October 2002
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Picture booksThe Lilac Girl
by Ibtisam Barakat (author), Sinan Hallak (illustrator)
Inspired by the life story of Palestinian artist, Tamam Al-Akhal, The Lilac Girl is the sixth book for younger readers by award-winning author, Ibtisam Barakat. The Lilac Girl is a beautifully illustrated short story relating the departure of Palestinian artist and educator, Tamam Al-Akhal, from her homeland, Jaffa. It portrays Tamam as a young girl who dreams about returning to her home, which she has been away from for 70 years, since the Palestinian exodus. Tamam discovers that she is talented in drawing, so she uses her imagination to draw her house in her mind. She decides one night to visit it, only to find another girl there, who won’t allow her inside and shuts the door in her face. Engulfed in sadness, Tamam sits outside and starts drawing her house on a piece of paper. As she does so, she notices that the colors of her house have escaped and followed her; the girl attempts to return the colors but in vain. Soon the house becomes pale and dull, like the nondescript hues of bare trees in the winter. Upon Tamam’s departure, she leaves the entire place drenched in the color of lilac. As a children’s story, The Lilac Girl works on multiple levels, educating with its heart-rending narrative but without preaching, accurately expressing the way Palestinians must have felt by not being allowed to return to their homeland. As the story’s central character, Tamam succeeds on certain levels in defeating the occupying forces and intruders through her yearning, which is made manifest through the power of imaginary artistic expression. In her mind she draws and paints a picture of hope, with colors escaping the physical realm of her former family abode, showing that they belong, not to the invaders, but the rightful occupiers of that dwelling. Far from being the only person to have lost their home and endured tremendous suffering, Tamam’s plight is representative of millions of people both then and now, emphasizing the notion that memories of our homeland live with us for eternity, no matter how far we are from them in a physical sense. The yearning to return home never subsides, never lessens with the passing of time but, with artistic expression, it is possible to find freedom and create beauty out of pain.
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Children's & YAThe Dinoraf
by Hessa Al Muhairi
An egg has hatched, and what comes out of it? A chicken? No. A turtle? No. It’s a dinosaur. But where is his family? The little dinosaur searches the animal kingdom for someone who looks like him and settles on the giraffe. In this picture book by educator and author Hessa Al Muhairi, with illustrations by Sura Ghazwan, a dinosaur sets out in search of animals like him. He finds plenty of animals, but none that look the same...until he meets the giraffe. This story explores identity and belonging and teaches children about accepting differences in carefully crafted language.
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Children's & YAJanuary 2015Hatless
by Lateefa Buti / Illustrated by Doha Al Khteeb
Kuwaiti children’s book author Lateefa Buti’s well-crafted and beautifully illustrated children’s book, Hatless, encourages children (ages 6-9) to think independently and challenge rigid traditions and fixed rituals with innovation and creativity. The main character is a young girl named Hatless who lives in the City of Hats. Here, all of the people are born with hats that cover their heads and faces. The world inside of their hats is dark, silent, and odorless. Hatless feels trapped underneath her own hat. She wants to take off her hat, but she is afraid, until she realizes that whatever frightening things exist in the world around her are there whether or not she takes off her hat to see them. So Hatless removes her hat. As Hatless takes in the beauty of her surroundings, she cannot help but talk about what she sees, hears, and smells. The other inhabitants of the city ostracize her because she has become different from them. It is not long before they ask her to leave the City of Hats. Rather than giving up or getting angry, Hatless feels sad for her friends and neighbors who are afraid to experience the world outside of their hats. She comes up with an ingenious solution: if given another chance, she will wear a hat as long it is one she makes herself. The people of the City of Hats agree, so Hatless weaves a hat that covers her head and face but does not prevent her from seeing the outside world. She offers to loan the hat to the other inhabitants of the city. One by one, they try it on and are enchanted by the beautiful world around them. Since then, no child has been born wearing a hat. The people celebrate by tossing their old hats in the air. By bravely embracing these values, Hatless improves her own life and the lives of her fellow citizens. Buti’s language is eloquent and clear. She strikes a skilled narrative balance between revealing Hatless’s inner thoughts and letting the story unfold through her interactions with other characters. Careful descriptions are accompanied by beautiful illustrations that reward multiple readings of the book.
