The "landmark" texts (and pertinent reference literature) will be chosen, in agreement with participants' preferences, from among the following works:
- Khalīl al- Khūrī, Way, idhan lastu bi-Ifranjī! (1859/60)
- Jurjī Zaydān, al-Mamlūk al-shārid (1891)
- Mu?ammad al- Muwayli?ī, ?adīth ??sā b Hishām (1899/1907)
- Jubrān Khalīl Jubrān, ?urākh al-qubūr (1908)
- Mu??afā Lu?fī al- Manfalū?ī, al-Na?arāt (1910)
- Jubrān Khalīl Jubrān, al-Ajni?a al-mutakassira (1912)
- Mu?ammad ?usayn Haykal, Zaynab (1913)
- Ma?mūd ?āhir Lāshīn, ?adīth al-qarya (1929)
- ?āhā ?usayn, al-Ayyām I (1929)
- Ma?mūd ?āhir Lāshīn, ?awwā? bi-lā ?dam (1934)
- Tawfīq al- ?akīm, Yawmiyyāt nā?ib fī ’l-aryāf (1937)
- Ya?yā ?aqqī, Qindīl Umm Hāshim (1944 publ )
- Najīb Ma?fū?, Zuqāq al-Midaqq (1947)
- Yūsuf Idrīs, Arkha? layālī (1953)
- ?Abd al-Ra?mān al- Sharqāwī, al-Ar? (1953/54)
- Yūsuf Idrīs, Jumhūriyyat Fara?āt (1954)
- Najīb Ma?fū?, Cairo Trilogy (1956/1957)
- Laylà Ba?albakkī, Anā a?yā (1958)
- Najīb Ma?fū?, Awlād ?āritnā (1959)
- Najīb Ma?fū?, Za?balāwī (1961)
- Ghassān Kanafānī, Die Kurzromane (1963 – 1970)
- Zakarīyā Tāmir, al-Thalj ākhir al-layl (1963)
- Laylà Ba?albakkī, Safīnat ?anān ilā ’l-qamar (1963)
- Yūsuf al- Shārūnī, al-Zi?ām (1963)
- ?un?allāh Ibrāhīm, Tilka ’l-rā?i?a (1965/66)
- Najīb Ma?fū?, Tharthara fawq al-Nīl (1966)
- al-?ayyib ?āli?, Mawsim al-hijra ilā l-?imāl (1966)
- Najīb Ma?fū?, Ta?t al-mi?alla (1967)
- Yūsuf Idrīs, Bayt min la?m (1971)
- Tawfīq Yūsuf ?Awwād, ?awā?īn Bayrūt (1972)
- Jamāl al- Ghī?ānī, al-Zaynī Barakāt (1974)
- Emīl ?abībī, Al-Waqā?i? al-?ajība fī khtifā? Sa?īd Abī ’Na?s al-Mutashā?il (1974)
- Zakarīyā Tāmir, Yawma gha?iba Jinghīz Khān (1979)
- ?anān al- Shaykh, ?ikāyat Zahra (1980)
- ?un?allāh Ibrāhīm, al-Lajna (1981)
- Mu?ammad Shukrī, al-Khubz al-?āfī (1982)
- Idwār al- Kharrā?, Turābuhā za?farān (1985)
- ?un?allāh Ibrāhīm, Dhāt (1992)
- ?anān al- Skhaykh, Aknus al-shams min fawq al-su?ū? (1994)
- ?Alā? al- Aswānī, ?Imārat Ya?qūbiyān (2002)
- Rajā? ?Abdallāh al- Sāni?, Banāt al-Riyā? (2005)
- Yūsuf Zaydān, ?Azāzīl (2006)
- Mu?ammad Rabī?, ?U?ārid (2015)