Mohammed Alnaas

Mohammed Alnaas is a Libyan novelist and freelance journalist interested in alternative Libyan stories. He writes about gender roles, freedom of speech, social norms, cinema, and other marginalized aspects of life in his country. His novel Bread on Uncle Milad’s Table won the 2022 International Prize for Arabic Fiction. It was translated from Arabic into French by Sarah Rolfo and published as Du pain sur la table de l’oncle Milad (Le bruit du monde, 2024). Currently the novel is being translated into English by Sawad Hussain, and will be published by HarperCollins in 2025. The satirical novella, Alerak Fe Jahannam [The Fight in Jahannam] (Dar Altanweer, 2024), is Alnaas’ most recent work. He is an editor at alpheratzmag.com.

Rana Asfour is the Managing Editor at The Markaz Review, as well as a freelance writer, book critic and translator. Her work has appeared in such publications as Madame Magazine, The Guardian UK and The National/UAE. She chairs TMR’s English-language Book Club, which meets online the last Sunday of every month. She tweets @bookfabulous.