#saeed teebi

[readingtostaysane]

Woodlands; Her First Palestinian by Saeed Teebi

[arablit]

5 Books: Palestinian Short-story Collections

5 Books: Palestinian Short-story Collections

This week, we are launching our first community-supported translation: Ranya Abdelrahman’s translation of thirty-one selected stories by the great cult-classic Palestinian writer Samira Azzam. Thanks to our supporters on Patreon and elsewhere for making this happen. You can find the book on Amazon (US, UK, Germany, Canada, Japan, UAE, etc.) and Gumroad. On Gumroad, the book it as a 20%…

[likeclarabow]

2024 Books Read

In a Holidaze - Christina Lauren (Jan 1)

The Long Games - Elena Armas (Jan 2)

The Seven Year Slip - Ashley Poston (Jan 3)

Something More - Jackie Kalilieh (Jan 3-Jan 4)

A Study in Drowning - Ava Reid (Jan 8-Jan 13)

Cockroach - Rawi Hage (Jan 17-Jan 24)

Confessions of an English Opium Eater - Thomas De Quincey (Jan 18-Jan 24)

The Night Circus (reread) - Erin Morgenstern (Jan 24-Jan 29)

Manfred - Lord Byron (Jan 29-Jan 31)

White Nights - Fyodor Dostoevsky (Jan 26-Feb 1)

Murder on the Links - Agatha Christie (Feb 1-Feb 5)

Fronteras Americanas: American Borders - Guillermo Verdecchia (Feb 8)

Total Chaos - Jean Claude Izzo (Feb 7-Feb 16)

I Was Their American Dream - Malaka Gharib (Feb 17-Feb 21)

Once in a Promised Land - Laila Halaby (Feb 26-Mar 1)

Babi Yar - Anatoly Kuznetsov (Feb 17-Mar 2)

Northanger Abbey (reread) - Jane Austen (Feb 27-Mar 3)

Delicious Monsters - Liselle Sambury (Mar 10-Mar 11)

The Flatshare - Beth O'Leary (Mar 12-Mar 13)

Divine Rivals - Rebecca Ross (Mar 13-Mar 14)

The Breakup Tour - Emily Wibberly + Austin Siegemund-Broka (Mar 14)

Foul Heart Huntsman - Chloe Gong (Mar 15-Mar 16)

I Hope This Doesn't Find You - Ann Liang (Mar 16-Mar 17)

Less - Andrew Sean Greer (Mar 17-Mar 18)

Night of Power - Anar Ali (Mar 20)

Winter in Sokcho - Elisa Shua Dusapin (Mar 20-Mar 22)

The Last Man - Mary Shelley (Mar 19-Mar 30)

The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels - Janice Hallett (Mar 30-Mar 31)

Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin - Timothy Snyder (Jan 10-Apr 4)

The Reappearance of Rachel Price - Holly Jackson (May 5-May 8)

Winter Garden - Kristin Hannah (May 14-May 16)

Conversations With Friends - Sally Rooney (May 17-May 28)

Biography of X - Catherine Lacey (May 30-June 9)

Her First Palestinian - Saeed Teebi (May 30-June 10)

Funny Story - Emily Henry (June 11-June 16)

November 1942 - Peter Englund (June 16-June 26)

Alone With You in the Ether - Olivie Blake (June 23-June 27)

A Man Called Ove - Fredrick Backman (June 27-June 29)

Giovanni's Room - James Baldwin (June 29-June 30)

The Girl in Question - Tess Sharpe (June 30-July 3)

The Girls I've Been (reread) - Tess Sharpe (July 4-July 5)

The Man in the High Castle - Phillip K Dick (July 6-July 12)

Ruthless Vows - Rebecca Ross (July 12-July 16)

Body Grammar - Jules Ohman (July 17-July 19)

Shanghailanders - Juli Min (July 19-July 23)

They're Going to Love You - Meg Howrey (July 24-July 26)

So Late in the Day - Claire Keegan (July 26)

That's Not My Name - Megan Lally (July 26)

The Blonde Identity - Ally Carter (July 27)

Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands - Heather Fawcett (July 27-July 29)

The Sittaford Mystery - Agatha Christie (July 31-Aug 2)

Beautiful World Where Are You - Sally Rooney (Aug 3-Aug 8)

Mr Salary - Sally Rooney (Aug 9)

Penance - Eliza Clark (Aug 9-Aug 10)

Convenience Store Woman - Sayaka Murata (Aug 11)

Educated - Tara Westover (Aug 12-Aug 14)

The Couple at No. 9 - Claire Douglas (Aug 15-Aug 20)

A Curse for True Love - Stephanie Garber (Aug 17-Aug 19)

London - Edward Rutherford (Aug 20-Aug 28)

The Girls - Emma Cline (Aug 28-Aug 29)

The List - Yomi Adegoke (Aug 30)

Florida - Lauren Groff (Aug 30-Aug 31)

Less is Lost - Andrew Sean Greer (Aug 31-Sept 1)

Love in the Time of Serial Killers - Alicia Thompson (Sept 1)

Zoya - Danielle Steele (Sept 1-Sept 3)

Where Are You, Echo Blue - Hayley Krischer (Sept 4-Sept 7)

Bellies - Nicola Dinan (Sept 8-Sept 15)

A Contract With God - Will Eisner (Sept 17)

The Rachel Incident - Caroline O'Donoghue (Sept 19-Sept 21)

Richard II - William Shakespeare (Sept 15-Sept 22)

Maus I - Art Spiegelman (Sept 19-Sept 24)

This Ravenous Fate - Hayley Dennings (Sept 22-Sept 25)

The Unwomanly Face of War - Svetlana Alexievich (Sept 15-Sept 25)

Foster - Claire Keegan (Sept 26)

Anne of Windy Poplars (reread) - L.M. Montgomery (Sept 21-Sept 30)

The Pairing - Casey McQuiston (Sept 26-Oct 1)

Dept of Speculation - Jenny Offill (Oct 2)

Watchman - Alan Moore (Sept 29-Oct 4)

The Getaway List - Emma Lord (Oct 3-Oct 5)

Death at Morning House - Maureen Johnson (Oct 6-Oct 8)

The God of the Woods - Liz Moore (Oct 9-Oct 13)

Boy Parts - Eliza Clark (Oct 13-Oct 14)

Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers (Oct 19-Oct 22)

Bliss Montage - Ling Ma (Oct 23-Oct 26)

To the Lighthouse - Virginia Woolf (Oct 18-Oct 27)

Persepolis - Marjane Satrapi (Oct 24-Oct 28)

One for My Enemy - Olivie Blake (Oct 26-Oct 31)

Graveyard Shift - M.L. Rio (Nov 1-Nov 2)

Funny Boy - Shyam Selvadurai (Oct 26-Nov 4)

Rouge - Mona Awad (Nov 2-Nov 6)

Book Lovers (reread) - Emily Henry (Nov 9-Nov 10)

Macbeth (reread) - William Shakespeare (Nov 4-Nov 13)

Monty's Men - John Buckley (Nov 4-Nov 14)

The Starless Sea (reread) - Erin Morgenstern (Nov 12-Nov 18)

[lottieurl]

her first palestinian by saeed teebi

[Text ID: I keep discovering the fissures in myself, in this construction, over and over. At fifteen, I asked an American exchange student at my school in Beirut if he would like to use my “rubber,” and he guffawed so violently he almost choked on his gum. At twenty-five, a research supervisor left an angry red circle around the phrase “this data” in one of my reports. Tonight, before bedtime, I said “close the lights, please,” only to receive from Beatrix, of all people (Beatrix!), an amused, confident correction in response. Why does this keep happening? What more is there? When will my command be impregnable? End ID]

[libraryleopard]

April reads

The Free People’s Village by Sim Kern

Burning Girls and Other Stories by Veronica Schanoes

Belonging: A German Reckons with History and Home by Nora Krug

I Was Their American Dream: A Graphic Memoir by Malaka Gharib

That Summer Feeling by Bridget Morrissey

Be Gay, Do Comics: Queer History, Memoir, and Satire From The Nib edited by Matt Bors and Mattie Lubchansky

