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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Paris:20240424T190000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Paris:20240424T200000
DTSTAMP:20260411T173622
CREATED:20240403T143157Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240403T143157Z
UID:10000043-1713985200-1713988800@themarkaz.org
SUMMARY:TMR Book Club Discusses "A Nearby Country Called Love" with author Salar Abdoh
DESCRIPTION:RSVP here \nJoin the TMR Book Club on Wednesday\, April 24th at 7pm CET/ 1pm EST/ 6pm UK to discuss “A Nearby Country Called Love” online with the author\, Salar Abdoh. \nAbout the book: \nA sweeping\, propulsive novel about the families we are born into and the families we make for ourselves\, in which a man struggles to find his place in an Iran on the brink of combusting. \nAmid the alleyways of the Zamzam neighborhood of Tehran\, a woman lights herself on fire in a desperate act of defiance\, setting off a chain reaction of violence and protest. Haunted by the woman’s death\, Issa is forced to confront the contradictions of his own family history\, throughout which his late brother Hashem\, a prominent queer artist in Tehran’s underground\, defied their father\, a skilled martial artist bound to traditional notions of honor and masculinity. \nIssa soon finds himself thrown into a circle of people living on the margins of society\, negotiating a razor-like code of conduct that rewards loyalty and encourages aggression and intolerance in equal measure. As the city explodes around him\, Issa realizes that it is the little acts of kindness that matter most\, the everyday humanity of individuals finding love and doing right by one another. \nVibrant and evocative\, intimate and intelligent\, A Nearby Country Called Love is both a captivating window into contemporary Iran and a portrait of the parallel fates of a man and his country—a man who acknowledges the sullen and rumbling baggage of history but then chooses to step past its violent inheritance. Published by Viking. \n  \nAbout the author: \nSalar Abdoh was born in Iran and splits his time between Tehran and New York City. He is the author of the novels Tehran at Twilight\, The Poet Game\, Opium\, and Out of Mesopotamia and the editor of Tehran Noir. He teaches in the MFA program at the City College of New York. \nRSVP here
URL:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/event/tmr-book-club-discusses-a-nearby-country-called-love-with-author-salar-abdoh/
LOCATION:Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Apr-2024-Book-Club-FB.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="The Markaz Review":MAILTO:info@themarkaz.org
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Helsinki:20240418T190000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Helsinki:20240418T200000
DTSTAMP:20260411T173622
CREATED:20240409T152755Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240410T115635Z
UID:10000044-1713466800-1713470400@themarkaz.org
SUMMARY:Table ronde autour du Numéro 40 PARIS du point de vue de ses créatifs issus des mondes arabes
DESCRIPTION:RSVP \nNous avons le plaisir de réunir 3 contributeurs de notre numéro de Paris pour discuter de leurs récits et portraits ainsi que de leur quotidien dans la capitale. \nNous vous donnons rendez-vous le jeudi 18 avril à 19h sur Zoom pour un moment d’échange et une invitation à revisiter ensemble la ville d’un point de vue oriental. \nCe numéro donne la parole à de nombreuses diasporas des mondes arabes dont l’histoire se mêle avec la ville des lumières. \nDécouvrez les écrits de nos trois invités: \nColine Houssais nous partage en exclusivité la genèse de son ouvrage Paris en lettres arabes qui sortira en mai prochain aux éditions Actes Sud. \nWanis El Kabbaj nous livre un témoignage intime de la vie de son père à Paris intitulé Heureux comme un Arabe à Paris. \nSasha Moujaes nous conte un portrait passionnant d’Ariella Aïsha Azoulay en lien avec son dernier livre La résistance des bijoux aux éditions Rot Bo Krik : Depuis Paris\, défaire les géographies coloniales. \nRetrouvez l’éditorial de notre rédacteur en chef Jordan Elgrably: Pourquoi Paris? \n____________________________________________________________________________________________________ \nColine Houssais \nNée en Bretagne\, Coline Houssais est une auteure\, commissaire et chercheuse indépendante spécialisée dans l’histoire culturelle de l’immigration maghrébine et proche-orientale en Europe ainsi que dans les musiques du monde arabe. Diplômée de Sciences Po\, l’Institut Français d’Études Arabes de Damas\, l’INALCO et la London School of Economics\, elle enseigne à Sciences Po. Fondatrice de l’Agence Ustaza à Paris\, elle est également résidente de la Fondation Camargo (2020) et du programme de résidence IMéRA-MUCEM (2021). Ses dernières publications incluent une anthologie de la musique arabe (“Musiques du Monde Arabe\, une