Spring Cleaning

The next one's a book!

---

That's me celebrating the Hindu Festival of Spring in Kathmandu, 2002, exactly 20 years ago

But first,

if you find yourself in a reasonable time zone and can spare the time, come to my long delayed Afikra conversation (with the great Malek Rasamny). It's at 7 pm Cairo time (that's noon in NYC) on Wednesday 30 March. And you can get a Zoom link here:

Author Youssef Rakha [afikra Conversations] — afikra | عفكرة — www.afikra.com Join us for an online conversation with essayist, novelist, poet & journalist Youssef Rakha to discuss his interests in post-Muslim perspectives.

Also online – I was supposed to be there but encountered late-Covid visa issues – I had the honour to be part of a programme called Horiezontalisme at the Institut français de Casablanca. I read and discussed a talk (which later metamorphosed into this Arabic essay) on the Orientalism-beset experience of being between Arabic and English while doing literature. It's in Arabic and French:

Institut français de Casablanca - Séminaires publics sur l'#Horiezontalisme — www.facebook.com Youssef Rakha (Égypte – romancier, poète) Je suis égyptien, donc je suis invisible En 2018, j'ai décidé d'écrire un roman en anglais. Bien que deux de...

In English,

I've been inordinately pleased with this new short piece on desire, my first for The Markaz Review (thanks to Jordan El Gabry), which connects with a much older piece posted as a photo essay on тнє ѕυℓтαη’ѕ ѕєαℓ:

The Angels of Desire - The Markaz Review — themarkaz.org Youssef Rakha meditates on dreams and desire, and why he might just be ready to die for a stranger.

Speaking of which,

I want to reiterate my delight with this, which was really quite serendipitous;

Youssef Rakha @Sultans_Seal

This incredible gift from @Mepbon is the first thing I was offered to publish that I actually read in Spanish. I've timed it for Valentine's though it isn't about love. It's from Cuba. Its hero is a made-up Naguib Mahfouz character. You can read it in English on @CairosCoolest.

ѕυℓтαη’ѕ ѕєαℓ | ختم السلطان @CairosCoolest

"A Naguib Mahfouz character arrives in Havana": Maru Pabón Translates Rogelio Riverón for Valentine's https://t.co/kLzpiLmyab

in case you missed it, to give you my Mogamma al Tahrir piece for New Lines once again;

Youssef Rakha @Sultans_Seal

What do Kafka, Adel Imam and Gamal Abdel Nasser have in common? But of course – the Mogamma in Tahrir Square. Thanks @Brian_Whit and @newlinesmag for the opportunity to write about it. What a way to mark the 11th anniversary of #25Jan.

newlinesmag.comFrom Kafka to Capitalism in Tahrir SquareThe Mogamma government building in Cairo was once a byword for nightmarish bureaucracy. Now it faces a different but no less dystopian future

and to reiterate how saddened I've been by the whole Russia-Ukraine thing:

Youssef Rakha @Sultans_Seal

If the "Western" response to the Ukraine crisis shows us "non-Westerners" anything, it's that we *need* alternative ways of being in the world – outside a zeitgeist so completely blind to our humanity – outside this world order.

Youssef Rakha @Sultans_Seal

I wrote this in response to the Notre Dame fire back in 2019. It feels deeply relevant to the Eurocentric insanity surrounding events in the Ukraine.

buff.lyDomina Nostra / Youssef Rakha…

¡Nos vemos en Zoom!