Makan is
collection of 18 short stories, selected from a total of 90 pieces written in
both English and Arabic. It is the product of the Makan Writing Award, which is
a sub-project of The Forgotten Writers Foundation, founded and headed by writer
Mahmoud Mansi, who was also one of the judges in this competition. The challenge
was held in 2013 and the winners were announced during the Cairo International
Book Fair on the 6th of February 2014.
‘Makan’
means ‘place’ in Arabic. Writers had to write about one – or two – of three
places in Egypt, namely: The Baron’s Palace in Heliopolis, Cairo; the Hussein
neighbourhood in Old Cairo; and Qayet Bay Castle (Fortress) in Alexandria.
The
Makan collection comprises nine English pieces and nine Arabic ones.
I
found the English pieces to be far more exciting and imaginative than the
Arabic ones. I don’t like stories where I’m spellbound at the beginning then
confused at the ending; this is how I felt with many of the Arabic pieces.
A
piece that has potential but didn’t make it to five stars was “Shams Yaqeen”. It
earned 3 to 3.5 stars but I didn’t like that it was long with an abrupt ending –
I don’t mind length if the ending will wow me or leave me happy or thinking
about it.
Three
of my friends had their short stories published in this collection; two wrote
in English and one in Arabic. Below are my favourite pieces; those that I gave
an overall 4.5 or 5 stars. (They’re not written in any particular order)
·
A Trip through
the Eyes of Brahma by Dina Korayem
·
The Sabil of
Every Lost Love by Rana Kamaly
·
The Incense
Lives by Nariman Mohamed Eid
·
The Sanctuary
of Unforgotten Memories by Moataz Muhammed Ibrahim Muhammed
·
Al-Hagar (The
Stone) by Sherif El-Harawy (Arabic piece)
·
Fagr Aakhar
(Another Dawn) by Adham Sayed Hussein (Arabic piece)
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