Literature and Arts from the Center of the World
When you live in a conservative society, you run the risk of censure. How far should a philosophy professor stick her neck out to make a point? Would you put it all on the line in the pursuit of truth or justice, or whatever informs your intent? An Unlasting Home, by award-winning short story writer Mai Al-Nakib,… Continue reading TMR Bookgroup Discusses Mai Al-Nakib’s “An Unlasting Home” with the author
The Guardian calls Mohsin Hamid’s new novel “a hypnotic race fable,” in which “as white people suddenly awake in brown skin, they are forced to confront uncomfortable truths about power and identity.” “One morning Anders, a white man, woke up to find he had turned a deep and undeniable brown.” So begins Mohsin Hamid’s inventive… Continue reading TMR Bookgroup Discusses “The Last White Man” by Mohsin Hamid
Ahmet Altan, one of Turkey's best-known novelists was locked up in prison, the key thrown away.
THE JANUARY BOOKGROUP SELECTION IS is Out of Mesopotamia, by Salar Abdoh (no bookgroup meeting in December). The discussion takes place, with the author, on Sunday, January 29, 2023, 1 pm Eastern/19:00 CET. "Imagine getting into Iraq and Syria as an observer of the war on ISIS, and yet very soon after you’ve been close enough… Continue reading We Read/Discuss Out of Mesopotamia, the novel by Salar Abdoh, and Meet the Author
“Our memories select, eliminate, exaggerate, minimize, glorify, denigrate. They create their own versions of events and serve up their own reality.” —Négar Djavadi
RSVP now Iraq, 20 years after the War, Thursday, 2 March, 18:00 CET (12 noon ET/17:00 UK/19:00 Beirut/21:00 Abu Dhabi). Several participants in this month's issue on IRAQ will gather together online to discuss their work and where we are today, nearly 20 years after the commencement of the Iraq War, an Anglo-American disaster that… Continue reading Iraq, 20 Years After the War, From the Viewpoint of Its Creatives
Amal Ghandour, author of This Arab Life, interviews Palestinian attorney and author Raja Shehadeh about his latest book, a memoir of his lawyer-judge father.
A TMR roundtable on refugees, migration, identity and finding home.
email books@themarkaz.org to join this event on Zoom March 2023 BookGroup Selection is The Girl Who Fell to Earth, a memoir by Sophia Al-Maria (discussing the book on Sunday, March 26, 13 Eastern/18:00 CET). Award-winning filmmaker and writer Sophia Al-Maria’s The Girl Who Fell to Earth is a funny and wry coming-of-age memoir about growing up in between… Continue reading Sophia Al-Maria’s memoir The Girl Who Fell to Earth
April 2023 BookGroup Selection is Waiting for the Past, a novel by Hadiya Hussein, translated from the Arabic by Barbara Romaine Hadiya Hussein’s poignant novel plunges readers into a haunting and powerful story of resilience. Set at the end of Saddam Hussein’s brutal reign, the novel follows Narjis, a young Iraqi woman, on her quest to… Continue reading Hadiya Hassein: Waiting for the Past
