When the International Prize for Arabic Fiction was launched in Abu Dhabi in 2007, its chairman, Jonathan Taylor, said he looked forward to seeing “more high-quality Arabic fiction being accessible to a wider world”. Nine […]
The National, June 2016 When Raja Alem won the International Prize for Arabic Fiction in 2011 with The Dove’s Necklace, she might have expected that her fascinating exploration into contemporary, secretive Mecca would have enjoyed a […]
The National, June 2016 It is not entirely an exaggeration to suggest that Shilpi Somaya Gowda is living the dream. Like so many would-be authors, the Toronto-born child of Mumbai parents had toyed for some […]
The National, May 2016 “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” This was new presenter Matt LeBlanc’s attitude to Top Gear when The National asked him how he was getting to grips with one of the most popular factual […]
In the end, it was all so depressingly predictable. The failure to strengthen properly in the summer, throwing money at the problem in January, was straight out of the Nigel Worthington Premier League season. When […]