TMR 50 • RETURNING HOME Archives

2 May, 2025 • Nafeesa Syeed

After going to Cashmere in Washington state last summer, Nafeesa Syeed wrote the following essay on colonization, displacement, and belonging.

2 May, 2025 • TMR

In the 50th issue of The Markaz Review, diverse writers explore the return home in creative nonfiction, fiction excerpts and prose poems.

2 May, 2025 • Karina El Helou

The Sursock Museum in Beirut presents "Ode to the South," a tribute exhibition to the late Abdel Hamid Baalbaki, 1940-2013.

2 May, 2025 • Myriam Cohenca

Envisioning innovative new futures that challenge conventional thinking and inspire transformative possibilities.

2 May, 2025 • Salar Abdoh

Salar Abdoh reflects on returning to Iran, burdened by injustice and a desire to reconnect with a culture that has normalized disinformation.

2 May, 2025 • Mai Al-Nakib

Feeling that her childhood home differed from her birthplace, writer Mai Al-Nakib perceives home as more imaginary than real.

2 May, 2025 • Ati Metwaly

Sudanese artists in exile are keeping their identity and heritage alive while they await the chance to return home.

2 May, 2025 • Lara Kassem

My Tripoli breathes gunpowder, // … the city where mosques are bombed and streets get emptied. // … How can my Lebanon be their Lebanon?

2 May, 2025 • Gabriel Polley

Arabic jazz challenges stereotypes amid rising xenophobia in the West and colonial violence in the Arab world.

2 May, 2025 • Raha Nik-Andish

Not even escalating tensions between Israel and Iran could stop one wayward Iranian from returning home to see his father one last time.

2 May, 2025 • Batoul Ahmad

Batoul Ahmad, during a ten-year absence from Damascus, reconstructs her sense of home through memory and self-discovery in Australia.

2 May, 2025 • Sophia Didinova

Young Palestinian citizens of Israel navigate life facing a unique position as both insiders and outsiders.

Returning to Salé, his hometown in Morocco, a writer and educator is haunted by the voice of a gay lover, who insists on being remembered.

2 May, 2025 • Betty Shamieh

Shamieh's novel "Too Soon" invites the audience to reflect on their relationships with home and the multifaceted nature of belonging.