anthologie en 100 artistes”\, Le Mot et le Reste\, 2020) et une participation aux deux premiers volumes d’Araborama (Institut du Monde Arabe/Seuil). \n  \nSasha Moujaes  \nOriginaire de Beyrouth\, Sasha Moujaes est actuellement basée à Paris. Diplômée de Sciences Po et de l’Institut national des Langues et Civilisations Orientales (INALCO)\, elle s’est spécialisée en sociologie politique avec un intérêt particulier pour les mondes arabo-méditerranéens. Après plusieurs années d’expérience dans le secteur culturel\, elle s’engage aujourd’hui dans des projets associatifs au croisement des enjeux LBGTQI+ et de migration. \n  \nWanis El Kabbaj \nNé à Paris\, et de nationalité franco-marocaine\, Wanis El Kabbaj a 25 ans d’expérience en marketing sur 4 continents. Ayant grandi dans une famille férue de littérature et autour des livres d’Amine Maalouf\, Taha Hussein\, Naguib Mahfouz\, il a développé une profonde appréciation pour les récits puissants\, les phrases ciselées et les mots justes. C’est cet amour qui l’a poussé à donner deux TED Talks sur l’avenir des transports urbains et la relation ambivalente entre les nationalismes et la mondialisation qui ont recueilli 6 millions de vues dans le monde entier. Wanis est passionné de diversité culturelle\, qu’il expérimente au quotidien dans sa propre famille et milite pour l’émergence de sociétés inclusives\, humanistes et ouvertes. \n____________________________________________________________________________________________________ \nRSVP \n 
URL:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/event/table-ronde-autour-du-numero-40-paris-du-point-de-vue-de-ses-creatifs-issus-des-mondes-arabes/
LOCATION:Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/18.4-TMR-40-PARIS-Table-rond-Zoom-Banner-1.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="The Markaz Review":MAILTO:info@themarkaz.org
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Helsinki:20240331T190000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Helsinki:20240331T200000
DTSTAMP:20260411T173622
CREATED:20240306T091834Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240306T092716Z
UID:10000041-1711911600-1711915200@themarkaz.org
SUMMARY:TMR Book Club Discusses "The Applicant" with author Nazli Koca
DESCRIPTION:RSVP here \nJoin TMR’s Book Club on March 31st at 1pm EST/ 7pm CET to discuss Nazli Koca’s “The Applicant” and meet the author. \nAbout the book:\nIt’s 2017 and Leyla\, a Turkish twenty-something living in Berlin is scrubbing toilets at an Alice in Wonderland-themed hostel after failing her thesis\, losing her student visa\, and suing her German university in a Kafkaesque attempt to reverse her failure. \nIncreasingly distant from what used to be at arm’s reach—writerly ambitions\, tight knit friendships\, a place to call home—Leyla attempts to find solace in the techno beats of Berlin’s nightlife\, with little success. Right as the clock winds down on the hold on her visa\, Leyla meets a conservative Swedish tourist and—against her political convictions and better judgment—begins to fall in love\, or something like it. Will she accept an IKEA life with the Volvo salesman and relinquish her creative dreams\, or return to Turkey to her mother and sister\, codependent and enmeshed\, her father’s ghost still haunting their lives? \nWhile she waits for the German court’s verdict on her future\, in the pages of her diary\, Leyla begins to parse her unresolved past and untenable present. An indelible character at once precocious and imperiled\, Leyla gives voice to the working-class and immigrant struggle to find safety\, self-expression\, and happiness. “The Applicant” is an extraordinary dissection of a liminal life between borders and identities\, an original and darkly funny debut. \nAbout the author: \nNazlı Koca is a writer and poet from Turkey who now lives in the US. Her writing has appeared in the Threepenny Review\, Bookforum\, and Second Factory\, among other outlets. “The Applicant” is her first novel. \nRSVP here
URL:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/event/tmr-book-club-discusses-the-applicant-with-author-nazli-koca/
LOCATION:Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Mar-2024-Book-Club-Banner-FB.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="The Markaz Review":MAILTO:info@themarkaz.org
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Paris:20240321T190000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Paris:20240321T200000
DTSTAMP:20260411T173622
CREATED:20240311T133032Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240314T092247Z
UID:10000042-1711047600-1711051200@themarkaz.org
SUMMARY:TMR 39 • BURN IT ALL DOWN Roundtable Discussion
