“Ride On, Shooting Star”—fiction from May Haddad
In May Haddad's short story, Carna’ is a spacefaring mail carrier fed up with working for the Universal Courier Service who journeys to the edge of the universe.
Lebanon
The Mystery of Tycoon Michel Baida in Old Arab Berlin
Film curator and scholar Irit Neidhardt searches for clues to the Berlin disappearance of gramophone tycoon Michel Baida.
16 Formidable Lebanese Photographers in an Abbey
Nada Ghosn interviews the curator and Lebanese photographers exhibiting in the Abbey de Jumièges, north of Paris.
Hot Summer Playlist: “Diaspora Dreams” Drops
Mischa Geracoulis reviews dance music from the LA Armenian/Middle Eastern duo, Bei Ru and Krista Marina.
Editorial: Is the World Driving Us Mad?
The world may be driving us crazy, but sharing our stories across cultures and borders is one way to hang on to our sanity.
Leaving One’s Country in Mai Al-Nakib’s “An Unlasting Home”
Rana Asfour reviews Mai Al-Nakib's debut novel, in which the protagonist always thought she would leave her country.
Why I left Lebanon and Became a Transitional Citizen
More Lebanese live abroad than at home, and the exodus continues. Some have the option to leave, others cannot.
Joumana Haddad: “Victim #232”
A preview of the new Arabic novel from the author of "I Killed Scheherazade" and "Superman is an Arab."
Fragmented Love in Alison Glick’s “The Other End of the Sea”
Nora Lester Murad reviews a "far-fetched" story of a marriage between a Palestinian Muslim and an American Jew.
Fairouz is the Voice of Lebanon, Symbol of Hope in a Weary Land
For April's column, music critic Melissa Chemam looks longingly at the legend of Lebanon's diva.
Music in the Middle East: Bring Back Peace
Our music columnist Melissa Chemam, disturbed by the war in Ukraine, makes the link between Odesa and Beirut via DJ Sama' Abdulhadi.
“Gluttony” from Abbas Beydoun’s “Frankenstein’s Mirrors”
Lebanese poet-novelist Abbas Baydoun reflects in an autobiographical mode on the melancholy of language and existence, while contemplating sweets.
Temptations of the Imagination: how Jana Elhassan and Samar Yazbek transmogrify the world
Rana Asfour provides an intimate look at two new Arab novels in translation, from Lebanese and Syrian authors.
My Lebanese Landlord, Lebanese Bankdits, and German Racism
Racism props up its ugly head from every quarter, but Tariq Mehmood refuses to be deterred.
Three Levantine Tales
Writer, translator and artist Nouha Hamad tells three tales passed down as family legend connecting the 19th and 20th centuries.