BULAQ | بولاق

Talking Shit

Beirut writer Lina Mounzer reads from her essay “Waste Away: Notes on Beirut's Broken Sewage System...

استمعوا للبرنامج على تطبيقات البودكاست

استمع للحلقة

عن الحلقة

 

Beirut writer Lina Mounzer reads from her essay “Waste Away: Notes on Beirut's Broken Sewage System.” We discuss the current situation in Lebanon and literature that looks at the worlds beneath our feet. 

Show Notes:

Lina Mounzer's “Waste Away” appears in The Baffler; a slightly modified version is set to be published next week in the anthology Tales of Two Planets, ed. John Freeman.

Saleem Haddad's “Song of the Birds,” in the anthology Palestine + 100, explores the problems of sewage at Palestinian shores. 

Rabee Jaber's Mehlis Report, translated to English by Kareem James Abu-Zeid, tells the tale of two cities: Beirut above and Beirut below.

Mounzer's “Translating Trash” appeared last year in The Paris Review. Also, her “The Great Ponzi Scheme” predicted a Lebanese financial disaster in the New York Times last December.

Mounzer wasn't alone. This essay from 2017 -- “Abracadabra...broke” -- also saw a looming economic crisis. 

Ursula wrote about Lebanese protests last November in the NYR Daily: The Lebanese Street Asks: ‘Which Is Stronger, Sect or Hunger?'

Favorite Lebanese literary magazines Samandal and Rusted Radishes continue to publish, although RR is re-imagining their budget and fundraising possibilities. Keep an eye out for their Patreon.

*Editor's Note: Ursula incorrectly refers to a long-serving Lebanese prime minister. She meant Speaker of Parliament. Nabih Berri has held that position for nearly three decades.



Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

حلقات أخرى من هذا البودكاست

BULAQ | بولاق
موسم
2

We only took a one month break but there are so many new (and a few old) books to talk...

BULAQ | بولاق
موسم
2

This episode looks at the Fall 2020 issue of ArabLit Quarterly, which focuses on cats: in contemporary Arabic stories,…

BULAQ | بولاق
موسم
2

Nazik al-Mala'ika was an Iraqi woman poet of great influence and renown through the 1940s, 50s and 60s. She pioneered…

BULAQ | بولاق
موسم
2

We discuss the classic 1953 novel by the Jewish Tunisian Francophone writer Albert Memmi, who died this year. This…