Hoopoe Fiction

08/07/2025

“Honey Hunger” by Zahran Alqasmi, translated by Marilyn Booth (Hoopoe, 2025), was recently reviewed by Oman Observer
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Link to the full review: https://www.pressreader.com/oman/oman-daily-observer/20250620/281809994870155

A must-read for fans of nature writing and literature with a poetic edge.

05/07/2025

Another language for a Hoopoe novel!

Congratulations to Ahmed Taibaoui on the Portuguese edition of “The Disappearance of Mr. Nobody” (Editora Tabla, Brazil), originally published by Hoopoe in 2023.

Recipient of the Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature, Taibaoui’s novel offers a grim introspection of poverty-stricken Algiers. Set in post-civil war Algeria, this noir narrative is an intense, must-read page-turner.

Read an excerpt from "The Disappearance of Mr. Nobody: A Novel” by Ahmed Taibaoui, translated by Jonathan Wright (Hoopoe, 2023): https://tinyurl.com/the-disappearance-of-mr-nobody

02/07/2025

Looking for your next summer read?

“A Nose and Three Eyes” is a compelling read that’s both thought-provoking and accessible.
Written by iconic Egyptian novelist Ihsan Abdel Kouddous, this classic of love, desire, and family breakdown smashed through taboos when first published in Arabic and continues to captivate audiences today

Learn more about “A Nose and Three Eyes” by Ihsan Abdel Kouddous, translated by Jonathan Smolin, with a foreword by Hanan al-Shaykh (Hoopoe, 2024), and read an extract here: tinyurl.com/A-NOSE-AND-THREE-EYES

Learn more about Ihsan Abdel Kouddous and watch the AUC Press virtual discussion: https://tinyurl.com/DiscussingKouddous-AUCP

29/06/2025

“Empty Cages: A Novel” by Fatma Qandil, translated by Adam Talib, has been featured in The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs!

Listed in the magazine’s June/July “New Arrivals” among newly released Middle East books, this powerful novel continues to resonate beyond borders.
Find it here: https://www.wrmea.org/new-arrivals/june-july-2025-new-arrivals.html

Learn more about the novel in AUC Press's latest blog post: https://tinyurl.com/Blog-Empty-Cages

25/06/2025

Missed the live book club discussion? Watch the recording now

Revisit The Markaz Review (TMR) Book Club’s conversation on “Honey Hunger” by Zahran Alqasmi with acclaimed translator Marilyn Booth.
A novel of longing, uncertainty, and ultimately of hope, written by an International Prize for Arabic Fiction-winning author and an International Booker Prize-winning translator.
This rich discussion touches on literary translation, the symbolism of honey and nature, and the power of storytelling rooted in place and ecology.
Watch the full recording here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_a5qPT8cVw

A must-read for fans of nature writing and literature with a poetic edge.
Learn more about “Honey Hunger” by Zahran Alqasmi, translated by Marilyn Booth (Hoopoe, 2025): https://tinyurl.com/HoneyHunger

The TMR Book Club met on Sunday, May 25th at 1pm EST/ 6pm UK/ 7pm CET to discuss Zahran Alqasmi’s “Honey Hunger” with translator Marilyn Booth (Hoopoe, 2025)...

18/06/2025

Ibrahim Nasrallah’s “Time of White Horses” Named Finalist for the 2026 Neustadt Prize

“Time of White Horses,” a powerful novel by Ibrahim Nasrallah, has been named a finalist for the 2026 Neustadt International Prize for Literature, organized by World Literature Today.

The novel explores the collapse of Ottoman rule and the British Mandate in Palestine through the lens of three generations of a resilient family from the village of Hadiya, before 1948. Shortlisted for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction, "Time of White Horses" was recently translated into Turkish and is currently the focus of a crowd-funded initiative to adapt it into a television series.