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In the Footsteps of Enayat Al-Zayyat
by Iman Mersal
‘In the Footsteps of Enayat Al-Zayyat’ is a book that traces the life of an unknown Egyptian writer who died in 1963, four years before the release of her only novel. The book does not follow a traditional style to present the biography of Al-Zayyat, or to restore consideration for a writer who was denied her rights. Mersal refuses to present a single story as if it is the truth and refuses to speak on behalf of the heroine or deal with her as a victim, but rather takes us on a journey to search for the individuality that is often marginalised in Arab societies. The book searches for a young woman whose family burned all her personal documents, including the draft of her second novel, and was completely absent in the collective archives. The narration derives its uniqueness from its ability to combine different literary genres such as fictional narration, academic research, investigation, readings, interviews, fiction, and fragments of the autobiography of the author of the novel. The book deals with the differences between the individuality of Enayat, who was born into an aristocratic family, graduated from a German school and wrote her narration during the domination of the speeches of the Nasserism period, and that of Mersal, a middle-class woman who formed her consciousness in the 1990s and achieved some of what Enayat dreamed of achieving but remained haunted by her tragedy. The book deals with important political, social and cultural issues, as we read the history of psychiatry in modern Egypt through the pills that Enayat swallowed to end her life on 3 January 1963, while her divorce summarises the continuing suffering of women with the Personal Status Law. We also see how the disappearance of a small square from her neighbourhood reveals the relationship between modernity and bureaucracy, and how the geography of Cairo changes, obliterated as the result of changes in political regimes. In the library of the German Archaeological Institute, where Enayat worked, we find an unwritten history of World War II and, in her unpublished second novel, we see unknown stories of German scientists fleeing Nazism to Cairo. We also see how Enayat’s neglected tomb reveals the life story of her great-grandfather, Ahmed Rashid Pasha, and the disasters buried in the genealogy tree.
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Children's & YAJanuary 2011The Boy Who Saw the Color of Air
by Abdo Wazen
In his first YA novel, cultural journalist and author Abdo Wazen writes about a blind teenager in Lebanon who finds strength and friendship among an unlikely group. Growing up in a small Lebanese village, Bassim’s blindness limits his engagement with the materials taught in his schools. Despite his family’s love and support, his opportunities seem limited. So at thirteen years old, Bassim leaves his village to join the Institute for the Blind in a Beirut suburb. There, he comes alive. He learns Braille and discovers talents he didn’t know he had. Bassim is empowered by his newfound abilities to read and write. Thanks to his newly developed self-confidence, Bassim decides to take a risk and submit a short story to a competition sponsored by the Ministry of Education. After winning the competition, he is hired to work at the Institute for the Blind. At the Institute, Bassim, a Sunni Muslim, forms a strong friendship with George, a Christian. Cooperation and collective support are central to the success of each student at the Institute, a principle that overcomes religious differences. In the book, the Institute comes to symbolize the positive changes that tolerance can bring to the country and society at large. The Boy Who Saw the Color of Air is also a book about Lebanon and its treatment of people with disabilities. It offers insight into the vital role of strong family support in individual success, the internal functioning of institutions like the Institute, as well as the unique religious and cultural environment of Beirut. Wazen’s lucid language and the linear structure he employs result in a coherent and easy-to-read narrative. The Boy Who Saw the Color of Air is an important contribution to a literature in which people with disabilities are underrepresented. In addition to offering a story of empowerment and friendship, this book also aims to educate readers about people with disabilities and shed light on the indispensable roles played by institutions like the Institute.
