Ibtihal Reda Mahmood, editor and translator of the anthology Snow in Amman: An Anthology of Short Stories from Jordan joins us to talk both about the Jordanian literary landscape from the 1940s to now, as well as her personal relationship with Jordanian writers and books. We talk particularly about the iconic feminist and master of the short-story form Basma Nsour, and how Ibtihal came across her work as a pre-teen; the late, gifted, and generous Amjad Nasser, whose work still needs further translation; and the great Abdulrahman Munif’s Story of a City, which describes his childhood in the Jordanian capital of Amman during the 1940s.

SHOW NOTES

Abdulrahman Munif’s Story of a City was translated by Samira Kawar and published by Quartet books in 1997.

There is no book-length collection of Basma El-Nsour’s work in translation, but there are many stories available online: at ArabLit, The Common, and elsewhere.

Amjad Nasser’s incredible poetry collection Petra was translated by Fady Joudah. His Land of No Rain was translated by Jonathan Wright.

The twentieth century Jordanian classics that made the list of the “105 Best Novels of the 20th Century,” as voted by the Arab writers union, were: Sultanah, by Jordanian author Ghalib Halasa, Confessions of a Silencer, by Jordanian writer Mu’nis al-Razzaz, and Essential Pillars, by the Jordanian author Elias Farkouh.

Although many Jordanian books elide place, one novel that shows the landscape of contemporary Jordan is Ma’an Abu Taleb’s All the Battles, which was translated by Robin Moger.

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