In Translation Book Discussion : The Queue by Basma Abdel Aziz (Author), Elisabeth Jaquette (Translator)
Winner of the English PEN Translation Award
In a surreal, but familiar, vision of modern day Egypt, a centralized authority known as ‘the Gate’ has risen to power in the aftermath of the ‘Disgraceful Events,’ a failed popular uprising. Citizens are required to obtain permission from the Gate in order to take care of even the most basic of their daily affairs, yet the Gate never opens, and the queue in front of it grows longer.