And the winners are….
Women in Translation Month was held in September this year. But actually it ought to be every month of the year!
To embolden the idea and to honor women authors from the Arab world and women translators of Arabic fiction, Hoopoe gave out two free copies of All That I Want to Forget by bestselling and award-winning Kuwaiti author Bothayna Al-Essa, a much-praised novel translated to English by Michele Henjum and published in 2019 by Hoopoe.
The two lucky winners out of the nearly thirty US-based participants are Celine Johnson and Corina Rogge, who replied by saying “Oh, how exciting! This is the first time I’ve won anything since a lemon cake back in 3rd grade…. And to have it be a book from AUC Press is simply marvelous.”
About the novel:
Fatima loves poetry and wants to study French literature—both of which are anathema to her strict and conservative much older brother, Saqr. While living under his roof, Fatima’s hopes and dreams are scrutinized, mocked, and slowly crushed as she is forced into his narrow vision of the right path.Then Fatima meets Isam, a poet like her; they email love letters to each other and meet in secret. Saqr, however, has other ideas: she is married off to Faris, a complete stranger. He is not the cruel tyrant her brother was, but still she did not choose him. Will she escape her past to live the life of love and poetry she craves?
More about the author and the translator:
Bothayna Al-Essa has published nine novels, as well as collections of essays, children’s books, and translations from English into Arabic. She lives in Kuwait. Michele Henjum is a translator with an MA in comparative literature. She lives in Cairo.
Posted on 13/10/2020 in FICTION General
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