TMR World Picks are selected by our editors. We welcome your suggestions: editors@themarkaz.org
TMR
Untold Narratives: Translating Fiction from Afghanistan
Oct. 1, Online panel event—more info
To mark International Translation Day, the online panel explores challenges and best practices for literary translation in countries with little or no infrastructure, with a particular focus on Afghanistan. The hosts will be in conversation with literary translators Parwana Fayyaz, Sabrina Nouri-Moosa, Abdul Bacet Khurram, and editor and publisher Azadeh Parsapour.
Between The Tides: A Gulf Quinquennial
Oct. 1—Dec. 8, NYUAD-Art Gallery, Abu Dhabi, UAE—more info
A visual production show featuring 21 artists and collectives from across the Gulf region, including the UAE, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia. Set to recur every five years, it showcases works across the fields of visual arts, architecture, and design, featuring painting, video, installation, and sculpture. The show explores important themes such as urban growth, environmental change, heritage, identity, and representation.
Preserving the Past, Embracing Change, Honoring Traditions
Oct. 2, NYUAD, Abu Dhabi—more info
A talk by Zaki Aslan that examines the transformative power of embracing change while steadfastly honoring the “timeless values embedded in the Gulf States’ shared and diverse cultural legacies in the Arab and Muslim Worlds.”
A Reading by Ibrahim Nasrallah, with Huda Fakhreddine
Oct. 3, The Poetry Project, New York, U.S.—more info
This event marks the release of the new chapbook Palestinian, by acclaimed Palestinian novelist and poet Ibrahim Nasrallah, translated from Arabic by Huda J. Fakhreddine (World Poetry, 2024). Written during an ongoing genocide in Gaza, the four new poems in Palestinian call out the world’s blindness towards Palestine, its tragedy, and the Nakba that has persisted since 1948. The reading will be followed by a conversation with translator and scholar Huda Fakhreddine. For a full list of the U.S. book tour dates, click here.
Exhibition: Les Déplacés: Histoire D’exile
Oct. 5, 2024 — Jan. 18, 2025, Abri Mémoire, Uffholtaz, France—more info
The exhibition The Displaced: Stories of Exile celebrates the capacity of individuals to transform their experiences into works of art and allows audiences to follow their journeys through time and space, highlighting their varied experiences. Six different artists with their stories, styles and artistic techniques adorn the exhibition, including Annabelle Amoros (France, FRAC Alsace collection); Maxime Garcia (France); Princia Itoua (Congo); Khaled Jarada (Palestine); Naji Kamouche (France, FRAC Alsace collection); Hazem Waked (Syria).
Book Launch: Decolonial Pluriversalism
Oct. 5, Maqam Studio, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.—more info
Editors and some of the authors of the book Decolonial Pluriversalism, edited by Zahra Ali and Sonia Dayan-Herzbrun (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2024), will talk about the themes discussed in the book drawing from the Francophone worlds, Latin American and Caribbean philosophies whereby they explore concepts of creolization, racialization, Afropean aesthetics, arts and cultural productions, feminisms, fashion, education, and architecture. As a special treat, there will also be an Iraqi Maqam performance by Hamid Al-Saadi and Amir Elsaffar. You can catch the event via livestream at this link: https://rb.gy/khgv2o.
Israel—Gaza War: One Year Later
Oct. 6, Busboys And Poets, Washington DC, U.S.—more info
In partnership with the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding of Georgetown University, The Gaza Lecture Series of 2024, presents Mouin Rabbani, leading Palestinian intellectual and co-editor of Jadaliyya, in conversation with Sarah Leah Whitson, Executive Director of Democracy in the Arab World Now (DAWN) to talk about the complicity of the United States in its foreign policy regarding Palestine.
Book Talk: Mountains of the Pharaohs: The Untold Story of the Pyramid Builders
Oct. 8, AUC Tahrir Campus, Cairo—more info
A unique opportunity to hear from one of the world’s foremost experts on Ancient Egyptian history. Dr. Zahi Hawass, celebrating the new paperback edition of his book Mountains of the Pharaohs: The Untold Story of the Pyramid Builders will walk audiences through the story of the pyramids, weaving archaeological data with a history of Egypt’s powerful pharaohs.
Israel, Gaza and the Wider Regional conflict: Assessing the Probability of a Broader War
Oct. 9, Middle East Center, LSE, UK—more info
How have regional and international responses to the latest Israeli assault on Gaza since October 7, 2023 been different to those in the past? What is the likely future trajectory of the conflict in the region; with Hezbollah in Lebanon, the militias groups in Iraq and Iran? What will be the historical consequences of such an extended, multi-state conflict? Joining the panel to answer these questions are Nicola Pratt, Mohammad Ali Shabani, Yezid Sayegh, and Toby Dodge.
Mosaics of Morocco: A Year of Culture Film Series
Oct. 10-12, Museum of Islamic Art auditorium, Doha, Qatar—more info
The Doha Film Institute (DFI) will host a collection of Moroccan film screenings showcasing four films from both renowned and emerging directors, each enriched by the diverse heritage of Moroccan cinema.
Edward W. Said London Lecture 2024: “Is the Gaza War the end of International Humanitarian Law?”
