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'The Zafarani Files' in the running for 2010 Three Percent translation prize
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Free thinkers bloom in the desert
Arabia Books and Gamal Al Gitani in The Independent
Date: 2009-05-25
Boyd Tonkin: Free thinkers bloom in the desert
The Independent
The Week In Books
Friday, 3 April 2009
'... Impressively, the literature award (750,000 dirhams, or £125,000) went to another dauntless Cairene, Gamal Al Ghitani, for his new novel Ren. Ever since he was jailed in the 1960s for opposing Nasser's police state, Al Ghitani has twin-tracked landmark historical fiction exploring the roots of today's Egypt with courageous dissenting journalism. Next month, Arabia Books in the UK will issue his The Zaferani Files. ...'
Read Boyd Tonkin's full article in The Independent about the rise of Arabic literature here.