Can the Bilingual Speak?
Anton Shammas — the Palestinian novelist who wrote the Hebrew-language "Arabeques" — attempts to sort himself.
Essays
Adafina Brings Alive Childhood Memories from Tangier
Writer Yaëlle Azagury recalls childhood lessons she learned from her mother's adafina, a special dish for Shabbat.
Abū Ḥamza’s Bread
In which Philip Grant muses on Ibn Sayyār al-Warrāq’s tenth century cookbook, "Kitāb aṭ-Ṭabīkh" and cooking and baking 12 centuries later.
The Law and Politics of Food Sovereignty
Cultural anthropologist Matthew Canfield explains the socio-legal basics of food sovereignty and sustainable farming.
The Scandal of Ronit Baranga’s “All Things Sweet and Painful”
Philosophy professor David Capps discusses our perception of Israeli sculptress Ronit Baranga's controversial art.
Zajal — the Darija Poets of Morocco
Author and Darija translator Deborah Kapchan recalls her friendship with two of Morocco's greatest contemporary poets.
Mariupol, Ukraine and the Crime of Hospital Bombing
Aren't military attacks on hospitals and other medical facilities considered war crimes?
The Angels of Desire
Youssef Rakha meditates on dreams and desire, and why he might just be ready to die for a stranger.
Carlo in Belgrade (in which a father loves a son)
A father's love for one of his sons is almost ineffable, in Hanif Kureishi's journal intime and travel account in Covid times.
“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.
Fiction: “Skin Calluses” by Khalil Younes
Syrian artist and writer Khalil Younes recalls the strained sexuality of Martyrs Square in Damascus.
Reza Abdoh: L.A.’s Theatre Visionary
Playwright and theatre director Reza Abdoh left his mark on Los Angeles and national theatre culture, as actor-writer Juliana Francis Kelly recounts in her look back on their collaborative relationship.
“Where Are You From?” Identity and the Spirit of Ethno-Futurism
Writer and film executive Bavand Karim meditates on Iranian American identity and an alternative vision for self-realization in the context of the ethno-futurist movement.
The Alexandrian: Life and Death in L.A.
An Egyptian American daughter recalls the enduring love her immigrant father harbored for Los Angeles and the American Dream.
(G)Hosting the Past: On Michael Rakowitz’s “Reapparitions”
Arie Akkermans reviews an Iraqi American's exhibitions as they attempt to recreate missing and destroyed artifacts taken from the National Museum of Iraq after the American invasion in 2003.