RANDA JARRAR

This year has been incredibly bountiful and wonderful. I traveled like crazy- to London, Paris, Greece, Germany, and coast to coast. My partner and I got married in a beautiful outdoor ceremony. We decided to move south, back to Austin, and he took a courageous step towards a new career.

I hope next year will bring a new teaching job, more readers, and more peace and equality to all.

In case you missed it, here are a couple of new publications:

In the New York Times Magazine: The Missing-Piece Son

In Five Chapters: Accidental Transients

And look for an essay in The Progressive next month.

Beirut39, a Hay Festival project, aims to celebrate 39 of the most interesting Arab writers under the age of 40. There’s an article in The National about this…Here’s an excerpt:

Around 500 young authors from across the Arab world as well as the Arab diaspora in Europe and America submitted their works. The vast majority of these texts were written in Arabic…

The 39 authors will travel to Beirut in April for four days of literary talks, debates and recitals. Libraries, bookshops, cafes and universities will welcome visitors to discuss the issues at the heart of Arab contemporary fiction. The festival hopes to attract a diverse audience, reflecting the power of writing to stimulate social cohesion and cultural understanding.

To mark the occasion, Bloomsbury will publish Beirut39, an anthology of fiction and poetry by the selected authors with an introduction by the Lebanese writer Amin Maalouf. The book will be published in English and Arabic in the UK, the US and the Arab world.

I’m so honored and excited to be a part of such a special project! Stay tuned for more details and adventures.