Latest

17 January, 2025

My Favorite Cake, Iranian Cinema’s Bittersweet Ode to Love

Karim Goury reviews the Iranian film, "My Favorite Cake," a celebration of love in the twilight of life, in a society where prohibition and surveillance reign.

Read More →

17 January, 2025,

Huda Fakhreddine & Yasmeen Hanoosh: Translating Arabic & Gaza

A conversation in which two Arabic to English translators and scholars consider language and Gaza with respect to the west's racism and indifference.

Read More →

17 January, 2025

Radwa Ashour’s Classic Granada Now in a New English Edition

Ashour’s "Granada" trilogy arrives during the ongoing Israeli genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, and a long arc completes a circle of horror.

Read More →

10 January, 2025

In Killing Gilda Yahya Gharagozlou Tells an Intriguing Iranian Tale

A review of a book that offers a portrait of a royal dynasty whose decline has significantly shaped the modern world.

Read More →

TMR 47 • GENRE FICTION

“Not a Picture, a Precise Kick”—metafiction

A writer from Cairo imagines a chance encounter between two writers in Prague enamored of Kafka. 

Centerpiece,

Latest Essays & Fiction

Essays • 28 December, 2024

10 Recommended Stories in The Markaz Review 2024

TMR's five main editors have selected two of our favorite stories of the year for your reading pleasure. Of course, we are utterly subjective.

Book Reviews • 20 December, 2024

Criticizing a Militaristic Israel is not Inherently Antisemitic

The conflation of antisemitism with political criticism of Israel not only stifles free speech; it makes Jews less safe around the world.

Essays • 13 December, 2024,

Return to Damascus…the Long Road Home

A son of Hama — a former prisoner and now a TV correspondent — takes his first steps towards his country in over a decade.

Cities • 13 December, 2024

Kareem’s Story, Excerpt from The Home I Worked to Make

A Syrian medical student from Damascus, forced into exile, shares his story with political scientist Wendy Pearlman — anonymously.

Centerpiece • 6 December, 2024,

“Not a Picture, a Precise Kick”—metafiction

A writer from Cairo imagines a chance encounter between two writers in Prague enamored of Kafka. 

Fiction • 6 December, 2024

“The Head of the Table”—a story by Natasha Tynes

A celebration quickly spirals into a lifetime of trauma when an unforeseen 'head' makes a shocking appearance.