Yazbek is a direct look into the suffering of her people living under the continual threat of the Islamic State. In the midst of fighting between rebel factions and citizens facing danger at each and every turn, Yazbek takes the situation in stride, but not without her own fears. In the third crossing, and in writing the book in general, Yazbek is positioned as a courageous and unafraid Syrian woman on a journey to hopefully save her home country. In the third crossing, Yazbek serves as a savior of sorts, helping the wife of a martyr sell cleaning products from her home in order to support herself without having to marry a Yemeni fighter to earn money. Yazbek’s testimony of the slaughter in Syria shows the essential ephemerality of human life. At this crossing is the dangerous possibility of being caught between Assad and Jihad. Emily Danby | A Woman in the Crossfire, tr.The Third Crossing is the third and final installment of Yazbek’s novel, in which she confronts the leasers of Jabat al-Nusra and al-Sham. Nashwa Gowanlock and Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp | Cinnamon, tr. World Editions, a publisher of many acclaimed translations, is also bringing out Amin Maalouf’s Disoriented, translated from the French by Frank Wynne, later this year. The novel was published by Dar al-Adab in 2016.

“To make words dance on the blank page” is the power of this poignant novel.

But it doesn’t matter, since Samar Yazbek embarks us on a destiny “always pushed forward by an irresistible force.” The power of life, literature, art and a look that seeks to broaden the horizon. We don’t know if she is simple-minded, traumatized or locked in a narrow mental cage. When she awakes, she doesn’t know where she’s been taken.įrom a review in Livres Hebdo, translated by Yasmina Jraissati:Īt first, we are disconcerted by Rima’s unstructured flow of words, addressed directly to the readers. Then her mother is shot by a soldier at a checkpoint and dies. The war comes closer, but Rima’s life - within limits - is happy. Rima grows up tied to her mother, confined in the school library, tied to her bed at home. She has no control over her legs that are automatically set in motion the moment she is free to walk, a characteristic that has shaped her life. Yazbek’s novel follows Rima, a girl from Damascus who cannot stop walking. The Blue Pen has already appeared in French translation by novelist-translator Khaled Osman, as La marcheuse, and was a 2018 Prix Femina finalist. The book is scheduled for English publication in Fall 2021. Publishing house World Editions has acquired what seems to be its first-ever Arabic title: Syrian author Samar Yazbek’s Blue Pen ( originally: المشّاءة), which is set to be translated by Banipal Prize-winning Leri Price:

The Crossing by Samar Yazbek