REVIEWS

"Faris’s translation manages to capture Al-Essa’s poetic style and preserve the urgency of the narrative, making this thought-provoking work both devastating and impactful."

-- The Judges, Saif Ghobash Banipal's Translation Award

"Lost in Mecca is Nada Faris’s debut translation, and her work is to be admired. The English captures the rhythms of al-Essa’s fast-paced, flash-like chapters and briskly interwoven dialogues that lend to the novel’s borderless mood—one that can easily lead a reader astray. Faris also brilliantly preserves the sonic landscape of the original, and highlights its prominent style by effectively slipping rhyme and half-rhyme into the English without being too flashy." 

​-- Ibrahim Fawzy, Asymptote

"Nada Faris’s translation captures every nuance of Al-Essa’s prose, enabling English readers to experience the visceral, haunting depth of this story." 
​
-- Nasser Al Badri, Director, DarArab for Publishing and Translation

"This is a difficult and gut-wrenching read but an important contribution to Kuwaiti literature in English. It is an exploration of the human condition and the universality of pain, loss, and love. Characters are multifaceted, and it is a complex examination of morality, victimization, and privilege." 

-- Shahd Al-Shammari, World Literature Today

2024 DarArab UK 

LOST IN MECCA

خرائط التيه
by Bothayna Al-Essa
tr. Nada Faris

SYNOPSIS
​
When a seven-year-old Kuwaiti boy goes missing during the Hajj pilgrimage, his loss introduces his parents to a darker side of Mecca.

Get the book

DO YOU TEACH TRANSLATION OR RUN A BOOK CLUB?

Consider inviting me to your class to read from Bothayna Al-Essa's Lost in Mecca and to talk about my experience translating the novel from Arabic into English. 
​

• Lost in Mecca is a literary crime thriller set in the Middle East, offering both an engaging narrative and a thought-provoking text.
• The Arabic novel, published in 2015, has garnered 12,000 ratings and 3,000 reviews on Goodreads, with an overall rating of 4.12 stars.
• Of these ratings, at least 5,000 are a perfect 5 stars.

For my CV or Resume please visit the booking page.

Invite Me

Download this Info Page to share with your school administration. ​

In the Press

• ArabLit, "Nada Faris on Why She Stopped Avoiding Translation & Bringing Bothayna Al-Essa’s ‘Lost in Mecca’ into English"
• Asymptote, "‘Lost and Found in Maps of Wandering’: A Review of Bothayna Al-Essa’s Lost in Mecca"
• World Literature Today,"75 Notable Translations of 2024"
• World Literature Today, Dr. Shahd Al-Shammari's Review of Lost in Mecca by Bothayna Al-Essa 
• Banipal, The 2024 Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation Shortlist
  
• Al-Jarida, "ندى فارس: جذبني الجانب الإبداعي لخوض عالم الترجمة"

Events

• التيه في خرائط الترجمة : A Discussion with the Author and Translator of Lost in Mecca -- Eman Assad interviewing both writer and translator at Tawkween Bookstore, Kuwait, May 18, 2024
  
• Poetics of Translation: A First Look at Lost in Mecca -- Sarah Al-Obeid interviewing Nada Faris at the Contemporary Art Platform (CAP) Kuwait -- Oct 11, 2023.