Join us on Thursday, October 19th at 7pm PT when Ahmed Naji celebrates the release of his book, Rotten Evidence, with Daniel Gumbiner at 9th Ave!
Masks Encouraged for In-Person Attendance
Or watch online at the link below
https://youtube.com/live/Yeof_h19rOg
Praise for Ahmed Naji
"Some writers, in the face of state oppression, will write like Solzhenitsyn. Others, like Ahmed Naji, find their kindred spirits in the likes of Nabokov and Milan Kundera... who maintained their instinct for unbearable lightness and pleasure, for sex and romance, for perversity and delight, in the face of so much po-faced violent philistinism." --Zadie Smith, The New York Review of Books
"Ahmed Naji is one voice among a new generation of writers playing with form, genre and politics." --Rolling Stone
"Rotten Evidence describes in a cool, clipped tone, utterly devoid of self-pride or self-pity, what happens to the psyche when it is caught in the machinery of the Egyptian justice system. A tragicomedy stripped down to its last nerve."--Noor Naga, If An Egyptian Cannot Speak English
About Rotten Evidence
In February 2016, Ahmed Naji was sentenced to two years in prison for "violating public modesty," after an excerpt of his novel Using Life reportedly caused a reader to experience heart palpitations. Naji ultimately served ten months of that sentence, in a group cell block in Cairo's Tora Prison.
Rotten Evidence is a chronicle of those months. Through Naji's writing, the world of Egyptian prison comes into vivid focus, with its cigarette-based economy, home-made chess sets, and well-groomed fixers. Naji's storytelling is lively and uncompromising, filled with rare insights into both the mundane and grand questions he confronts.
How does one secure a steady supply of fresh vegetables without refrigeration? How does one write and revise a novel in a single notebook? Fight boredom? Build a clothes hanger? Negotiate with the chief of intelligence? And, most crucially, how does one make sense of a senseless oppression: finding oneself in prison for the act of writing fiction. Genuine and defiant, this book stands as a testament to the power of the creative mind, in the face of authoritarian censorship.
About the Author
Ahmed Naji is a writer, journalist, documentary filmmaker, and criminal. His novel Using Life (2014) made him the only writer in Egyptian history to have been sent to prison for offending public morality. Other published novels in Arabic are Tigers, uninvited (2020) and The happy end (2022). Naji has won several prizes, including a Dubai Press Club Award, and PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award. For more about his work, visit ahmednaji.net
About the Translator
Katharine Halls is an Arabic-to-English translator from Cardiff, Wales. Her translation, with Adam Talib, of Raja Alem's The Dove's Necklace won the 2017 Sheikh Hamad Award for Translation, and she was awarded a 2021 PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grant for her translation of Haytham El-Wardany's Things That Can't Be Fixed. Her translations for the stage have been performed at the Royal Court and the Edinburgh Festival, and shorter texts have appeared in numerous anthologies and literary journals. She is also an agent at teneleven, a translator-led agency for contemporary Arabic literature.
About the Moderator
Daniel Gumbiner's first book, The Boatbuilder, was longlisted for the National Book Award and a finalist for the California Book Awards. A 2022-23 Hermitage Fellow, he lives in Oakland, CA, and works as editor of The Believer. His latest novel, Fire in the Canyon, is out from Astra House in October 2023.
show less
Masks Encouraged for In-Person Attendance
Or watch online at the link below
https://youtube.com/live/Yeof_h19rOg
Praise for Ahmed Naji
"Some writers, in the face of state oppression, will write like Solzhenitsyn. Others, like Ahmed Naji, find their kindred spirits in the likes of Nabokov and Milan Kundera... who maintained their instinct for unbearable lightness and pleasure, for sex and romance, for perversity and delight, in the face of so much po-faced violent philistinism." --Zadie Smith, The New York Review of Books
"Ahmed Naji is one voice among a new generation of writers playing with form, genre and politics." --Rolling Stone
"Rotten Evidence describes in a cool, clipped tone, utterly devoid of self-pride or self-pity, what happens to the psyche when it is caught in the machinery of the Egyptian justice system. A tragicomedy stripped down to its last nerve."--Noor Naga, If An Egyptian Cannot Speak English
About Rotten Evidence
In February 2016, Ahmed Naji was sentenced to two years in prison for "violating public modesty," after an excerpt of his novel Using Life reportedly caused a reader to experience heart palpitations. Naji ultimately served ten months of that sentence, in a group cell block in Cairo's Tora Prison.
