My Brother, My Land: A Story from Palestine
Saleem Haddad reviews the Sawalha family story that offers hope in resilience, resistance, and survival against all odds.
Book Reviews
Forgotten & Silenced Histories in Moroccan Other-Archives
Language, gender, class, race, and geography shape citizenship in Morocco today, argues Brahim El Guabli in his latest book.
Palestinian Culture, Under Assault, Celebrated in New Cookbook
Fadi Kattan's Palestinian cookbook is a memoir of personal and familial memories, intriguing facts, and emotions, writes Mischa Geracoulis.
Man Is a Cause: Wisam Rafeedie & the Palestinian Revolutionary Novel
A classic prison novel by Wisam Rafeedie recounts the revolutionary fervor of Palestinian political prisoners.
Feurat Alani: Paris, Fallujah and Recovered Memory
Feurat Alani, a French novelist of Iraqi descent, succeeds in capturing the connections between two disparate cultural spheres.
Fady Joudah’s […] Dares Us to Listen to Palestinian Words—and Silences
Eman Quotah on Fady Joudah's latest, in which the poet takes on the inadequacy of language in conveying the pain and hope of Palestinians today.
How Fragile We Are: Hisham Matar’s My Friends
Adib Rahhal reviews Hisham Matar's latest novel, in which the precariousness of existence and Libya serve as springboards.
The Myth of the West: A Discontinuous History
Arie Amaya-Akkermans reviews "The West: a new history of an old idea" that argues how the West was invented to justify imperialism.
Do or Despair: Political Action in My Great Arab Melancholy
Katie Logan reviews Lamia Ziadé's latest illustrated volume that prompts a reckoning with the concept of melancholy.
Eyeliner: A Cultural History by Zahra Hankir—A Review
Nazli Tarzi reviews a book that challenges the uncritical view of eyeliner as a mere “exercise in vanity” and probes its use across many societies.
Rotten Evidence: Ahmed Naji Writes About Writing in Prison
In tone, "Rotten Evidence" is cynical, bitterly funny, and oftentimes tender without ever being sentimental, writes Lina Mounzer.
Arthur Kayzakian’s Stolen Painting and The Nameless Father
Sean Casey on a rather unusual and remarkable debut from Arthur Kayzakian that melds poetry, prose and correspondence.
Love Across Borders—on Romance, Restrictions and Happy Endings
Lina Mounzer reviews the new book by Anna Lekas Miller that gathers stories of love- and border-challenged couples.
Inci Atrek’s Intercultural Novel—Holiday Country
Amy Omar explores her own Turkish American identity while relating to Turkish American writer Inci Atrek and her debut novel.
War Weariness & Absurdity in Jamaluddin Aram’s Debut Novel
Something beyond war-weariness informs Jamaluddin Aram’s depiction of 1990s Afghanistan in his debut novel, writes Rudi Heinrich.