Book Reviews

The Art of Remembrance in Abacus of Loss

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...

15 MARCH 2022 • By Sherine Elbanhawy
Nadia Murad Speaks on Behalf of Women Heroes of War

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...

7 MARCH 2022 • By Myriam Gurba
A Miscarriage of Justice in the Case of Mahmood Hussain Mattan

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...

7 MARCH 2022 • By Rana Asfour
“A Tunisian Revolt” — the Rebel Power of Arab Comics

“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,...

21 FEBRUARY 2022 • By I. Rida Mahmood
Poetic Justice: 70+ Contemporary Poets of Morocco

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...

31 JANUARY 2022 • By El Habib Louai
Hananah Zaheer’s “Lovebirds”? Don’t Be Fooled by the Title

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...

31 JANUARY 2022 • By Lorraine Ali
Arabic and Latin, Cosmopolitan Languages of the Premodern Mediterranean and its Hinterlands

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...

24 JANUARY 2022 • By Nouha Homad
Meditations on The Ungrateful Refugee

Meditations on The Ungrateful Refugee

Rana Asfour shares her thoughts on the widely-celebrated book from Dina Nayeri, who writes that escaping and becoming...

15 JANUARY 2022 • By Rana Asfour
Gaza Melancholic

Gaza Melancholic

Author and SOAS professor Gilbert Achcar reviews the latest book from Gaza scholar Sara Roy.

10 JANUARY 2022 • By Basil Al-Adraa
Temptations of the Imagination: how Jana Elhassan and Samar Yazbek transmogrify the world

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.

10 JANUARY 2022 • By Rana Asfour
Recovering/Remembering Love, Sex and Trauma

Recovering/Remembering Love, Sex and Trauma

Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi follows her novels "Fra Keeler" and "Call Me Zebra" with a story set...

13 DECEMBER 2021 • By Jordan Elgrably
From Jerusalem to a Kingdom by the Sea

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...

29 NOVEMBER 2021 • By Rana Asfour
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