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        Children's & YA

        The 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 & YA
        January 2015

        Hatless

        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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        January 2013

        The 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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        Children's & YA
        January 2011

        The 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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        Devouring Himself, Starting with His Feet

        by Abdallah Al-Zioud

        Despite its small size, it managed to take its place among the best modern literature books in recent years. From the title and cover, going through its amazing preface and eloquent language, and to the element of surprise and unexpected ending. Abdallah Al-Zioud was able to make the reading journey of this novel a meaningful journey despite its shortness; a journey introduces readers to new terms that manipulate their imaginations and puts them in the eye of the event through a visual language that conveys the reader from paper to the visual world of the novel. It teaches them some of writing tricks and simplifies what seems complicated at the beginning so that the reader believes in its ordinary before discovering that he has fallen victim to fraud.I can say that the most beautiful thing about this novel is that it was not written in a style and did not follow a context. it rebelled against the ordinary, uniquified in style, and combined simplicity and complexity in a way predicting an amazing ability and counted in its writer favor.

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        Picture books

        The 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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        Fiction
        2022

        The 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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        Technology, Engineering & Agriculture
        April 2017

        Fish Viruses and Bacteria

        Pathobiology and Protection

        by Patrick T K Woo, Rocco C Cipriano

        Taking a disease-based approach, Fish Viruses and Bacteria: Pathobiology and Protection focuses on the pathobiology of and protective strategies against the most common, major microbial pathogens of economically important marine and freshwater fish. The book covers well-studied, notifiable piscine viruses and bacteria, including new and emerging diseases which can become huge threats to local fish populations in new geographical regions if transported there via infected fish or eggs. A concise but thorough reference work, this book: - Covers key viral and bacterial diseases of notable fish species; - Reviews major well-established piscine pathogens as well as new, emerging and notifiable diseases; and - Contains the most up-to-date research contributed by a team of over fifty world experts. An invaluable bench book for fish health consultants, veterinarians and all those wanting instant access to information, this book is also a useful textbook for students specializing in fish health and research scientists initiating fish disease research programmes. ; Taking a disease-based approach, this book focuses on the pathobiology of and protective strategies against the most common, major microbial pathogens of economically important marine and freshwater fish. It covers well-studied, notifiable piscine viruses and bacteria, including new and emerging diseases. ; 1: Infectious Pancreatic Necrosis Virus, Arun K. Dhar, Scott LaPatra, Andrew Orry and F.C. Thomas Allnutt 2: Infectious Haematopoietic Necrosis Virus, Jo-Ann C. Leong and Gael Kurath 3: Viral Haemorrhagic Septicaemia Virus, John S. Lumsden 4: Epizootic Haematopoietic Necrosis and European Catfish Virus, Paul Hick, Ellen Ariel and Richard Whittington 5: Oncogenic Viruses: Oncorhynchus masou Virus and Cyprinid Herpesvirus, Mamoru Yoshimizu, Hisae Kasai, Yoshihiro Sakoda, Nanako Sano and Motohiko Sano 6: Infectious Salmon Anaemia, Knut Falk and Maria Aamelfot 7: Spring Viraemia of Carp, Peter Dixon and David Stone 8: Channel Catfish Viral Disease, Larry A. Hanson and Lester H. Khoo 9: Largemouth Bass Viral Disease, Rodman G. Getchell and Geoffrey H. Groocock 10: Koi Herpesvirus Disease, Keith Way and Peter Dixon 11: Viral Encephalopathy and Retinopathy, Anna Toffan 12: Iridoviral Diseases: Red Sea Bream Iridovirus and White Sturgeon Iridovirus, Yasuhiko Kawato, Kuttichantran Subramaniam, Kazuhiro Nakajima,Thomas Waltzek and Richard Whittington 13: Alphaviruses in Salmonids, Marius Karlsen and Renate Johansen 14: Aeromonas salmonicida and A. hydrophila, Bjarnheidur K. Gudmundsdottir and Bryndis Bjornsdottir 15: Edwardsiella spp., Matt J. Griffin, Terrence E. Greenway and David J. Wise 16: Flavobacterium spp.: F. psychrophilum, F. columnare and F. branchiophilum, Thomas P. Loch and Mohamed Faisal 17: Francisella noatunensis, Esteban M. Soto and John P. Hawke 18: Mycobacterium spp., David T. Gauthier and Martha W. Rhodes 19: Photobacterium damselae, John P. Hawke 20: Piscirickettsia salmonis, Jerri Bartholomew, Kristen D. Arkush and Esteban M. Soto 21: Renibacterium salmoninarum, Diane G. Elliott 22: Streptococcus iniae and S. agalactiae, Craig A. Shoemaker, De-Hai Xu and Esteban M. Soto 23: Vibriosis: Vibrio anguillarum, V. ordalii and Aliivibrio salmonicida, Alicia E. Toranzo, Beatriz Magariños and Ruben Avendaño-Herrera 24: Weissella ceti, Timothy J. Welch, David P. Marancik and Christopher M. Good 25: Yersinia ruckeri, Michael Ormsby and Robert Davies

      • Trusted Partner
        October 2014

        Wir erschossen auch Hunde

        Stories

        by Phil Klay, Hannes Meyer

        2001 ziehen die USA in den Krieg. Gegen Bin Laden, gegen Hussein, und vor allem gegen den eigenen Bedeutungsverlust. Heute ist Saddam tot, Osama auch, doch die einzige Supermacht ist schwächer als je zuvor. In Wir erschossen auch Hunde erzählt Phil Klay von den jungen Männern, die in diesem Krieg den höchsten Preis zahlen mussten. Es sind knallharte Erzählungen von Häuserkämpfen in Falludscha, aussichtslosen Hilfsmissionen im Irak und dem Heimkehren in ein fremdgewordenes Land. Ein Land, das bei all dem Hintergrundrauschen aus Konsum und Entertainment kein Interesse am Leiden seiner Soldaten hat. Denn ihre traumatischen Erfahrungen beweisen nur die grenzenlose Ohnmacht und lassen etwas erahnen, was noch vor wenigen Jahren unvorstellbar schien: »America is broken, man.« Phil Klay kämpfte als US-Marine im Irak, davon handelt dieses Buch. In Wir erschossen auch Hunde gibt er eine authentische Vorstellung vom Krieg und dem, was er an Angst, Sehnsucht und allerletzter Euphorie mit sich bringt. Damit fragt er zur gleichen Zeit kompromisslos und bildgewaltig nach den Überlebenschancen einer dekadenten Supermacht.

