Faïza Guène’s Fight for French Respectability
Melissa Chemam considers the sixth novel by France's former teen sensation Faïza Guène and whether she is now part of the literary canon.
TMR Weekly
Decolonizing Art for Art’s Sake
Culture critic and filmmaker Mara Ahmed deconstructs three versions of an opéra-ballet to get at the heart of western racism in mainstream dance performance.
To the Light—Remembering Lawrence Ferlinghetti: 1919–2021
Ammiel Alcalay remembers an American original, poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, who was also the publisher and doyen of City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco.
World Picks, February-March ‘21
Travel the world, meet people, see great places, without ever leaving the comfort of your screen…welcome to the pandemic!
Hanane Hajj Ali, Portrait of a Theatrical Trailblazer
Nada Ghosn talks to Beirut's powerhouse Hanane Hajj Ali who receives an international theatre award from League of Professional Theatre Women out of New York.
Francofeminism: a Postcolonial History
Mariem Gellouz and Sélima Kebaïli deconstruct Francophonie in the context of postcolonial Tunisian, Arab and African feminism.
World Picks, January and February ‘21
Travel the world, meet people, see great places, without ever leaving the comfort of your screen…welcome to the pandemic!
The Polyphony of a Syrian Refugee Speaks Volumes
Farah Abdessamad reviews Silence is a Sense, the new novel from Layla AlAmmar.
On American Democracy and Empire, a Corrective
The MAGA movement is not a cause but a consequence of GOP policies, and its instantaneous vanishing with Trump's political demise is unlikely.
Muhammad Malas, Syria’s Auteur, is the subject of a Film Biography
Rana Asfour reviews a documentary by Nezar Andary on the Syrian auteur filmmaker, Muhammad Malas.
Remember 2020 Not for Covid-19 or Trump Chaos, But Climate Change
Columnist Iason Athanasiadis remembers 2020 not so much for the pandemic or the chaos of Trump but what humankind has wrought on nature.
The Howling of the Dog: Adania Shibli’s “Minor Detail”
Layla AlAmmar takes us into the heart of Adania Shibli's literary thriller, where Palestinian lives are but a "minor detail."
Cairo 1941: Excerpt from “A Land Like You”
“Gamal was convinced that Egypt, mother of the world, would spawn a new era—when Arabs, the wretched of the earth, would finally regain their place among the nations.”
Academics, Signatories, and Putschists
Kurdish poet and scholar Selîm Temo, takes us inside the continuing Academics for Peace struggle through his personal story.
To Be or Not to Be, That is Not the Question
December 12, 2020 marks the 95th birthday of the revolutionary and controversial Iranian poet, translator, essayist, editor, encyclopedist, and cultural figure, Ahmad Shamlou (1925-2000).