Wed 17 Feb 2021, 18:00 - 19:30 UK time

FREE online event, hosted by the Banipal Trust for Arab Literature in collaboration with Arts Canteen.

We are delighted to invite you to a special online event celebrating the winner of the 2020 Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation, Kay Heikkinen, for her translation of the novel Velvet by Huzama Habayeb (published by Hoopoe Fiction). The event will feature translator and author in conversation, with readings in Arabic and English, Q&A, and a special musical interlude by acclaimed Iran/American singer-songwriter Azam Ali, inspired by the novel.

Kay Heikkinen is a translator and academic who holds a PhD from Harvard University and is currently Ibn Rushd Lecturer of Arabic at the University of Chicago. Among other books, she has translated Naguib Mahfouz’s In the Time of Love and Radwa Ashour’s The Woman From Tantoura.

Huzama Habayeb is a Palestinian writer who was born and raised in Kuwait, where she started writing and publishing short stories, poetry, and journalistic pieces as a student of English language and literature. Mukhmal (Velvet) is her third novel, published in 2016. It was awarded the Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature in December 2017.

About the Novel:

Hawwa is a child of the grinding hardship of a Palestinian refugee camp. She has had to survive the camp itself, as well as the humiliation and destruction of an abusive family life. But now, later in life, something most unexpected has happened: she has fallen in love. Velvet unfolds over a day in Hawwa’s life, as she makes plans for a new beginning that may take her out of the camp. She sifts back through her memories of the past: the stories of her family, her childhood, and her beloved mentor, who invited her into the glamorous world of the rich women of Amman. This is a novel of enormous power and great beauty. Rich in detail, it tells of the women of the camp, and the joy and relief that can be captured amid repression and sorrow.

Registration:

This is a free event but registration is required via Eventbrite in order to receive the streaming link.

For all details about the 2020 Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize please visit: https://www.banipaltrust.org.uk/prize/award2020