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January 2013The Madmen of Bethlehem
by Osama Alaysa
Adopting the story-within-a-story structure of Arabian Nights, author Osama Alaysa weaves together a collection of stories portraying centuries of oppression endured by the Palestinian people. This remarkable novel eloquently brings together fictional characters alongside real-life historical figures in a complex portrayal of Bethlehem and the Dheisheh Refugee Camp in the West Bank. The common thread connecting each tale is madness, in all its manifestations. Psychological madness, in the sense of clinical mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, finds expression alongside acts of social and political madness. Together, these accounts of individuals and communities provide a gateway into the histories of the city of Bethlehem and Palestine. They paint a picture of the centuries of political oppression that the Palestinian people have endured, from the days of the Ottoman Empire to the years following the Oslo Accords, and all the way to 2012 (when the novel was written). The novel is divided into three sections, each containing multiple narratives. The first section, “The Book of a Genesis,” describes the physical spaces and origins of Bethlehem and Dheisheh Refugee Camp. These stories span the 19th and 20th centuries, transitioning smoothly from one tale to another to offer an intricate interpretation of the identity of these places. The second section, “The Book of the People Without a Book”, follows parallel narratives of the lives of the patients in a psychiatric hospital in Bethlehem, the mad men and women roaming the streets of the city, and those imprisoned by the Israeli authorities. All suffer abuse, but they also reaffirm their humanity through the relationships, romantic and otherwise, that they form. The third and final section, “An Ephemeral Book,” follows individuals—Palestinian and non-Palestinian—who are afflicted by madness following the Oslo Accords in 1993. These stories give voice to the perspectives of the long-marginalized Palestinian population, narrating the loss of land and the accompanying loss of sanity in the decades of despair and violence that followed the Nakba, the 1948 eviction of some 700,000 Palestinians from their homes. The novel’s mad characters—politicians, presidents, doctors, intellectuals, ordinary people and, yes, Dheisheh and Bethlehem themselves—burst out of their narrative threads, flowing from one story into the next. Alaysa’s crisp, lucid prose and deft storytelling chart a clear path through the chaos with dark humor and wit. The result is an important contribution to fiction on the Palestinian crisis that approaches the Palestinians, madness, and Palestinian spaces with compassion and depth.
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Fiction2022The End of the Desert
by Said Khatibi
On a nice fall day of 1988, Zakiya Zaghwani was found lying dead at the edge of the desert, giving way to a quest to discover the circumstances surrounding her death. While looking for whoever was involved in the death of the young singer, nearby residents discover bit by bit their involvement in many things other than the crime itself. ///The story takes place in a town near the desert. And as with Khatibi’s previous novels, this one is also marked by a tight plot, revolving around the murder of a singer who works in a hotel. This sets off a series of complex investigations that defy easy conclusions and invite doubt about the involvement of more than one character. /// Through the narrators of the novel, who also happen to be its protagonists, the author delves into the history of colonialism and the Algerian War of Independence and its successors, describing the circumstances of the story whose events unfold throughout the month. As such, the characters suspected of killing the singer are not only accused of a criminal offense, but are also concerned, as it appears, with the great legacy that the War of Independence left, from different aspects.///The novel looks back at a critical period in the modern history of Algeria that witnessed the largest socio-political crisis following its independence in 1988. While the story avoids the immediate circumstances of the war, it rather invokes the events leading up to it and tracks its impact on the social life, while capturing the daily life of vulnerable and marginalized groups. /// Nonetheless, those residents’ vulnerability does not necessarily mean they are innocent. As it appears, they are all involved in a crime that is laden with symbolism and hints at the status of women in a society shackled by a heavy legacy of a violent, wounded masculinity. This approach to addressing social issues reflects a longing to break loose from the stereotypical discourse that sets heroism in a pre-defined mold and reduces the truth to only one of its dimensions.
