“Paris of the Middle East”—fiction by MK Harb
With tarot cards and a recipe for pickled turnips, Beirutis bid farewell to yet another friend leaving on a “talent passport” to somewhere else.
short story
“The Minisecures”—excerpt from The History of the Gods of Egypt
Bonfire of the vanities: A second-rate artist imagines the prophets and the grand, holy tales of monotheism.
“Water”—a short story by Salar Abdoh
In the aftermath of a long war, a man in Iran searches for meaning, hopes for love, and struggles with the story of a whale.
“New Reasons”—a short story by Samira Azzam
In a translated tale from Palestine’s first lady of short stories, the newest technology exacts a toll on people ahead of their time.
“The Summer They Heard Music”—a short story by MK Harb
There are some long, languid and even dangerous summers that Beirutis can never forget, and this is one of them.
“Twelve Angels”—fiction from Ahmed Salah Al-Mahdi
In this short story by Egyptian writer Ahmed Salah Al-Mahdi, translated from Arabic, a man contends with his mortality on his death bed.
“Kabul’s Haikus”—fiction from Maryam Mahjoba
In this short story by Maryam Mahjoba, a teacher from Japan travels to Afghanistan to teach at a girl's school.
“Junk”—a short story by May Haddad
Recycling violence, a fighting droid wants to leave a dystopian world of mechanized blood sports, but a human gets in the way.
A Jaha in the Metaverse—fiction by Fadi Zaghmout
A short story by Jordanian writer Fadi Zaghout in which a traditional Jordanian "Jaha" ceremony takes place in the metaverse.
“The Followers”—a short story by Youssef Manessa
A selfish loser walks away from wasta and the Za’im' nefarious agenda he created and instrumentalized in this short story by Youssef Manessa.
“Before the Earthquake”—a short story by Salah Badis
In which a woman ponders the fate of the individuals who left behind their garments, now long forgotten, at the laundromat.
“The Hauntology of Varosha” or “Room Number 137 of the Argo Hotel”
A Cypriot writer's story about a forgotten child in an abandoned town the writer looked on to from her window in Cyprus.
“Silence is Golden”—a short story by Farah Ahamed
In Farah Ahamed's latest satire, one man's misunderstood greatness drives him to take preposterous action.
“Supplication”—a short story by Hisham Bustani
In Hisham Bustani’s new short story, one man’s religious nightmare brings him face to face with an unlikely public intellectual of his day.
“Sweet Tea”—a classic Kurdish story by Hussein Arif
In this short story translated from Kurdish for the first time, a young man discovers that his discomfort was suppressing his true feelings.