Learn more about “Time of White Horses: A Novel” by Ibrahim Nasrallah, translated by Nancy Roberts (Hoopoe, 2016):
🔗 https://tinyurl.com/TimeofWhiteHorses

Explore other acclaimed novels by Ibrahim Nasrallah, translated by Nancy Roberts and published by Hoopoe:
• "Gaza Weddings" (2017): http://tinyurl.com/Gaza-Weddings
• "The Lanterns of the King of Galilee" (2015): https://tinyurl.com/TheLanternsofKingGalilee

The Neustadt Prize is the first international literary award of its kind to originate in the United States. This prestigious honor recognizes significant contributions to world literature and has often served as a precursor to the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Read more about the prize and the 2026 shortlist announcement here:
🔗 http://worldliteraturetoday.org/blog/news-and-events/world-literature-today-announces-finalists-2026-neustadt-prize

17/06/2025

Hot New Release

You’ve heard the line: “Life is like a box of chocolates…”

In Fatma Qandil’s debut, "Empty Cages", that box, discovered decades later, is a doorway to memory, grief, and the lingering taste of a lost childhood.

Winner of the 2022 Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature, "Empty Cages", translated by Adam Talib, is a story of love, loss, and survival.
The novel is an urgent and raw confessional of memory and family and all that is lost and won in one woman’s lifetime.

Available at AUC Bookstores Egypt and worldwide through major bookstores and online book retailers.
Read more in this AUC Press blog: https://tinyurl.com/Blog-Empty-Cages

14/06/2025

Ihsan Abdel Kouddous’s Wildly Popular Romantic Serials Operated on Two Levels

Jonathan Smolin transaltor of "A Nose and Three Eyes" and "I Do Not Sleep", by Ihsan Abdel Kouddous, both published by Hoopoe, is featured in an interview with Jadaliyya's "New Texts Out Now" (NEWTON) for his book from Stanford University Press, "The Politics of Melodrama: The Cultural and Political Lives of Ihsan Abdel Kouddous and Gamal Abdel Nasser"

"[H]e drew huge audiences while slipping sharp criticism of Nasser past the censors." said Jonathan Smolin about Abdel Kouddous.

Read the full interview here: https://www.jadaliyya.com/Details/46715

Learn more about "A Nose and Three Eyes" (Hoopoe, 2024):
tinyurl.com/A-NOSE-AND-THREE-EYES
- "I Do Not Sleep" (Hoopoe, 2022): https://tinyurl.com/I-Do-Not-Sleep

12/06/2025

Author Rania Hanna brought the world of "The Jinn Daughter" to life at this year’s Imaginarium Book Festival in Washington, DC.

From conversations during Lit Talk to connecting with readers at the signing table, it was a weekend that celebrated the fantastical storytelling.

Swipe through for moments from the festival: Rania with readers, copies of her hauntingly lyrical novel, and glimpses from the talk.

"The Jinn Daughter" by Rania Hanna (Hoopoe, 2024) is available worldwide in major bookstores and online book retailers.
Learn more here: https://tinyurl.com/Readjinndaughter

04/06/2025

Join author Rania Hanna at the Imaginarium Book Festival, a celebration of fantastical storytelling in the heart of Washington, DC
Dates: 6-7 June 2025

Rania Hanna, author of "The Jinn Daughter" (Hoopoe, 2024), will be featured throughout the festival and will take part in Lit Talk on Saturday, 7 June, from 2–3 pm, alongside fellow fantasy authors.

Don’t miss the chance to meet the author of "The Jinn Daughter" a haunting and lyrical novel steeped in myth, memory, and magic, and explore the rich world she’s created.

Learn more here: https://tinyurl.com/Readjinndaughter

01/06/2025

Tales From A Gaza Beauty Salon
Across centuries and geographies, women have found quiet, defiant ways to survive the unbearable.
“What is wrong with a drowning person clinging to a piece of wood or a stick or a straw? What is the crime in making oneself a colorful glass lantern to endure the darkness of its colors?” This is how the late Egyptian novelist Radwa Ashour put it in her "Granada Trilogy"—a line quoted by Feda Ziyad, editor at , as she retells the story of Gazan women who happened to visit a beauty salon amid the ruins of Gaza City.

Read the article here: https://tinyurl.com/worldcrunch-focus-gaza
Learn more about “Granada: The Complete Trilogy” translated by Kay Heikkinen, with a foreword by Marina Warner (Hoopoe, 2024): https://tinyurl.com/ReadGranada-trilogy