in
two previous books, Shenzhen, published in
French in 2000, then in English in 2006, and
Pyongyang, published in French in 2003 and
in English in 2005.
His fourth travelogue, Jerusalem: Chronicles
from the Holy City, published in 2012 (and
in French in 2011), won the equivalent of

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writers, then with former Israeli soldiers

turned activists, and with tourist group led
by a settler. But Delisle is not particularly
interested in the unavoidable political
situationhis strength lies in deceptively
simple descriptions of daily life. When the
Israeli operation Cast Lead begins against
Gaza, Delisle finds himself listening to
Nadges colleagues recounting horrific
stories about Palestinian casualties, at the
same time trying to answer his five-year old
sons question, Dad, whats war?
Delisle also records his experiences running
comic book workshops for art students in
both the West Bank, in Nablus and Ramallah,

Graphic novelist Guy Delisle documents

life as an expat in war-torn Jerusalem in
his latest work.

the Cannes Film Festivals Palme dOrthe

Fauve dOr, or Best Comic Book Award at the
prestigious Angouleme Comics Festival. In it,
Delisle described the year he spent struggling
to get his head around the manic, divided
city, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, managing
the familys life and finding time to sketch.
Delisle eases his readers into his
sympathetic, slightly nave characters life,
who is based in Arab East Jerusalem where
many of the NGO personnel live. Little by little
he learns the ropes, taking his children to
school, shopping, dealing with checkpoints,
and making a heroic effort to view the conflict
from all sides by visiting the occupied city of
Hebron three timeswith a group of French

and in Tel Aviv.

If only we had been able to get a young
Palestinian to talk about what life is like there,
it would have been better, remarked Delisle,
rather than me or the courageous Joe
Sacco doing it. The Palestinian I described
in the book didnt want to talk about his life;
he wanted to talk about science fiction. I
understood himit was a form of escape.
Delisles Jerusalem book has yet to be
translated into Arabic but he said he would
be happy if the Arab world were interested
in the book. He may be going to Ramallah
next year to attend a comic book festivalin-the-making. Now that Delisle and his
partner have two children, they have given up

traveling the world, which was getting a little

complicated and have settled in the south
of France.
He is no less busya series called the
Bad Dad guide about parenting is being
published in French and English, and he is
about to launch into a lengthy biographical
graphic novel about a humanitarian aid
worker who, three months into a job, was
kidnapped and held in Chechnya.
I want to talk about how one manages when
in captivity, said Delisle, who added that it
was the first time he was telling someone
elses story.
Although he was trained in animation, he has
no intention of transforming his travelogues
into animated films, such as Marjane
Satrapis Persepolis. He had an offer for his
Jerusalem book, but said he turned it down.
I dont really want to see myself in the
streets of Jerusalem saying things I never
really said.
His comic about Pyongyang, however, may
become a Hollywood film, and Delisle said he
preferred a film with real actors, which would
underline the difference with his book.
For the moment, said Delisle, Im quite
happy sitting at my drawing table.
Chroniques de Jerusalem is published by
Editions Delcourt in French and is published
in English as Jerusalem: Chronicles from the
Holy City by Jonathan Cape in the UK and
Drawn & Quarterly in the USA and Canada.
Guy Delise will be in conversation with Alia
Yunis at 17:30 today in The Tent. The event
will be followed by a book signing.

23rd Abu Dhabi International Book Fair

24 - 29 April 2013

Illusrtration of the Day: Miguel Gallardo

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