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Awards Announced for Literature on the Middle East for Children and Young Adults Winter 2006 Vol. 31 No. 2 Awards Announced for Literature on the Middle East for Children and Young Adults HE WINNERS of the annual Middle East adults. Honorable mention in the picture book T Outreach Council’s book awards for category was awarded to The Librarian of Basra by children’s and young adult literature are: Jeanette Winter (Harcourt, 2005)—a colorfully PICTURE BOOK CATEGORY illustrated telling of the same story for younger Alia’s Mission: Saving the Books of Iraq by Mark Alan children, and The Travels of Benjamin of Tudela by Stamaty (Alfred A. Knopf, 2004) Uri Shulevitz (Farrar Straus Giroux, 2005)—an YOUTH LITERATURE CATEGORY account of the twelfth-century journeys of a Jewish Figs and Fate by Elsa Marston (George Braziller, traveler, including travels to Constantinople, 2005) Jerusalem, Baghdad, Persia, and Egypt. REFERENCE CATEGORY Historical Atlas of Islam by Malise Ruthven and Figs and Fate contains five short stories about Azim Nanji (Harvard University Press, 2004). growing up in the Arab world today told from the perspective of young Arab teens living in Syria, The Middle East Outreach Council established Lebanon, a Palestinian refugee camp, Egypt, and these awards in 1999 to recognize books for Iraq. Marston beautifully details the rich culture of children and young adults that contribute these youths and their families, in the process meaningfully to an understanding of the Middle helping to dispel negative stereotypes associated East. Books are judged on the authenticity of their with young adults living in these societies. Readers portrayal of a Middle Eastern subject, as well as on will discover that their personal struggles, ideals, their characterization, plot, and appeal for the goals, and dreams are surprisingly familiar. intended audience. The Historical Atlas of Islam is a beautifully Alia’s Mission: Saving the Books of Iraq was inspired illustrated history of Islam, which provides a broad by a true story, book recounts the heroic efforts of overview of the economic, social, political, and Alia Muhammad Baker—the chief librarian of the cultural history of the Islamic world from the birth Central Library in Basra, Iraq—to preserve her of the Prophet Muhammad to the present. Brief country’s history and culture in the midst of war. essays address pivotal moments and movements When government officials ignored her pleas for and eras, and color maps and photographs help, Alia and her neighbors smuggled over 30,000 effectively complement the text throughout. Clear books to safety, where they remain until peace and concise, The Historical Atlas of Islam serves as returns to her country. Her story—told here in an excellent introduction to Islamic civilization— graphic-novel style—will inspire children as well as Leslie Nucho, Chair, MEOC Book Awards MIDDLE EAST CENTER 1 From Language to Language (Misefa Lesafa) A Film by Nurith Aviv Reviewed by Naomi Sokoloff N Language to Language, film-maker Nurith Aviv Special issues face Palestinians who view Hebrew I interviews writers, performing artists, and as a language imposed on them by the Jewish State. scholars in Israel who carry out their creative work Author Salman Masalha, who publishes in in Hebrew, a language that is not their native Hebrew, arrives at a conclusion not unlike the one tongue. Anton Shammas promoted in the 1980s: in this The ten individuals interviewed reflect on how view, Hebrew is now no longer a Jewish language, they acquired multiple languages and how those but a language that belongs to all who write in it. languages have shaped their thinking. Poet Meir Singer Amal Murkus, baffled and disappointed that Wieseltier analyzes the influence of German and many Jewish Israelis seem indifferent to learning Russian on his Hebrew verse. Agi Arabic, nonetheless performs in both Mishol, with her background in languages as a way to work for cross- Hungarian, Yiddish and German as cultural understanding. well as Hebrew, suggests that being The best known writer featured in caught between languages makes her the film is Aharon Appelfeld, author more self-conscious, more aware of of numerous novels that have been language itself, and so helps her to craft translated to English. Born in poetry. Rabbi and philosopher Daniel Central Europe in 1932, Appelfeld Epstein, born in Switzerland, turns to was a young child during the Hebrew for expression of his religious Holocaust. He survived by convictions and ethics, but he cherishes wandering in the forests and the nuances, the subtleties, and the occasionally taking refuge with poetic qualities of French. He regards peasants on the outskirts of villages. his teaching and scholarship as a The extreme conditions left him constant attempt to mediate between with a smattering of several languages, to pass along messages from languages and a chaotic inner life. one world to another. He never had formal schooling till after the war. Some segments of the film emphasize linguistic At that time, learning Hebrew systematically