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May 2013An den Ufern der Dunkelheit
Gedichte aus Palästina
by Muhammad Ali, Taha / Einführung von Weidner, Stefan; Arabisch Weidner, Stefan
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Humanities & Social SciencesJanuary 2022Israelpolitik
by Lorena De Vita, J. Simon Rofe, Giles Scott-Smith
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Biography & True StoriesJanuary 2014Beyond Writing
by Ibrahim Abdelmeguid
One of Egypt’s leading literary voices offers a first-hand look at political, social, cultural events of the last 40 years and how they influenced his writing. Ibrahim Abdelmeguid, called “the quintessential writer about Alexandria” by The National newspaper, looks back over his decades-long writing career this book, which what he calls a “literary autobiography.” In it, he reflects on the social, political, and cultural influences in Egypt and elsewhere that have shaped him as a writer. He shares his views on major political events, such as the 1967 defeat after the Six-Day War, and explanations of their profound impact on his personal life and works of fiction. Abdelmeguid devotes a portion of his work to discussing the development of his views on Egypt’s second president, Gamal Abdel Nasser, over the course of his turbulent tenure in office. The book is divided into a brief introduction and four chapters. Abdelmeguid guides the reader through his literary career, moving masterfully between the factual and the meditative. He explores how each of his novels and many of his short stories was conceived. He also describes cultural, political, and social contexts in which his writing evolved and was received by literary critics and casual readers. He spends considerable time describing the creative process behind his Alexandria trilogy— No One Sleeps in Alexandria, Birds of Amber, and Clouds Over Alexandria. The first book, No One Sleeps in Alexandria, is set during World War II. Abdelmeguid visited numerous key sites in Alexandria and surrounding areas and read every newspaper he could get his hands on. The result of his devotion to research is a vibrant portrayal of Alexandria that shines throughout the epic novel. Of particular note is his successful communication of the cultural and religious diversity of the city and the impact of that on the promotion of a culture of tolerance. Beyond Writing is a rare and important addition to the modern Arabic literary map. Few Arab authors are willing to so transparently share their writing process, preferring to highlight the polished final product while concealing the hard work that brought it into existence. Readers are lucky that it is a writer as prominent, thoughtful, and engaging as Abdelmeguid is willing to draw back the curtain.
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September 2023»Ein kleiner Regen macht nicht nass«
by Paula Schmid, Gerda Raidt
Wer hätte das gedacht? Regenwetter, das bedeutete doch eigentlich schlechtes Wetter, »Schmuddelwetter«, Wetter, bei dem man keinen Hund vor die Tür jagte. Heute – in Zeiten der weltweiten Dürre, des Raubbaus an der Natur und des unablässig voranschreitenden Klimawandels – würde man sich an manchen Tagen mehr Regen wünschen, am besten gleich einen Regenmacher! Das kleine Lesebuch versammelt Gedichte und Geschichten vom Regen, als er noch alltäglich zu sein schien. Mascha Kaléko berichtet von einem Wiedersehen mit einer Jugendliebe bei nasser Witterung, Walter Kempowski erinnert sich an einen verregneten Urlaub im Harz. Der erzählerische Regenbogen spannt sich von der biblischen Sintflut bis zum Fußbad im Cabrio. Und die Illustratorin Gerda Raidt hat den literarischen Landregen zusätzlich ins Bild gesetzt.
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February 2021Die Experten
Thriller
by Merle Kröger
Die sechziger Jahre haben begonnen und mit ihnen das Zeitalter des Wassermanns. Adolf Eichmann wird in Jerusalem zum Tode verurteilt. Konrad Adenauer sagt Militärhilfe für Israel zu. Gleichzeitig jedoch zieht es deutsche Flugzeugkonstrukteure, Triebwerksbauer und Raketentechniker in großer Zahl nach Ägypten. Rita Hellberg, Tochter eines Ingenieurs, will ihre Eltern in Kairo eigentlich nur besuchen. Doch der Vater entscheidet: Die Familie gehört zusammen. Ägyptens Präsident Nasser träumt von einer afrikanischen Rüstungsindustrie, und so baut der Vater einen Jagdbomber. Während ihre Mutter sich dem Leben in Kairo verweigert, erkennt Rita bald, dass es für sie keinen besseren Ort geben kann, um ihre eigene Zukunft zu betreten. Sie lässt sich mitreißen in eine faszinierende Welt im Umbruch. Erst mit der Zeit wird ihr klar, dass sie mitten in einem Konflikt gelandet ist, in dem um historische und zukünftige, um weltpolitische und regionale Interessen mit allen Mitteln gekämpft wird. Jeder beobachtet jeden, Bomben explodieren, Menschen sterben. Rita Hellberg muss sich entscheiden, wo sie steht.
