As it does every year during the summer season, Casa Árabe offers a list of literary recommendations to enjoy during the holidays, with a selection of books by Arab authors and/or on Arab themes.
We begin with a new publication, The Virtuous Ones, by Jasmina Khadra (in the photo). A qué esperan los monos (2014) by the same author has already been presented. In addition, on Casa Árabe’s YouTube channel you can watch the interview held with him last summer on the occasion of the launch of his previous novel, La sal de todos los olvidos (The Salt of All Forgetfulness).
On the occasion of LGTBI+ Pride month, this diplomatic cultural centre presented the works Esto jamás podré contarlo, in which Fernando López Rodríguez talks about his experience in the Gulf countries, and Los lugares verdes, in which Luis Salvago talks about a phenomenon specific to Afghanistan and little known outside its borders.
The year 2023 will mark the 75th anniversary of the Nakba, and Palestine will be very present in Casa Árabe’s programming. Last May saw the presentation of the books Palestine, one hundred years of colonialism and resistance, in an interesting meeting with its author, Rashid Khalidi, and Palestine in pieces, by the Palestinian-born writer Lina Meruane.
On refugees, David de Juan Marcos’s Desde que me quedé sin dioses (Since I Ran Out of Gods) is proposed. The author Tarek Eltayeb also deals with the issue of migration in his book Estaciones.
The testimonies of journalists working on the ground are a good choice for summer reading. Casa Árabe has turned its attention to Todo por decir, by the doyen of Middle East correspondents, Tomás Alcoverro, and changing regions, Los grupos armados del Sahel. Conflict and criminal economy in northern Mali, by Beatriz Mesa.
