Banipal 71 commemorates two great Arab authors: the inimitable Iraqi poet Saadi Youssef (died 13 June 2021) and the prolific Egyptian writer and intellectual Ihsan Abdel Kouddous (1919–1990), whose stories and novels were adapted into dozens of films and “who challenged all forms of censorship imposed on subjects related to love and sexuality”.

Translated by: Jonathan Smolin, Raphael Cohen, Nancy Roberts, Paul Starkey