Author Description

For this Fall 2022 WEDDINGS issue of ArabLit Quarterly, the music is starting up, henna is setting, belly dancers are dancing, and marital partners are about to face off. In this issue, we look at the sublime, the surreal, the superlative, and the (occasionally) soul-destroying aspects of weddings. With a glossary of special terms from Yemeni weddings assembled & illustrated by Atiaf Alwazir; lyrics from wedding songs from Sudan, Yemen, Syria, Algeria, and Iraq; the all-too-true tale of infamous wedding crasher Abd al-Halim Hafiz, written for us by Nicholas Mangialardi, a classic poem of getting wed to a glass of wine by Abu Nuwas, a grim look at weddings in Algerian folk literature by Ouissal Harize, and much more. This issue includes short stories from Palestine, Egypt, and Iraq, from classic stories by Tawfiq al-Hakim ("The Wedding Night") and Samira Azzam ("The Aunt's Marriage") to new and surreal work by Ibrahim AlMotoly ("The Last Dance of the Night") and new and grim work by Iraqi writer Yasmeen Hanoosh ("The Bride"). We have TWO illustrated features in this issue: one on wedding memories by Kuwaiti-American artist Zahra Marwan, and one on buffet fights by the Egyptian artist popularly known as Barbatoze. As a kicker, we have a look at medieval Arab wedding recipes by Leonie Rau. With translations by Nadiyah Abdullatif, Adil Babikir, Layla Faraj, Moneera Al-Ghadeer, Ouissal Harize, Ibrahim Fawzy, Michael Payne, Hend Saeed, James Scanlan, Lemya Shammat, and Levi Thompson.