Ahmed Murad: The Arab world lacks a compelling novel

Sharjah (Al Ittihad)

Egyptian writer and novelist Ahmed Mourad explained that the presence of his works in the list of best-selling books is caused by people looking for the teaser novel that the Arab cultural milieu lacks, indicating that this type of novels has changed the history of the literature around the world and helped to create a new and advanced situation in terms of the structure of the novel. It is based on the imagination as a driving force.
This took place during a dialogue session held remotely via the “Sharjah Read” platform as part of the activities of the 39th session of the Sharjah International Book Fair, moderated by Mustafa Al-Agha, in which the Egyptian novelist spoke about the novel. and its relationship with cinema, and the role of the imagination in creating the intellectual and aesthetic value of creative work.

An exceptional platform
At the start of the session, journalist Mustafa Al-Agha indicated that the Sharjah International Book Fair has achieved a prominent position in the Arab and international cultural scene, and today it has become an outstanding platform attracting the elite of writers around it. , intellectuals and creatives, explaining that the efforts made by the Sharjah Book Authority have doubled its presence and impact on the Arab cultural movement and global alike.

At the beginning of the meeting, the Egyptian novelist talked about the “I Read” initiative he recently launched with the aim of discovering the talents of 20 promising short story writers during the quarantine period, explaining that this initiative has published he anthology of writers’ texts collected under the title “Nights of the Universe”, referring to He had already written about the epidemic in the 1919 novel when he dealt with the Spanish flu, pointing out that he would write about Corona one day when the experiment was been completed.

Story and plot
In his speech, Murad touched on the art of the novel, which he described as a great responsibility and a close bond with the characters, as he said: “Working on the subject of a novel that interests you from start to finish, you it relates strongly to the content of the story and the plot, and for me the novel is an art and an experience that has been transmitted. During which everything wanders in my mind on paper. “
On the relationship of cinema with narrative text, Murad said: “I don’t write in my film work, and if I do I will lose a lot, and at the same time I don’t put an end to my writing according to the vision and perspective of the producers, and that’s why for me there is an audience for writers and an audience for cinema, and I don’t deny that cinema “You contribute a lot to the spread of the novel, but I write fiction, and if cinema can translate it, that’s a good thing . ”