Blog Spotlight: Arabic Literature (in English)
February 07, 2016 Blogs
Arabic Literature (in English) is a literary blog aimed at non-Arabic readers seeking a deeper understanding of Arabic literature and culture. MediaSource spoke with Cairo-based freelance journalist Marcia Lynx Qualey about the origins of her blog, its readership, and working with publicists.
What inspired you to launch your blog?
ArabLit launched in 2009 as a space for me to write about an Iraqi short-story collection that I found particularly engaging. It was initially launched as a sort of public diary—very much in the spirit of blogging. A book group of one.
Who is your blog aimed at?
First, it was aimed at myself. When I saw that there were readers, I imagined who they might be, mistakenly believing they would be lay readers. But it’s only a minority of the audience that’s true lay readers—people coming to Arabic literature for absolutely no reason other than that they might enjoy it. The other ArabLit readers are authors, publishers, translators, students, academics, journalists, librarians.
I suppose there are different types of participants: passive readers, who I don’t know at all. And that’s a shame, since I don’t know any of my readers from the Philippines, and I’d like to. Then there’s a whole range of active readers, and they sometimes feed me information, write for the site, send me events, write angry emails, comment on Facebook, meet me in person, ask me to write their undergrad papers, and so on. They absolutely shape what I do.
Note: I do not actually write student papers….
What role can bloggers play in shaping the discussion around contemporary Arabic culture?
I’m not sure what a “blogger” is any more. A poorly paid journalist? A journalist-essayist who works for free? There is certainly a gap to be filled, although I’d like to see it filled by paid professionals.
Which other Middle East literary blogs do you follow?
There was Baheyya, back when she wrote about literature, and she was a very insightful critic. Now she writes about politics. Robin Moger does the world a great service at Qisasukhra, where he translates excerpts of Arabic literary works. There is Chiara Comito’s Editoriaraba, which is an Italian version of ArabLit. Tasnim Qutait’s Arab Hyphen, Youssef Rakha’s website yrakha.com, and Jonathan Guyer’s Oum Cartoon for those interested in the graphic novel. There are many more.
Your blog is very news driven with daily content on upcoming events, translations, new literary releases, and awards – how do you filter through what will be newsworthy for readers?
Since I’m not paid for this work, I work on whatever is interesting to me, or interesting to the readers who are active participants.
Are you happy to be contacted by publicists?
I certainly appreciate Four Coleman Getty keeping me up to date with literary prizes. Even though I see a downside to literary prizes, I can’t help but be enchanted and entertained by them. I am happy to receive things that directly relate to literature. Unfortunately there’s so much more—things that have nothing to do with literature or art—crowding its way into my inbox.
Do you accept review copies of new works?
Absolutely. Although writers and publishers should know I have stacks and stacks and stacks of material to get through. And occasionally I like to read books that are just for me.
What advice would you give to new authors or publishers looking to promote their works?
Authors and publishers (and translators) need to get out in front of their work more: email people, suggest themselves to reviewers, find relevant GoodReads groups, create events, have giveaways, write essays and guest posts for other websites, be funny on Twitter or Instagram, and so on. It’s the same thing as always; only the technology is different.
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