BULAQ | بولاق

Release Date

All Episodes

The Surprisingly Rich Arabic Literary Culture in 17th and 18th Century Southeast Asia

‏In this sponsored episode, we talk to Sheikh Zayed Book Award winner Andrew Peacock about his work on Arabic literary culture in southeast Asia in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, a rich time for the burgeoning Arabic literary culture—alongside Javanese, Malay, Aceh, an ... Show more

. 55min 41sec

Inji Efflatoun, An Egyptian Artist Who Traced Her Own Path

‏As a teenager in Cairo in the early 1940s, Inji Efflatoun made two great discoveries: art and the Communist Party. Although she was from an elite French-speaking background, Efflatoun chose to “re-Egyptianize” herself, pursue painting and throw herself full-heartedly into anti-i ... Show more

. 52min 6sec

Sonallah Ibrahim, The Egyptian Novelist Who Captured History

‏The great Egyptian writer Sonallah Ibrahim passed away earlier this month. Several years ago, we discussed his novel Warda – the story of a female fighter in the 1960s and 70s Dhofar rebellion in Oman, and of the Egyptian intellectual who, decades later, tries to solve the myste ... Show more

. 1h 9min

Mohamed Choukri's Brutal Honesty

‏The Moroccan writer Mohamed Choukri grew up poor and illiterate on the streets of Tangier in the waning years of colonialism. He told the story of his childhood in his autobiographical novel For Bread Alone – El Khubz El Hafi in Arabic, Le Pain Nu in French. Choukri went on to w ... Show more

. 1h 23min

A Young Poet in Gaza, Writing in the Shadow of Death

‏Batool Abu Akleen is a poet and translator in Gaza, Palestine. Her home in Gaza City and her university have been bombed and she has been displaced multiple times. We talked to her about refusing to write and then choosing to write through the genocide; about the importance of m ... Show more

. 47min 42sec