Rotten Evidence is a chronicle of those months. Through Naji's writing, the world of Egyptian prison comes into vivid focus, with its cigarette-based economy, home-made chess sets, and well-groomed fixers. Naji's storytelling is lively and uncompromising, filled with rare insights into both the mundane and grand questions he confronts.
How does one secure a steady supply of fresh vegetables without refrigeration? How does one write and revise a novel in a single notebook? Fight boredom? Build a clothes hanger? Negotiate with the chief of intelligence? And, most crucially, how does one make sense of a senseless oppression: finding oneself in prison for the act of writing fiction. Genuine and defiant, this book stands as a testament to the power of the creative mind, in the face of authoritarian censorship.
About the Author
Ahmed Naji is a writer, journalist, documentary filmmaker, and criminal. His novel Using Life (2014) made him the only writer in Egyptian history to have been sent to prison for offending public morality. Other published novels in Arabic are Tigers, uninvited (2020) and The happy end (2022). Naji has won several prizes, including a Dubai Press Club Award, and PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award. For more about his work, visit ahmednaji.net
About the Translator
Katharine Halls is an Arabic-to-English translator from Cardiff, Wales. Her translation, with Adam Talib, of Raja Alem's The Dove's Necklace won the 2017 Sheikh Hamad Award for Translation, and she was awarded a 2021 PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grant for her translation of Haytham El-Wardany's Things That Can't Be Fixed. Her translations for the stage have been performed at the Royal Court and the Edinburgh Festival, and shorter texts have appeared in numerous anthologies and literary journals. She is also an agent at teneleven, a translator-led agency for contemporary Arabic literature.
About the Moderator
Daniel Gumbiner's first book, The Boatbuilder, was longlisted for the National Book Award and a finalist for the California Book Awards. A 2022-23 Hermitage Fellow, he lives in Oakland, CA, and works as editor of The Believer. His latest novel, Fire in the Canyon, is out from Astra House in October 2023.
Join us on Thursday, October 19th at 7pm PT when Ahmed Naji celebrates the release of his book, Rotten Evidence, with Daniel Gumbiner at 9th Ave!
Masks Encouraged for In-Person Attendance
Or watch online at the link below
https://youtube.com/live/Yeof_h19rOg
Praise for Ahmed Naji
"Some writers, in the face of state oppression, will write like Solzhenitsyn. Others, like Ahmed Naji, find their kindred spirits in the likes of Nabokov and Milan Kundera... who maintained their instinct for unbearable lightness and pleasure, for sex and romance, for perversity and delight, in the face of so much po-faced violent philistinism." --Zadie Smith, The New York Review of Books
"Ahmed Naji is one voice among a new generation of writers playing with form, genre and politics." --Rolling Stone
"Rotten Evidence describes in a cool, clipped tone, utterly devoid of self-pride or self-pity, what happens to the psyche when it is caught in the machinery of the Egyptian justice system. A tragicomedy stripped down to its last nerve."--Noor Naga, If An Egyptian Cannot Speak English
About Rotten Evidence
In February 2016, Ahmed Naji was sentenced to two years in prison for "violating public modesty," after an excerpt of his novel Using Life reportedly caused a reader to experience heart palpitations. Naji ultimately served ten months of that sentence, in a group cell block in Cairo's Tora Prison.
Rotten Evidence is a chronicle of those months. Through Naji's writing, the world of Egyptian prison comes into vivid focus, with its cigarette-based economy, home-made chess sets, and well-groomed fixers. Naji's storytelling is lively and uncompromising, filled with rare insights into both the mundane and grand questions he confronts.
How does one secure a steady supply of fresh vegetables without refrigeration? How does one write and revise a novel in a single notebook? Fight boredom? Build a clothes hanger? Negotiate with the chief of intelligence? And, most crucially, how does one make sense of a senseless oppression: finding oneself in prison for the act of writing fiction. Genuine and defiant, this book stands as a testament to the power of the creative mind, in the face of authoritarian censorship.
