Sonallah Ibrahim: August Star

Sonallah Ibrahim's novel Najmah Aghustus (August Star 1974) was written over seven years, from 1966 to 1973, while the author was living in Berlin and Moscow and was banned in Egypt, with the first edition published in Damasucs in 1974. In 2003, Sonallah Ibrahim famously declined a government prize, pointing out "this government doesn't have …

An Apartment Called Freedom

An Apartment Called Freedom, by Ghazi al Qusaibi, is set between 1956 and 1961, and tells of the experiences in love and politics of four Bahraini young men studying at university in Cairo. The novel begins on the plane, where 16 year old Fuad is on his way from Bahrain to Egypt to study law. …