was obstacles to acculturation. For example, singer Haim redemptive and healing, but also a source of Uliel charts the circuitous path he took toward alienation. Integral to a Zionist ideology intent on embracing his Moroccan Jewish heritage. He recalls negating the Diaspora, Hebrew was a language that that, as a child, he was ashamed of his Arabic- distanced him from his past. For this he considers accented Hebrew. In his teenage years he began Hebrew a “step-mother tongue.” Most movingly, singing English-language rock music as a way to he explains that since 1946 Hebrew has been the escape stigma. Later, as he matured, he applied his language of his daily life, his work, and his dreams, rock’ n’ roll skills to traditional North African yet he still fears losing it, for it is not fully his -- not materials. He now performs in both Hebrew and a mother tongue. Finally, completing the Arabic, helping mizrahi audiences reconnect with collection here, actress Evgenya Dodin represents their past and take pride in their origins. Haviva the recent wave of immigration from the former Pedaya, whose parents were born in Iraq, also moves Soviet Union. Like many of the almost 1 million between Hebrew and Arabic. She, too, felt like an Russian-speaking immigrants who have arrived in outsider during her childhood, but subsequently her Israel since 1989, she wants to hold onto her native understanding of Arabic came to enrich both her tongue and to celebrate Russian arts and culture, poetry and her work as a professor of Jewish even while learning Hebrew and performing in it. Thought. Her outlook and (continued on page 3) 2 MIDDLE EAST CENTER FIROOZEH PAPAN-MATIN Persian Language and Literature Specialist Joins Faculty OINING the faculty of the makes extensive use of classical J Department of Near Eastern Arabic and Persian primary sources. Languages and Civilization this past Her academic interests are wide fall as an assistant professor is ranging and include pedagogy of Firoozeh Papan-Matin, a specialist modern language teaching, modern in Persian languages and literature. and classical Persian and Arabic Before coming to the University of literature, Islamic mysticism, Washington, she was the literary theory and post-structural coordinator of the Persian program critical studies. Her published at the University of California- books include: The Unveiling of Santa Barbara. She also established Secrets (Kashf al-Asrar): The the Persian program at Santa Visionary Autobiography of Ruzbihan Monica College in 1998. She al-Baqli, 1128-1209 (Brill, 2005); received her Ph.D. from UCLA in and The Love Poems of Ahmad 2003 writing a dissertation titled Shamlu, 1925-2000 (IBEX,2005). Firoozeh Papan-Matin “Death, Vision, and the Self in ‘Ayn al-Qudat Hamadhani,” which From Language to Language FORUM ON THE (Continued) ISRAELI ELECTIONS experiences are strikingly different from those of previous generations, when societal pressures to acculturate were higher and when newcomers were March 7, 2006 expected fit in, absorb Hebrew, and leave other languages behind. 7:00 p.M., Kane 110 Every one of these individuals recounts fascinating UW CAMPUS anecdotes and raises a host of worthwhile questions Free and open to the public about the relationship of language to memory, creative process, and the construction of identity. The uneven quality of the soundtrack occasionally detracts from the Speakers include: Joel Migdal, and overall production value of the film, but the interviews Gad Barzilai, Jackson School, UW. are nonetheless riveting (and many viewers will be Moderated by Ellis Goldberg, reading the English subtitles, anyway, rather than Political Science, UW. relying on the Hebrew voices). Highly recommended, this award-winning film will be of interest for anyone studying multilingual experience, whether in the context Sponsored by the Middle East Center, of sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, ethnicity and and Jewish Studies, Jackson School. nationalism, or Israeli culture. Contact: 206.543.4227; mecuw@u. From Language to Language (2004), directed by Nurith washington.edu. Aviv. First Run/Icarus Films. Run time 55 min. Hebrew with English subtitles. Available for classroom use from the The Middle East Center’s sponsorship of this event Middle East Center Resource Center. does not imply that the Center endorses the content Naomi Sokoloff is Professor, Near Eastern Languages of the event. and Civilization. MIDDLE EAST CENTER 3 CALENDAR OF SELECTED UP-COMING EVENTS The Middle East February 10, 2006 Center Newsletter Between Coercion and Privatization: Academic Freedom in the 21st Century. 12:30 p.m., Law School, Rm. 118. Speaker: Beshara Doumani, University of California- Berkeley. Contact: 206.543.6398 EDITOR Felicia J. Hecker February 12, 2006 Justice, Purity, and Sexuality in Modern Iranian History. 4:00 p.m., Kane Hall, Rm. 120. Speaker: Janet Afary, Purdue University. 2006 Afrassiabi Lecture. Contact: 206.543.6033. ADDRESS Middle East Center February 25, 2006 K-8 Mosaic: Storytelling, Puppetry, and Masks from around the World.
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