The Bibliotheca Alexandrina Narratives Laboratory participates in the inauguration of its Iraqi counterpart

CAIRO – 12 August 2020: The Narratives Laboratory of the Media and Communication Sector of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina participated in the inauguration of the first seminar of the Iraqi Narratives Laboratory via cyberspace, according to a statement issued Wednesday, August 12.

Iraqi critic, Thaer al-Athari, had announced the establishment of the Narratives Laboratory in the Department of Arabic Language at the College of Education for Human Sciences, University of Wasit under the patronage of Jassem al-Khalidi, head of the department; and Mahmoud al-Quraishi, dean of the College of Education for Human Sciences, Wasit University.

In the first seminar organized by the laboratory online and attended by more than 300 Iraqi and Arab academics, writers and critics, Taha Hamid al-Shabib's novel "About Nothing He Tells" was discussed.

The Egyptian writer Mounir Otaiba, the supervisor of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina's Narratives Laboratory, participated in the discussion.

At the beginning of the symposium, Jassim al-Khalidi and Thaer al-Athari emphasized that the inspiring Alexandrian experience in the Narratives Laboratory at the Library of Alexandria was one of the motives for establishing the Iraqi Narratives Laboratory, like many other Arab countries.

Mounir Otaiba affirmed that both Khalidi and Athari are important members, who strongly contribute to the activities of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina's Narratives Laboratory through the critical dissertations they participated in more than once in the BA Narratives Lab. meetings.

Otaiba added that he is happy the experience of the BA's Narratives Laboratory is repeated in Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Jordan and Iraq, stressing that each of these laboratories has its own distinction. He stated that he dreams of having a laboratory in every Arab country, and that a meeting is held between all the Arab narration laboratories to facilitate communication between the creators and critics of Arab narration.