About the Author
Ahmed Naji is a writer, journalist, documentary filmmaker, and criminal. His novel Using Life (2014) made him the only writer in Egyptian history to have been sent to prison for offending public morality. Other published novels in Arabic are Tigers, uninvited (2020) and The happy end (2022). Naji has won several prizes, including a Dubai Press Club Award, and PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award. For more about his work, visit ahmednaji.net
About the Translator
Katharine Halls is an Arabic-to-English translator from Cardiff, Wales. Her translation, with Adam Talib, of Raja Alem's The Dove's Necklace won the 2017 Sheikh Hamad Award for Translation, and she was awarded a 2021 PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grant for her translation of Haytham El-Wardany's Things That Can't Be Fixed. Her translations for the stage have been performed at the Royal Court and the Edinburgh Festival, and shorter texts have appeared in numerous anthologies and literary journals. She is also an agent at teneleven, a translator-led agency for contemporary Arabic literature.
About the Moderator
Daniel Gumbiner's first book, The Boatbuilder, was longlisted for the National Book Award and a finalist for the California Book Awards. A 2022-23 Hermitage Fellow, he lives in Oakland, CA, and works as editor of The Believer. His latest novel, Fire in the Canyon, is out from Astra House in October 2023.
read more
Masks Encouraged for In-Person Attendance
Or watch online at the link below
https://youtube.com/live/Yeof_h19rOg
Praise for Ahmed Naji
"Some writers, in the face of state oppression, will write like Solzhenitsyn. Others, like Ahmed Naji, find their kindred spirits in the likes of Nabokov and Milan Kundera... who maintained their instinct for unbearable lightness and pleasure, for sex and romance, for perversity and delight, in the face of so much po-faced violent philistinism." --Zadie Smith, The New York Review of Books
"Ahmed Naji is one voice among a new generation of writers playing with form, genre and politics." --Rolling Stone
"Rotten Evidence describes in a cool, clipped tone, utterly devoid of self-pride or self-pity, what happens to the psyche when it is caught in the machinery of the Egyptian justice system. A tragicomedy stripped down to its last nerve."--Noor Naga, If An Egyptian Cannot Speak English
About Rotten Evidence
In February 2016, Ahmed Naji was sentenced to two years in prison for "violating public modesty," after an excerpt of his novel Using Life reportedly caused a reader to experience heart palpitations. Naji ultimately served ten months of that sentence, in a group cell block in Cairo's Tora Prison.
Rotten Evidence is a chronicle of those months. Through Naji's writing, the world of Egyptian prison comes into vivid focus, with its cigarette-based economy, home-made chess sets, and well-groomed fixers. Naji's storytelling is lively and uncompromising, filled with rare insights into both the mundane and grand questions he confronts.
How does one secure a steady supply of fresh vegetables without refrigeration? How does one write and revise a novel in a single notebook? Fight boredom? Build a clothes hanger? Negotiate with the chief of intelligence? And, most crucially, how does one make sense of a senseless oppression: finding oneself in prison for the act of writing fiction. Genuine and defiant, this book stands as a testament to the power of the creative mind, in the face of authoritarian censorship.
About the Author
Ahmed Naji is a writer, journalist, documentary filmmaker, and criminal. His novel Using Life (2014) made him the only writer in Egyptian history to have been sent to prison for offending public morality. Other published novels in Arabic are Tigers, uninvited (2020) and The happy end (2022). Naji has won several prizes, including a Dubai Press Club Award, and PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award. For more about his work, visit ahmednaji.net
About the Translator
Katharine Halls is an Arabic-to-English translator from Cardiff, Wales. Her translation, with Adam Talib, of Raja Alem's The Dove's Necklace won the 2017 Sheikh Hamad Award for Translation, and she was awarded a 2021 PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grant for her translation of Haytham El-Wardany's Things That Can't Be Fixed. Her translations for the stage have been performed at the Royal Court and the Edinburgh Festival, and shorter texts have appeared in numerous anthologies and literary journals. She is also an agent at teneleven, a translator-led agency for contemporary Arabic literature.
About the Moderator
Daniel Gumbiner's first book, The Boatbuilder, was longlisted for the National Book Award and a finalist for the California Book Awards. A 2022-23 Hermitage Fellow, he lives in Oakland, CA, and works as editor of The Believer. His latest novel, Fire in the Canyon, is out from Astra House in October 2023.
show less
Date/Times:
1231 9th Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94111
The Best Events
Every Week in Your Inbox
From Our Sponsors
UPCOMING EVENTS
Great suggestion! We'll be in touch.
Event reviewed successfully.