Elias Khoury | Yalo AND Sinan Antoon | I’jaam: An Iraqi Rhapsody
Recorded 3/25/2008
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Lebanese writer Elias Khoury is the author of Little Mountain, The Kingdom of Strangers, and Gate of the Sun, among others. He serves as editor-in-chief of Mulhak, the weekly literary supplement of the An-Nahar newspaper. His latest novel, Yalo, follows its eponymous main character as he grows up on the streets of Beirut during the Lebanese Civil War, falling into a violent gang and forever altering the course of his life. A native of Baghdad, Iraq, Sinan Antoon is a poet, novelist, and translator whose poems and essays have appeared in publications throughout the Arab world. His co-translation of Mahmoud Darwish’s poetry was a finalist for the 2004 PEN Award for Poetry in Translation. His new novel presents a searing look at life under Saddam Hussein’s regime through the diary entries of a prisoner.