Greta & Valdin by Rebecca K Reilly

Eat the Rich by Sarah Gailey, Pius Bak, and Roman Titov

A Tip for the Hangman by Allison Epstein

The Earth in the Attic by Fady Joudah

Business or Pleasure by Rachel Lynn Solomon

Sailor’s Delight by Rose Lerner

Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake by Alexis Hall

Something Wild and Wonderful by Anita Kelly

These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart by Izzy Wasserstein 

[Title unspecified for SMP boycott]

The Haunting of Heatherhurst Hall by Sebastian Nothwell

The Táin: The Woman’s Stories by Karina Tynan

Hard Sell by Hudson Lin

Tripping Arcadia by Kit Mayquist

Her First Palestinian by Saeed Teebi

Just Lizzie by Karen Wilfrid

Empire of the Fesst by Bendi Barrett

Men I Trust by Tommi Parrish

[notinsomanywords]

2024 Books Read

Klara and the Sun (2021) - by Kazuo Ishiguro (3.5/5)

On the Ravine (2023) - by Vincent Lam (4.25/5)

Her First Palestinian And Other Stories (2022) - by Saeed Teebi (4/5)

Before the Coffee Gets Cold: A Novel (2015, trans. 2019) - by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (3.9/5)

Circe (2018) - by Madeline Miller (5/5)

“Fat Farm" (1980) - by Orson Scott Card (4/5)

A History of the Present Illness: Stories (2013) - by Louise Aronson (4/5)

The Song of Achilles (2011) - by Madeline Miller (4.25/5)

[atlanticcanada]

P.E.I. carpenter Nicholas Herring wins Writers' Trust fiction prize

Debut novelist Nicholas Herring took home the top fiction prize at the Writers' Trust Awards Wednesday evening for his tale of a lobster fisher whose unhappily monotonous life is upended by a series of unexpected events.

Herring, who hails from Murray Harbour, P.E.I., won the $60,000 Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize for "Some Hellish," published by Goose Lane Editions.

"I thought it was a joke," Herring said of hearing his name called at the awards' first in-person ceremony since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"My mind went blank. I'm kind of in a state of shock."

Herring said he didn't expect anything to come of his novel, which draws from his own experience fishing lobster off P.E.I.

In their citation, the jury praised the work as lending the "age-old story of human versus nature" a "fresh cadence."

"What Cormac McCarthy did for cowboys and horses, Nicholas Herring does for fishermen and boats," they wrote.

The top non-fiction prize went to Toronto epidemiologist Dan Werb for "The Invisible Siege: The Rise of Coronaviruses and the Search for a Cure," published by Crown.

"(The book) ended up being what I wanted it to be. It ended up being an optimistic counter-narrative about what went right during the pandemic," Werb said at the ceremony as he accepted the $60,000 award.

His book traces the history of coronavirus research and several outbreaks, from SARS to MERS to COVID-19.

The jury described it as "a scientific detective story that leaves the reader frightened that the villain is still on the loose, and maybe in the house."

Meanwhile, francesca ekwuyasi was awarded the $10,000 Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ2S+ Emerging Writers for her novel "Butter Honey Pig Bread."

The Writers' Trust of Canada handed out hundreds of thousands of dollars in prizes Wednesday, including four career awards worth $25,000 apiece.

Non-fiction writer Candace Savage was recognized with the Matt Cohen Award celebrating a lifetime of contributions to Canadian literature.

The Vicky Metcalf Award for Literature for Young People went to Elise Gravel.

Irish-born, Canada-based writer Shani Mootoo took the Writers' Trust Engel/Findley Award, which is given to a mid-career writer in recognition of their past and future achievements in fiction.

Poet and playwright Joseph Dandurand was awarded the Latner Writers' Trust Poetry Prize honouring a mid-career poet for mastery of the form.

Runners-up for the two top prizes each received $5,000.

The other fiction finalists were Rima Elkouri, Kevin Lambert, Darcy Tamayose and Saeed Teebi.