Oct. 11, The Arab British Centre, London—more info
Esteemed human rights lawyer and Director of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, Raji Sourani, will deliver the annual Edward W. Said London Lecture 2024, examining the current war on Gaza and its implication on International Humanitarian Law (IHL). Sourani will deliver the lecture alongside respondent Selma Dabbagh, whose latest review for TMR appears here.
Separated By Millennia by Sarah Al-Sarraj
Oct. 11—12, Journeys Festival International, Leicester, UK—more info
Separated by Millennia is a body of work exploring notions of survival, time, ancestry, and ecology. Through a series of paintings, viewers are invited to follow the story of a mythical clan of temporal nomads who developed time travel capabilities into the past and the future.
Riz Khan in conversation with Alia Z. Toukan
Oct. 12, The Rainbow Theatre, Amman, Jordan —more info
Global news peronality, Riz Khan, known for his work with major media outlets such as BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya will be in Amman to talk with Alia Z. Toukan about the transformations of the broadcasting business and how to consume news in this world of disinformation. The talk will be in English and is part of The Rainbow Theatre’s INSPIRE series.
Book Talk: How Sanctions Work: Iran and the Impact of Economic Warfare
Oct. 12, LSE, London, UK—more info
This event will be a discussion hosting Narges Bajoghli and Vali Nasr around their book How Sanctions Work: Iran and the Impact of Economic Warfare by Narges Bajoghli, Vali Nasr, Djavad Salehi-Isfahani and Ali Vaez published by Stanford University Press (2024).
An Evening with André Aciman
Oct. 14, Foyles Charing Cross Road, London, UK—more info
Join the New York Times bestselling author of Call Me By Your Name and The Gentleman from Peru for an evening of conversation with writer and critic Michael Amherst to mark the release of his new memoir, Roman Year, the story of the 13-year-old writer’s life in Rome. The event will be followed by an audience Q&A and book signing.
CINEMED—the International Mediterranean Film Festival 2024
Oct. 18-26, Montpellier, France—more info
The not-to-miss event for cinematographies of the Mediterranean Sea, with more than 200 films displayed and many official guests. The program includes screenings of long and short movies, documentaries and animated films, as well as special nights and themes, trailers, talks, and exhibitions. For the full program, see here.
My Dear Kabul: Writing from the Frontline
Oct. 19, Merton Arts Space at Wimbeldon Library, London—more info
Wimbledon BookFest will welcome some of the writers and translators of My Dear Kabul: A Year in the Life of an Afghan Women’s Writing Group (Coronet Books, 2024). This women’s writing group created a place of community and strength in the face of terror and provided a vital space to keep their creativity alive, support each other, and bear witness to the political turmoil unfolding around them.
Instants Vidéo : Festival D’Art Vidéo 37th Edition, 2024
Oct. 20, Marseille, France—more info
The biennial, conceived by the AM Qattan Foundation in Ramallah and Les Instants Vidéo in Marseille and a TMR partner, is offering a full day of Palestinian video screenings as part of its international programming. We’re particularly interested in the experimental video My Whole Heart With You by Essa Grayed, a video that features manipulated footage from one of the most renowned and tragic Arab speeches of the 20th century: the resignation speech of the Egyptian President, Gamal Abdel Nasser, during the 1967 defeat. For a full list of the videos, see here.
Ibrahim Al Koni and the World of the Tuareg
Oct. 23, NYUAD, Abu Dhabi, UAE—more info
Raised as a Tuareg in the Libyan desert, award-winning Libyan-Swiss author Ibrahim al-Koni’s storytelling is informed by his educational background and extensive travels. His body of work, encompassing over a hundred books, examines the history of the Mediterranean region and the desert. The discussion, in Arabic, will focus on al-Koni’s unique portrayal of the desert landscape and its cultural and historical significance.
Arabofuturs exhibition at the Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris
Through Oct. 27, Arab World Institute, Paris—more info
In the context of the turmoil the world has been facing over the past half-century, science fiction is the preferred medium for questioning current societies and exploring the fault lines of our immediate future. In the 2000s, artists from the Arab world and its diasporas embraced speculative fiction to imagine the worlds of tomorrow, and to make a blunt assessment of how societies are evolving. With their minds on the future, they question and transgress the present.
Book Talk: Shattered: A Memoir by Hanif Kureishi
Oct. 31, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Center, London—more info
Hurry! The tickets are running out fast on this exclusive event you won’t want to miss. The author of The Buddha of Suburbia launches his extraordinary memoir, Shattered, about the accident that left him paralyzed. On Boxing Day 2022, in Rome, Hanif Kureishi had a fall. When he came to, in a pool of blood, he was horrified to realize he had lost the use of his limbs. His book takes the hospital dispatches — edited, expanded, and meticulously interwoven with new writing — and charts both a shattering and a reassembling of a new life.
Majazz Project: Palestinian Sound Archive Exhibition
Ongoing—Nov 1, Southbank Center, London, UK—more info
The Palestinian Sound Archive, a celebration of music, spoken word, and album artwork, is an embodiment of Palestinian culture across decades. Weaving tales of joy, grief, love, resistance, and steadfastness. The compilation features a number of artists, some of whom were assassinated because of their role in bringing this music to light while some remain anonymous upon their request, to avoid being targeted.