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        April 2013

        Verlorener Kontinent

        Gedichte

        by Natan Zach

        Natan Zach wurde am 13. Dezember 1930 als Harry Seitelbach in Berlin geboren. Seine Mutter war Italienerin, der Vater ein deutscher Jude. 1936 wanderte die Familie nach Haifa im damaligen britischen Mandatsgebiet Palästina aus. Ende der 1940er Jahre nahm Harry Seitelbach den Namen Zach (hebr. rein, lauter) an. Er nahm 1948 am israelisch-arabischen Krieg teil. Zach studierte bei Martin Buber und Gershom Scholem und gehörte seit 1952 der literarisch einflussreichen Gruppe Likrat (hebr. entgegen) an. Mit seinem ersten Gedichtband (1955) wurde Zach zu einem Protagonisten der israelischen Moderne. Der nüchterne, oft ironische, immer musikalische Ton seiner Poesie verbindet die gesprochene Sprache mit dem biblischen und rabbinischen Hebräisch. In den politischen Auseinandersetzungen des Landes ist seine Stimme unüberhörbar. 1967 übersetzte er zusammen mit dem palästinensischen Dichter Rashid Hussein arabische Volkslieder. Mit dem Band »Verlorener Kontinent« erscheint sein Werk erstmals in einer Auswahl auf Deutsch.

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        April 2013

        Verlorener Kontinent

        Gedichte

        by Natan Zach, Ehud Alexander Avner

        Natan Zach wurde am 13. Dezember 1930 als Harry Seitelbach in Berlin geboren. Seine Mutter war Italienerin, der Vater ein deutscher Jude. 1936 wanderte die Familie nach Haifa im damaligen britischen Mandatsgebiet Palästina aus. Ende der 1940er Jahre nahm Harry Seitelbach den Namen Zach (hebr. rein, lauter) an. Er nahm 1948 am israelisch-arabischen Krieg teil. Zach studierte bei Martin Buber und Gershom Scholem und gehörte seit 1952 der literarisch einflussreichen Gruppe Likrat (hebr. entgegen) an. Mit seinem ersten Gedichtband (1955) wurde Zach zu einem Protagonisten der israelischen Moderne. Der nüchterne, oft ironische, immer musikalische Ton seiner Poesie verbindet die gesprochene Sprache mit dem biblischen und rabbinischen Hebräisch. In den politischen Auseinandersetzungen des Landes ist seine Stimme unüberhörbar. 1967 übersetzte er zusammen mit dem palästinensischen Dichter Rashid Hussein arabische Volkslieder. Mit dem Band »Verlorener Kontinent« erscheint sein Werk erstmals in einer Auswahl auf Deutsch.

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        August 2012

        Der Diwan

        Mystische Poesie aus dem 13. Jahrhundert

        by Renate Jacobi

        Ibn al-Fari? (1181-1235), der 'Fürst der Liebenden', wie ihn die islamische Tradition nennt, verbindet in seinem 'Diwan' die Tradition der klassischen arabischen Dichtung mit der Theosophie des Sufismus seiner Zeit, des 12. und 13. Jahrhunderts. Als Dichter wird er in seiner eigenen Kultur bis heute bewundert und als Heiliger verehrt. Als Mystiker war er jedoch umstritten und wurde wegen seiner 'monistischen Ketzerei' abgelehnt und bekämpft. Die Manifestation Gottes im Kosmos und die Kontemplation irdischer Schönheit als ein Weg zu mystischer Erfahrung sind Grundthemen seiner Dichtung. In seinem großen Lehrgedicht 'Die Ordnung des Weges' beschreibt und deutet er in 761 Versen seinen eigenen Weg zur Einheit bis zur höchsten Stufe, dem kosmischen Bewusstsein. Es ist ein spiritueller Reisebericht, ungewöhnlich, vielleicht einzigartig in der mystischen Literatur durch die Subtilität der psychologischen Beobachtung und Analyse, Zeugnis einer authentischen Erfahrung, die über die Grenzen von Religionen und Kulturen hinweg gültig erscheint. Ibn al-Fari? ist christlichen Mystikern wie Meister Eckhart (etwa 1260-1328) oder Johannes vom Kreuz (1542-1591) an die Seite zu stellen. Die erste vollständige deutsche Übersetzung des 'Diwans' von Ibn al-Fari?

      • Trusted Partner
        September 1995

        Von der Liebe und von den Liebenden

        Von Ibn Hazm Al Andalusi. Aus dem arabischen Urtext übertragen von Max Weisweiler

        by Ibn Hazm Al-Andalusi, Max Weisweiler, Max Weisweiler

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        January 1962

        Das Halsband der Taube

        Von der Liebe und den Liebenden. Aus dem arabischen Urtext übertragen von Max Weisweiler

        by Ibn Hazm Al-Andalusi, Max Weisweiler, Max Weisweiler

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