The Art of Remembrance in Abacus of Loss
Sherine Elbanhawy lives in the pages of a memoir in verse and finds herself reluctant to leave, identifying with how its author unpacks the complexities of exile, home, family and love.
Book Reviews
Nadia Murad Speaks on Behalf of Women Heroes of War
Women's rights activist Maryam Zar reviews the memoir by a valiant survivor of ISIS who won the Nobel Peace Prize for speaking out on her experience.
A Miscarriage of Justice in the Case of Mahmood Hussain Mattan
Rana Asfour reviews the Booker Prize-nominated novel by Nadifa Mohamed based on the true story of a wrongly-convicted Somali in 1950s Cardiff.
“A Tunisian Revolt” — the Rebel Power of Arab Comics
Writer-translator Nada Ghosn talks to the illustrator of a new graphic novel recounting one of Tunisia's earliest uprisings, in 1984, presaging the Jasmine Revolution.
Poetic Justice: 70+ Contemporary Poets of Morocco
Amazigh Moroccan poet El Habib Louai reviews a recent anthology that has warmed the hearts of English-reading Moroccans during the pandemic.
Hananah Zaheer’s “Lovebirds”? Don’t Be Fooled by the Title
Mehnaz Afridi reviews the new book of short stories by a Pakistani American writer determined to disrupt her readers' expectations.
Arabic and Latin, Cosmopolitan Languages of the Premodern Mediterranean and its Hinterlands
Justin Stearns, a scholar of the pre-modern Muslim Middle East, reviews the new book by Karla Mallette on the fascinating history of two of the world's great languages.
Meditations on The Ungrateful Refugee
Rana Asfour shares her thoughts on the widely-celebrated book from Dina Nayeri, who writes that escaping and becoming a refugee preoccupied her life for more than 20 years.
Gaza Melancholic
Author and SOAS professor Gilbert Achcar reviews the latest book from Gaza scholar Sara Roy.
Temptations of the Imagination: how Jana Elhassan and Samar Yazbek transmogrify the world
Rana Asfour provides an intimate look at two new Arab novels in translation, from Lebanese and Syrian authors.
Recovering/Remembering Love, Sex and Trauma
Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi follows her novels "Fra Keeler" and "Call Me Zebra" with a story set in Andalucia.
From Jerusalem to a Kingdom by the Sea
Rana Asfour reviews a new memoir about the legendary Dajani family, charged by a Turkish sultan with watching over King David's Tomb in Jerusalem, but exiled in 1948.
Three Banned Saudi Novels Everyone Should Read
Despite its repressive regimes, Saudi Arabia has produced a number of world-class novelists — several of whom have seen their best work banned. Rana Asfour reviews three in English translation.
Diary of the Collapse—Charif Majdalani on Lebanon’s Trials by Fire
A.J. Naddaff reviews the latest work of creative nonfiction by Lebanon's Charif Majdalani, as his nation teeters on the edge of the abyss.
The Vanishing: Are Arab Christians an Endangered Minority?
Hadani Ditmars reviews Janine di Giovanni's ambitious new travelogue on beleaguered Christian communities in Iraq, Gaza, Syria, and Egypt.