Posebne izdaje, book number 22
Authors: Adania Shibli, Asma Azaizeh, Hoda Barakat, Iman Mersal, Lamis Saidi, Mansura Ez Eldin, Sahar Mandur
Editor: Miljenka Buljević
Translation: Barbara Skubic, Margit Podvornik Alhadi, and Mohsen Alhadi
Proofreading and copyediting: Mojca Pipan
Design: đkć
Publisher: Maska, Kulturtreger
Cesarean Section
The anthology Cesarean Section brings together contemporary prose and poetry by authors Adania Shibli, Asma Azaizeh, Hoda Barakat, Iman Mersal, Lamis Saidi, Mansura Ez Eldin, and Sahar Mandur. The texts were translated from Arabic into Slovenian by Margit Podvornik Alhadi, Barbara Skubic, and Mohsen Alhadi. This anthology presents literary works emerging from a wide range of geographical contexts, yet connected through shared literary traditions, parallel historical and contemporary political transformations, and common experiences shaped by the authors’ social positions and gender. As the title Cesarean Section suggests, it offers a surgically precise opening up of thematic, political, and identity layers. The collection provides a unique insight into the contemporary female experience, expressed through a rich polyphony of voices, perspectives, and poetics.
Posebne izdaje, book number 22
Authors: Adania Shibli, Asma Azaizeh, Hoda Barakat, Iman Mersal, Lamis Saidi, Mansura Ez Eldin, Sahar Mandur
Editor: Miljenka Buljević
Translation: Barbara Skubic, Margit Podvornik Alhadi, and Mohsen Alhadi
Proofreading and copyediting: Mojca Pipan
Design: đkć
Publisher: Maska, Kulturtreger
Excerpt from the Editor’s Afterword
The poetry and prose of these seven authors serve as a window into the literary art of multiple generations of writers—from Syria to Algeria. Like the best literature, these works transcend boundaries of style, genre, language, and tradition, resonating deeply with the literary and social experiences of contemporary readers in our region. Whether dealing with intimate experiences, imagined cities, distant ancestors, or family relationships, a cloud of oppression hangs over all, seeping into every pore of the body and society.
About the Authors
Adania Shibli is a Palestinian writer known for her exceptional precision in tracing the journeys of Palestinian protagonists toward a fateful liberation from the prison of reality. Her writing is restrained yet powerfully evocative, imbued with tension between the individual and political history.
Asma Azaizeh is a Palestinian poet living within the state of Israel. Her poetry delves into transgenerational trauma and explores how the sense of guilt shapes contemporary Palestinian identity. Her texts are steeped in reflections on inner struggles and historical pain.
Hoda Barakat is a Lebanese writer based in Paris. Her work centers on themes of exile and unbelonging. Her prose explores the elusiveness of memory and unfulfilled longing, often reflecting on the disorientation of individuals caught at historical and personal turning points.
Iman Mersal is an Egyptian poet living in Canada. Her writing reflects feelings of displacement and intimate disorientation. She addresses the inner fissures caused by distance from home and by doubt in one’s own perceptions and emotions.
Lamis Saidi is an Algerian poet whose work probes the extreme boundaries of the body, blood, and sorrow in a contemporary simulacrum. Her texts are physical, intense, and deeply emotional, often marked by a profound sense of loss.
Mansura Ez Eldin is an Egyptian author whose narratives lead readers into labyrinths of consciousness. Her prose blurs the lines between reality and fiction, delving into psychological and symbolic realms where truth is never singular.
Sahar Mandur is a young Lebanese-Egyptian writer who writes in the shadow of war. Her works explore the bloody legacy of contemporary Beirut through the intertwining of sexual, political, and ethnic identities. Her literature often transcends the boundaries of the intimate and the social.