Writing Beirut

Presents a geographical/spatial approach to Beirut seeking to understand how the city is imagined in fiction. This book focuses on the urban/rural divide, the city through panoramic views and pedestrian acts, the city as sexualised and gendered, and the city as a palimpsest. It provides a thorough overview of Beirut in the modern Arabic novel.

‘Beirut39’ is a Hay Festival project which aims to select and celebrate 39 of the best young Arab writers as a centrepiece of the Beirut World Capital festivities in April 2010. Following the successful launch of ‘Bogotá 39’, which identified many of the most interesting upcoming Latin American talents, including Wendy Guerra, Junot Diaz (Pulitzer Prize), Santiago Roncagliolo and Juan Gabriel Vásquez (short-listed for the IFFP), ‘Beirut 39’ will bring to worldwide attention the best work from the Arab world. The judges will select from more than 300 submissions and the writers’ names will be unveiled in September 2009. The book will be published in English throughout the world (except the Arab world) by Bloomsbury, and in Arabic throughout the world and in English in the Arab World by Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Publishing.

Writing Beirut explores the city in 16 Arabic novels focusing on the urban/rural divide, the imagined and idealized city, the city through panoramic views and pedestrian acts, the city as sexualized and gendered, and the city as a palimpsest.

'A joyous tale from a fresh new voice.' – Cosmopolitan – Cosmopolitan A young boy comes of age within the confines of post-civil-war Beirut, with conflict, and comedy lurking round every corner. Adam dreams of becoming an astronaut but who has ever heard of an Arab on the moon? He battles with his father, a book-hoarding journalist with a penchant for writing eulogies, his closest friend, Basil, a Druze who is said to worship goats and believe in reincarnation, and a host of other misfits and miscreants in a city attempting recover from years of political and military violence. Adam's youth oscillates from laugh out loud escapades, to near death encounters, as he struggles to understand the turbulent and elusive city he calls home. ''Set amidst the country's sectarian divisions as it attempts to recover from decades of political violence and civil war, Between Beirut and the Moon charts a young boy's near-death encounters, with a colourful cast and comical escapades. A unique debut.' – AnOther Magazine

A unique anthology of complex urban experience that brings together personal writing, essays, journalism, short stories, photography and animation. Transit Beirut oscillates between sarcastic humour and serious exploration of the tensions and conflicts in a society undergoing reconstruction.

Aimed toward graduate student instructors and other creative writing educators, Teaching Cultural Dexterity in Creative Writing offers a formula for important changes in creative writing instruction-especially in literary/creative nonfiction, probing how instruction might become more inclusive and accessible for minoritized/marginalized student-authors. The book chapters use antiracist, trauma-informed, and anticolonial frameworks toward exploring the 21st-century professional, theoretical, and institutional concerns surrounding creative writing practices in North American higher education. As a result, the book explores ways creative writing pedagogies and theories might be adapted for racially and linguistically marginalized (by English) student-authors, who often inhabit minoritized positions within North American colleges and universities. Applying as a frame the notion of cultural dexterity as it is taught to medical professionals to allow them to engage effectively with patients from all backgrounds, ethnics groups and with all sensitivities, Teaching Cultural Dexterity in Creative Writing examines why and how creative writing instruction needs to be urgently renegotiated. In this essential text for all creative writing instructors, McCray provides all the tools necessary to take positive action with discussions of potential readings, writing prompts and sample course materials.

Former LAPD cop-turned private investigator Yolanda Ávila blames herself for her mother’s death. If she’d only followed her cop instincts instead of the juju—her random prophetic dreams—the perpetrator would have been off the streets and her mother would still be alive. The only salve against her guilt is Yolanda’s vow to reject that juju crap, and to solve cases using only good solid detective work. But when her godson is kidnapped and his parents are suspected of murder, Yolanda finds herself caught between what she feels and what she knows. And with the escalation of the case comes the escalation of her dreams. Until she can no longer ignore their importance. If she wants to overcome the guilt and deal with her pent-up grief, Yolanda must confront the juju and learn to trust its place in her life. If she doesn’t, she risks losing yet another loved one. And she can’t possibly let that happen. A Yolanda Ávila Mystery.

Beirut39 is a project which aims to select and celebrate 39 of the best young Arab writers as a centrepiece of the Beirut World Capital festivities in April 2010. Following the successful launch of 'Bogota 39', which identified many of the most interesting upcoming Latin American talents, including Wendy Guerra, Junot Diaz (Pulitzer Prize), Santiago Roncagliolo and Juan Gabriel Vasquez (short-listed for the IFFP), Beirut39 will bring to worldwide attention the best work from the Arab world. The book will be published in English throughout the world (except the Arab world) by Bloomsbury, and in Arabic throughout the world and in English in the Arab World by Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Publishing.