Arabic translation lit magazine Banipal features novels longlisted for top fiction prize

Banipal, which is now in its 20th year of publication, put out its latest publication on Thursday with the hopes of shedding light on novels on the long-list of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction [IPAF] over the past two years.

"One day we thought, let's give longlisted novels a chance to be showcased," the magazine said in a statement.

"We started off with a fairly long list, but have had to reduce it to eight novels for reasons of space," it added.

Literary works featured in the magazine's 59th issue include Hot Maroc the debut novel of Moroccan author Yassin Adnan.

The book is "a deliciously dramatic take on Marrakech's online world at the Atlas Lion Cubs cybercafe, where 'the world becomes a small village', full of amazing dreams and ecstatic fantasies," Banipal said.

Another work is Egyptian author Ibrahim Farghali's The Temple of Silken Fingers, which was longlisted for the 2016 IPAF prize.

"The book's narrator is a part-written manuscript abandoned by its author Rasheed, rescued by chance by a sailor determined to complete its blank pages as a memoir of Rasheed," Banipal described the novel.

Banipal is dedicated to promoting contemporary Arab literature through translations in English.

The London-based magazine has been publishing works and interviews of Arab authors and poets, often for the first time in English, since its launch in 1998.