أحلام مستغانمي

This post has been included on my new blog: http://welovearabic.wordpress.com

Read the following article about Ahlam Mosteghanemi and answer the questions below.

 أحلام مستغانمي؛ ولدت في (13 أبريل 1953)، كاتبة جزائرية من مواليد تونس. كان والدها مشاركا في الثورة الجزائرية. محمد الشريف عرف السجون الفرنسية, بسبب مشاركته في مظاهرات 8 ماي 1945. وبعد أن أطلق سراحه سنة 1947 كان قد فقد عمله بالبلدية, ومع ذلك فإنه يعتبر محظوظاً إذ لم يلق حتفه مع من مات آنذاك (45 ألف شهيد سقطوا خلال تلك المظاهرات) وأصبح ملاحقًا من قبل الشرطة الفرنسية, بسبب نشاطه السياسي

عملت في الإذاعة الوطنية مما خلق لها شهرة كشاعرة، انتقلت إلى فرنسا في سبعينات القرن الماضي، حيث تزوجت من صحفي لبناني، وفي الثمانينات نالت شهادة الدكتوراة من جامعة السوربون. تقطن حاليا في بيروت. وهي حائزة على جائزة نجيب محفوظ للعام 1998 عن روايتها ذاكرة الجسد

(Adapted from Arabic wikipedia entry)

1. What role did her father play in Algeria's history?
2. Why was he imprisoned by the French?
3. Why was he considered lucky when he returned to his country?
4. Why was he then monitored by the French police?
5. How did Ahlam first become famous?

6. Where did she live in the 70s?
7. What is her husband's profession?
8. Where did she obtain her PhD degree?
9. Where does she live now?
10. For which novel was she awarded the Naguib Mahfuz Prize for Literature?



Ahlam Mosteghanemi is an Algerian author who writes in Arabic. Two of her novels have been translated into English, Memory in the Flesh and Chaos of the Senses. Here is her bibliography on her official website.

Suheir Hammad

Introduction to Arab literature

Below you'll find links to articles on writers from around the Arab world. Most of them write in Arabic, although some write in French, English or other languages, and I give links in the articles to English translations and further reading. I've listed the authors by country of origin.

(Please be patient; this is a work in progress!)

In the UK, the best places to find Arabic literature in the original are Grant and Cutler and al-Saqi bookshops, both in London.

Algeria
*  Ahlam Mosteghanemi

Egypt
* Yahya Haqqi
* Ahmed Alaidy
* Ibrahim Abdel Meguid
* Ibrahim Aslan
* Khairy Shalaby
* Yusuf Idris
* Bahaa Taher
* Edwar al-Kharrat
* May Telmissany
* Alaa Al Aswany
* Naguib Mahfouz
* Mahmud Tahir Lashin
* Muhammad al-Muwaylihi
* Nawal al-Saadawi
* Taha Hussein

Iraq
* Fuad al-Takarli

Lebanon
* Hoda Barakat
* Elias Khoury
* Joumana Haddad
* Hanan Al-Shaykh

Libya
* Ibrahim al-Kouni

Morocco
* Mohammed Berrada
* Mohamed Choukri
* Ibn Battutah Leila Abouzeid

Palestine
* Suheir Hammad
* Yahya Yakhlif
* Emile Habiby
* Ghassan Kanafani
* Jabra Ibrahim Jabra
* Mourid Barghouti

Sudan
* Tayeb Saleh

Syria
* Ghada al-Samman

Yemen
* Zayd Mutee Dammaj


* Anthology of Palestinian Literature

Palestinian Festival of Literature, PalFest

Palfest is an annual literature festival bringing writers and artists from around the world to Palestinian audiences. "PalFest aims to bring world class cultural events to Palestinian cities; to give Palestinian students access to some of the finest authors working today, and to create a forum for the exchange of ideas and stories between International and Palestinian writers, readers and students. ." (quote from the festival website)

There are some fantastic videos from previous years' events on the website, and you can keep up to date on the PalFest blog.

Liverpool Arabic Arts Festival

بدء فعاليات مهرجان للثقافة العربية في ليفربول

 

* Website of the Liverpool Arabic Arts Festival

Literature and the arts (articles for A Level topic)

See the links below for articles on this site and elsewhere on the web for the A2 level topic Literature and the arts

* Liverpool Arabic Arts Festival

Arabic A2 Level explained

The A2 Level is only one exam paper, as is the AS level. It covers reading, writing and translating: there is no listening or speaking element to the qualification.

The exam paper, provided by Edexcel, is called Unit 2 Understanding, Written Response and Research in Arabic. You have 2 hours and 45 minutes to complete the 3 sections of the exam:

* Section A: Reading - questions and answers in Arabic (14 marks ).

* Section B: Translation into Arabic (10 marks).

* Section C: 2 essays on chosen topic(s) and/or text(s) ( 56 marks).
You must answer 2 questions in Arabic, writing between 250-350 words for each question. You can prepare your chosen topics or texts in advance, and there will be a choice of two questions for each of the topics and texts, which are:

Topics
1. Arab history in the 20th century
* Geography
* Politics and Arab organisations
* Economy

2. Arab culture
* Art
* Architecture
* Music
* Entertainment

3. Arab Socio-culture
* Customs and traditions
* The role of women
* Religion
* Social issues

Texts
4. Naguib Mahfouz al-Liss wa al-Kilab (The Thief and the Dogs)
5. Ibn Al-Muqaffa’ Kalilah wa Dimnah (Kalilah and Dimnah)
6. Yahya Haqqi Qindil Umm Hashim (The Saint’s Lamp)

The exam is based on the Arabic version of the above texts.

The above list of topics refers to Section C, the essay questions, but the other Sections of the paper will also be related to the following more general topics, the first 4 of which are the same as in the AS level:

* Youth culture and concerns
* Lifestyle: health and fitness
* The world around us: travel, tourism, environmental issues and the Arabic-speaking world
* Education and employment
* Customs, traditions, beliefs and religions
* National and international events: past, present and future
* Literature and the arts

See the Edexcel website for more details about the exam and to download a sample paper.

Books for A2 level students

Textbooks



Literature
اللص و الكلاب The thief and the dogs

نجيب محفوظ Naguib Mahfouz

From Grant and Cutler