The non-fiction shortlist included Geoff Dembicki, Tara McGowan-Ross, Debra Thompson and Joshua Whitehead.

The Writers' Trust is the first of three major literary awards to be awarded this month.

The winner of the Scotiabank Giller Prize will be named Monday, and the Governor General's Literary Awards will be handed out on Nov. 16.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 2, 2022.

from CTV News - Atlantic https://ift.tt/JLzSH9l

[readingtostaysane]

Her first palestinian by Saeed Teebi - Review

rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4.5)

Her first palestinian is a short story collection about Palestinian emigrants who had to leave their motherland and are now living in Canada. 

The stories include a variety of characters, some left Palestine due to the genocide, others are children that were born in Canada and only visited Palestine during a short period of time, others only heard stories about the country. 

All of the short stories are well constructed and although there were some I didn’t enjoy as much they are there to humanize palestinians. Very few stories are about the conflict itself, but how palestinians live their daily life in a different country than their own. Consequently it shows how the genocide affects their personal lives, even if they are so far away. 

I cloaked my origins as well as I could. If pressed, I offered a summary statement: my parents are from the Middle East, or something equally bland and untraceable.

A big theme throughout the book is identity, some characters hide the fact that they’re palestinians, others say it proudly only to be encountered with oposition, rejection and anti-semitism claims.

The writing is accessible, it is clear that Teebi wanted this book to reach a wild audience, not only those who were familiar with arab traditions, but people from all around the world. It is simple, but direct, however it doesn’t take away from the stories, if anything it adds to it, these are just normal people narrating their lives. 

Most of all, I thought of the mountains that hugged our tiny village, that circumscribed our world. I missed those mountains, even if I always longed to escape their embrace.

I enjoyed how each short story had a different voice and that the reader can distinguish them. We don’t get confused about which story are we reading now, the difference is clear.

“My understanding is that the family would like to get the body to their home country so they can perform the funeral rites themselves, in their traditional way,” he said. “It’s an admirable purpose, isn’t it? You would understand that more than anybody.”

This collection dives deeply into the microagressions arabs suffer, especially in the West. Always being asked where they are from or in cases like the excert above, that the traditions in all arab countries are the same. Watching these microagressions happen through the eyes of the characters that we were following, it felt as if they had been directed at you. You could understand them right away as you were inside their head. However, most of the times they were never addressed, because the character was so used to them. Knowing this happens regularly in the real world just seems dystopian, but it was a point Teebi adressed extremelly well.

Mohsen had managed to emigrate as a young man long ago, establishing himself and starting a family. He returned to Gaza every few years — the ajnabi cousin, the foreigner — with his well-tended teeth and sunscreen-preserved skin (…) “How lucky you are,” he would say, taking languorous looks around, “to still have our homeland’s air cool the pupils of your eyes every day.” But everyone in Mohsen’s company would have traded places with him any day

The stories about emigration where without a doubt my favourites. It explores both sides, those who move to another country and those who stay behind and face the consequences. The ressentment of watching your family leave but knowing you'd do the same if the opportunity was granted. The way emigration takes away your identity and that you’d wish to say in your motherland, but knowing it isn’t safe. These were all adressed with care and it gave a new perspective.

What I want most is silence. Since the tumult started, since children began to be unearthed from the rubble of downed buildings, I ache for silence

Palestinians are constantly bombarded with the awful news that their homeland is suffering. Sometimes it gets too much and these short stories address it in the most heartbreak way possible. What is it like for normal people, who are not activist, to deal with the fact that their home is disapearing?

I could put all the quotes I underlined here, but then i'd be spoiling the book.

I urge everyone to read this collection, it gives us great insight into normal daily lives of emigrants and there are interesting concepts to be debated here.

My rating of the stories:

⇒ Her first palestinian: 3 stars ⇒ Do not write about the king: 5 stars ⇒ Cynthia: 4 stars ⇒ Body: 5 stars. ⇒ Ushanka: 5 stars. ⇒ At the benefit: 4.5 stars ⇒ Woodland: 4.5 stars ⇒ The reflected sky: 3 stars ⇒ Enjoy your life, capo: 5 stars