With Finalist Nasser Rabah – ARABLIT & ARABLIT QUARTERLY

For our forthcoming bilingual publication — which will feature the fifteen short stories shortlisted for the 2024 Arabic Flash Fiction Prize, co-produced by ArabLit and Komet Kashakeel — we made up our own sort of Proust questionnaire for the authors. In it, we’ve asked each of them the same 15 questions you’ll find below.

Excerpts from their answers will appear in the print collection, and they will also run in fuller versions online at ArabLit.

Palestinian writer Nasser Rabah was a finalist for the 2024 prize with his story “Seedlings for the Dead” (شتلات الموتى), which later went on to win second place. This project is funded by the British Council’s Beyond Literature Borders programme corun by Speaking Volumes Live Literature Productions.

Tell us about a short-story author whose work you particularly admire.

Nasser Rabah: I admired Ghassan Kanafani and later Baha Taher.

If you were to start a literary prize, what would it be for, how would it be judged, and what would people win?

Nasser Rabah: A literary award for the best writer who is accomplished in more than one literary genre (the novel, short stories, poetry). The judges will base their selection on the writer’s ability to excel, be different, and present new visions that are different from the general run of work in each of the fields in which the author writes. The contestants will receive a financial prize and appropriate honors.

 Tell us about an opening sentence you find particularly compelling, in any work of fiction.

Nasser Rabah:

“عندما خرجنا من يافا إلى عكا لم يكن في ذلك أية مأساة.”

“When we had to leave Jaffa for Acre there was no sense of tragedy.” (Tr. Mona Anis and Hala Halim.)

What author, living or dead,  would you like to have on WhatsApp?  

Nasser Rabah: Amal Donqol.

What advice on writing—that you were told, or perhaps read somewhere—do you find most useless, stupid, or ridiculous?

Nasser Rabah: That the story must be complete in one’s mind before it is written.

What advice on writing—that you were told or perhaps read somewhere—have you found most useful and nourishing?

Nasser Rabah: “The end of a story should be like a bullet” – Guy de Maupassant.

When did you start writing? Do you remember anything about the first piece you ever wrote, or the place that you wrote it?

Nasser Rabah: A long time ago, maybe 40 years ago. I was in high school, and maybe it was something like a maqama. My Arabic teacher liked it, and from that day on I fell into the writing trap.

Tell us about one of the main places where you write. Is it at a desk, on a couch, in bed? At a coffeeshop? Secretly, while at work?

Nasser Rabah: I usually write in bed or on a couch…mostly in a quiet place.

 What is one poem you have memorized that you sometimes recite to yourself?

Nasser Rabah: “أراك عصي الدمع شيمتك الصبر .. أما للهوى نهي عليك ولا أمر”

Editor’s note: This is by Abu Firas al-Hamdani.

If this short story of yours was adapted into a film, who would you like to act in it? Do you have any advice for the director, videographer, or costume designer?

Nasser Rabah: I don’t know the right actors, but as for the director, I think they need a lot of extras, and for the photographer, they will focus on close-ups. The costumes are of course shabby and ragged and perhaps very dirty.

 If you were asked to design a bookshop near your home, what would you make sure it had? Comfortable chairs? A hidden nook for reading? Coffee and tea? Something else?

Nasser Rabah: Ordinary seating and coffee.

If you were going to write using a pen name or pseudonym, what would it be?

Nasser Rabah: Sheikh Neruda.

Where do you find new stories that you enjoy reading? Do you find them in magazines, online, from particular publishers? How do you discover new writing?

Nasser Rabah: Mostly online.

What is your favorite under-appreciated short-story collection?

Nasser Rabah:“الآثار تترك خلفها أقداماً” (Footprints Leave Footprints) by Mohamed Younis.

Did you have a favorite book, story, or poem as a child or teen? What has its impact on you been?

Nasser Rabah: Comic book series such as Tintin, which were translated of course. These represented the best visual tourism and imagination development for me, in a way that made traveling and mixing with global cultures unnecessary.

If you could change one thing about how publishing works, what would it be?

Nasser Rabah: State support for the publishing industry is essential and should be permanent, to provide the greatest opportunity for publishing and distribution. Also, we should add permanent book sections in malls and supermarkets.

Nasser Rabah is Palestinian poet and novelist. He has published five poetry collections and two novels. Some of his works have been translated into French, English and Spanish. He is active in the literary field in Gaza, where he currently lives.