WE WROTE IN SYMBOLS
Love and Lust by Arab Women Writers
REVIEWS AND PUBLICITY
‘Represents an avant-garde, sophisticated and passionate quality of Arab sexuality that we have not often seen since the films of the 1950s and 60s … The women’s voices are loud, powerful and clear. You can hear them think, imagine, speak, moan, and scream through nearly every poem, letter and story.’ Egyptian Streets, 2 May 2021
‘A collection in which Arab women daringly write on orgasms, erotic longings, gay lovers and swingers. The cycle turns.’ Yasmin Alibhai-Brown for iNews, 6 July 2021
‘A delightful, delightful collection. Playful, teasing, melancholic, heart breaking … unforgettable. Genius’. Browned Off podcast (with Faiza S Khan @BhopalHouse), 20 July 2021
‘Selma Dabbagh is Blazing A Trail for Female Empowerment Through Arab Literature.’ The National, March 2022.
‘A fascinating collection ... eye-opening in its scope and styles, and rewarding in its daring and novelty ... nothing short of a revelation.’ Eamonn Gearon for The Erotic Review, 26 May 2021
‘Reveals a dizzying array of modern love … We Wrote in Symbols [has] tension, edge and humor.’ Malu Halasa for The Markaz Review, 31 May 2021
‘Selma Dabbagh draws readers into such secretive spaces ... taboo across the region is daringly explored ... electrifying.’ OR ‘In We Wrote in Symbols, Selma Dabbagh … elevates self-assertive voices and banishes long-held silences on matters such as same-sex desire and masturbation … Daring. Electrifying.’ TLS, 9 June 2021
‘A literary first ... much to celebrate’ Arab News, 12 June 2021
‘This anthology provides a glimpse into a world that has been constantly made invisible or policed ... these voices provide a point of reference for the long forgotten tradition of erotic writing and the censorship of Arab women’s sex lives and experiences.’ Asymptote, 23 June 2021
‘We Wrote in Symbols offers readers a rich and diverse selection of poetry and prose … the writers do not hold back – they assertively and forthrightly write about lust, passion, sex, and desire in lyrical detail … Here you have a book in which Arab women write honestly and earnestly about how Arab women love and who they love.’ The New Arab, 2 July 2021
‘A groundbreaking collection of Arab women writing about love and lust … the first of its kind in English, could not be more refreshing … many English-speaking readers may be unaware of the strong tradition of Arabic writing on love and the erotic stretching back several millennia. Perhaps even less known are the significant contributions of women to this genre … this groundbreaking compilation brings together 101 works from more than 70 female writers of Arab heritage … What We Wrote in Symbols captures most strongly is the richness and depth of erotic writing in the Arabic literary tradition, and the incredible diversity and range of its female voices. If this eye-opening collection also helps shatter some assumptions about gender and sexuality in the Arab world, it is all the more welcome.’ The Washington Post, 10 September 2021
Included in list of Best Books by Arab authors 2021: ‘We Wrote in Symbols is a collection of works by Arab women on love, lust, and erotica. A collaborative project between publisher Saqi and Palestinian-British author Selma Dabbagh, the book offers readers a rich and diverse selection of poetry and prose written by 75 Arab women, dating from the classical period to the modern day.’ The New Arab, 30 December 2021
Interviews
‘A liberating book. Incredibly empowering and life-affirming … I highly recommend it.’ Ayesha Hazarika, Times Radio, 2 May 2021
‘The collection ambushed me on many fronts: the humour, often arising from women deflating the egos of their male lovers: the quality of the writing, especially when much of it is in translation; the challenge to my inner censor and my feminist politics’ Rahila Gupta, New Internationalist, Jul-Aug 2021 issue (print)
BULAQ Podcast, 17 April
Arab News, 12 June 2021
The New Arab, 2 July 2021
Five Books: Five Erotic Books by Arab Women by Selma Dabbagh, 7 July 2021
Shubbak Podcast, 9 August 2021
Peace Mindedly Podcast, 20 October 2021
T24 (Turkish website), 11 November 2021
Features
Fadi Zaghmout in partnership with Shubbak, blog, 13 July 2021
Mentions
World Literature Today, 19 April 2020
English Pen, Pen Transmissions, One Step Beyond, June 2020
English Pen, Library of Exile, Dec 2020
Caravel Magazine, May 2021
The Evening Standard, ‘Must-see’ for Shubbak 2021, 19 June 2021
Ishkar, Blog post from Selma, December 2021
MENAFN, Selma’s appearance at Emirates Lit Fest, 3 Feb 2022
