A year in review
Marked by the loss of major Arab writers and intellectuals, the 2003 literary and intellectual year has been one of mourning for the departed and of sober reflection on the future...

Fiction and poetry
A sampling of the most significant fiction and poetry published in Egypt during 2003 bears testimony to a range of developments, from an increasing tendency towards confessional writing to a flowering of the short novel among 1960s and 1990s writers alike...

On alternative tracks
- An Takoun Abbas Al-Abd (To Be Abbas El-Abd), Ahmed El-Aidi; - Shitaa Al-Ury (Naked Winter), Youssef Abau Rayya; - Kharij Al-Kitaba (Outside Writing), Ibrahim Dawoud

Elements from a mythical quest
Vivre Pour la Raconter (Living to Tell the Tale), Gabriel Garcia Marquez, trans. Annie Morvan, Paris: Grasset, 2003. pp604

Father's little helpers
Jenny Jobbins, The Emerald Tablet, Liverpool Books Online, 2003. pp242

Memorabilia: D J Enright
Azza Kararah remembers British poet and critic D J Enright, her former teacher at Alexandria University, whose first book, Season Ticket, was published in Alexandria in 1948

At a glance
A shorthand guide to recent publications compiled by Mahmoud El-Wardani