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Science & MathematicsNovember 2017The Business of Plant Breeding
Market led Approaches to Plant Variety Design in Africa
by Gabrielle J Persley, Vivienne M Anthony, Rowland Chirwa, Agyemang Danquah, Erik Yirenky Danquah, Appolinaire Djikeng, Shimelis Hussein, Paul M. Kimani, Heather Merk, Ivan Rwomushana, Jean Claude Rubyogo, Jonathan Shoham, Pangirayi Tongoona, Nasser Yao
The Business of Plant Breeding is the result of a study on demand-led plant variety design for markets in Africa, sharing best practices from private and public sector breeding programmes worldwide that are applicable to improving tropical crops in Africa. Beginning with an overview of the principles of demand-led plant breeding, the book then discusses aspects such as understanding the demands of clients and markets in rural and urban areas, foresight in setting product profiles and breeding targets, and determining breeding strategy and stage plans. It also covers measuring success and making the business case for future investments in breeding programmes that will deliver new varieties to meet market demands. The book: - Brings together the experience of plant breeders around the world, representing universities, national plant breeding programmes, regional and international agricultural research institutes, and private seed companies, showcasing how to respond to changing market demands; - Provides educational resource materials within each chapter; - Includes templates for use as planning tools by plant breeding programs for determining priority traits that meet market demands. An important read for professionals and students of plant breeding and genetics, this book is also a useful resource for anyone interested in developing and disseminating new, market-led technologies to increase productivity and profitability in tropical agriculture. The study was sponsored by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, the Crawford Fund and the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture, and managed by the University of Queensland.
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EconomicsJanuary 2020The Secrets of the Gas War
Interests Admission and Rivalries Struggle
by Gamal Taha
Day after Day... The importance of natural gas in generating energy increases worldwide. This book highlights the power balance and the future of energy in the region, throughimportant points:- The date of discovery of gas and oil worldwide- The Russian gas and how it is related to Europe, and the Russian control over many political incidents like preventing, supporting, and searching for new ways.- Discovering the Egyptian gas in the Eastern Mediterranean, and the Turkish anger over the loss of influence in the region- Qatar, which has the world's largest gas field with Iran, seeks today to reconstruct Syria after financing extremists there because it is the only route of Qatari gas to the Mediterranean.All of this is presented in a simplified and easy way for non-specialists, in order for them to enjoy and benefit from it.
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Walking on the edges
by Medhat Taha
In the novel “Walking on the edges”, written by Medhat Taha, the narrator takes the reader in a long journey, starting from the year of birth of main character, “Ezzat”, up to his graduation from Medical School, on the same year of assassination of president Saddat 1981. When desert storm (the 2nd Gulf war) was launched in 1991, Ezzat was already in the USA for a training program, sponsored by Peace Scholarship program (part of CAMP David Treaty), where he lived one year in Boston, interacting with different People, trying to understand how life is like in the USA. Through Ezzat's life, the narrator is telling a. Story of conflict with the self and the other. The story of the different worlds of the East & West, with its confrontation and struggle ingredients, or euphemastically their dialogue.
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Green Ants
by Sara Gürbüz Özeren
Taha lives in the big city. On a summer holiday he goes to his grandparent’s farm. He has the desire to discover, and there are a lot of things to learn about the environment. While he discovers the environment he also gets friends and improve his interpersonal relationships. Taha wants to have the ants destroy the plastics that stay in the environment for four hundred years. He makes experiments to achieve his goal. In every step, there is a problem and of course there is also a solution.
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Memories Of Vesal Ave.
by Golzar Razavi
The corridor is long and almost dark; At the end of the corridor (several meters ahead) there is a large glass door from which sunlight shines on the corridor; Mahshid and Taha walk slowly, steadily and firmly, on both sides of the corridor and parallel to the glass. Sometimes Mahshid falls forward and sometimes Taha; But in the end, both of them reach the glass door together; Taha opens the door and stands aside until Mahshid enters. Mahshid looks at Taha in surprise.
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Peace studies & conflict resolutionNovember 2017Matriarchal and Tribal Identity, Community Resilience, and Vulnerability in South Libya
by Manal Taha
This report provides cultural context and guidance for practitioners and policymakers working in the field of countering violent extremism (CVE) in North Africa. Based on research conducted in 2015 and 2016 in Libya and Tunisia that includes surveys and in-depth interviews with members of the Toubou and Tuareq tribes, it is part of ongoing United States Institute of Peace (USIP) efforts to develop and implement training and capacity-building programs that support CVE objectives.
