Literary eras
Thirteen centuries of Arabic letters in seven walking tours — from the pre-Islamic mu'allaqat through the Abbasid golden age, the Andalusian flowering, the Nahda renaissance, and the contemporary diaspora.
Pre-Islamic & Early Islamic
The mu'allaqat odes, the Qur'an, and the foundational forms of Arabic literature.
750–1258 CEAbbasid Golden Age
Baghdad and the high classical canon: al-Mutanabbi, Abu Nuwas, al-Ma'arri, al-Jahiz.
711–1492Andalusian
The flowering of Arabic poetry, philosophy, and prose in al-Andalus.
1798–1914Nahda Renaissance
The "awakening": the long renaissance of Arabic letters from Napoleon's invasion of Egypt to the First World War.
1914–1967Modern 20th-Century
From the First World War to the catastrophe of 1967: the central modernist period.
1967–2000Post-Naksa Generation
The literature of disillusion: the long aftermath of 1967.
2000–presentContemporary (post-2000)
The Arab Spring, the Iraqi diaspora, the Gulf rise, and the Arabic novel's arrival in international translation.