DESCRIPTION:RSVP here \nThe Markaz Review presents a conversation around TMR 39’s theme\, BURN IT ALL DOWN\, in which senior editor Lina Mounzer talks to three of the issue’s contributors on their essays.  \nIn her editorial\, “Why Burn It All Down?”\, Mounzer quoted the poetry of John Donne and suggested that the Gaza genocide represents “a collective diminishment” of us all — westerners and easterners alike\, while in her essay “The Time of Monsters\,” Layla AlAmmar took inspiration from several Arab poets\, including Khalil Gibran\, as well as writers Walter Benjamin and Antonio Gramsci\, and argued that Hamas was trying “to stop the Nakba.” In “Al-Thakla—Arabic as the Original Mourner\,” Abdelrahman ElGendy struggles with wishing to express himself in Arabic while admitting that English holds more currency; he argues that “English does not give me a seat at the table [but] offers me the chance to point at the table.” ElGendy asks: “How do you hold your grief in a language that’s been its main perpetrator?” And Michelle Eid in her essay “Israel’s Environmental and Economic War on Lebanon” suggests that Israel isn’t only at war with the Palestinians\, but perhaps the entire region. What needs to be dismantled or destroyed before a new world can be ushered in? This conversation gives the microphone to a younger Arab generation who\, though perfectly fluent in English\, takes issue with western hegemonic discourse. \nThis roundtable discussion will take place online on March 21st at 2pm EST/ 7pm CET/ 6pm UK. This event is open and free to the public. Donations are welcome to support The Markaz Review.  \nRSVP here \n_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ \nAbout the speakers: \nLINA MOUNZER is a Lebanese writer and translator. She has been a regular contributor to the New York Times and her work has appeared in the Paris Review\, Freeman’s\, Washington Post\, and The Baffler\, as well as in the anthologies Tales of Two Planets (Penguin 2020)\, and Best American Essays 2022 (Harper Collins 2022). She is a senior editor at The Markaz Review. \nRead her editorial in our March issue\, TMR 39 • BURN IT ALL DOWN: Why “Burn it All Down”? \nLAYLA ALAMMAR is a writer and academic from Kuwait. She earned a PhD in Arab women’s fiction and literary trauma theory\, and she has an MSc in Creative Writing. Her debut novel\, The Pact We Made (2019)\, was longlisted for the Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award. Her second novel\, Silence is a Sense (2021)\, was shortlisted for the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing. She has written for The Guardian\, LitHub\, the Times Literary Supplement\, ArabLit Quarterly\, The New Arab\, GQ Middle East\, and NewLines Magazine.  \nRead her essay in our March issue\, TMR 39 • BURN IT ALL DOWN: The Time of Monsters \nABDELRAHMAN ELGENDY is a Dietrich fellow at the University of Pittsburgh’s Nonfiction Writing MFA\, and a Heinz fellow at Pitt’s Global Studies Center. His work has received awards or fellowships from Logan Nonfiction Program\, Tin House Workshop\, and Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference. He was a finalist for the 2021 and 2023 Margolis Award for Social Justice Journalism. \nRead his centerpiece essay in our March issue\, TMR 39 • BURN IT ALL DOWN: Al-Thakla—Arabic as the Original Mourner  \nMICHELLE EID is a researcher\, consultant\, and editor. Her areas of interest are socio-economic rights and development\, focusing on agriculture and food sovereignty in the Levant. She is the Editor-in-Chief of Al Rawiya\, a magazine focused on the Levant region.  \nRead her essay in our March issue\, TMR 39 • BURN IT ALL DOWN: Israel’s Environmental and Economic Warfare on Lebanon \n  \nRSVP here
URL:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/event/tmr-39-burn-it-all-down-roundtable-discussion/
LOCATION:Online
CATEGORIES:Roundtable
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/3.21-TMR-39-BIAD-Roundtable-Zoom-banner-1.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="The Markaz Review":MAILTO:info@themarkaz.org
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Paris:20240307T190000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Paris:20240307T200000
DTSTAMP:20260411T173622
CREATED:20240221T140926Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240223T195716Z
UID:10000040-1709838000-1709841600@themarkaz.org
SUMMARY:TMR Conversations: Rula Jebreal on the Present Moment
DESCRIPTION:RSVP here \nJoin us on March 7th at 1pm EST/ 7pm CET/ 6pm UK for an interview organized by TMR’s Editor-in-Chief Jordan Elgrably with Rula Jebreal about what it means to be a Palestinian writer in an era when Palestinian writers and journalists are considered by Israel to be enemies of the state. Jebreal will address the reality in Gaza and the West Bank\, and where we go from here. \nThis online event is free and open to the public. Donations are welcome to support The Markaz Review. \n____________________________________________________________________________________________________ \nAbout the speaker \nRula Jebreal is an award-winning journalist\, author\, and foreign policy analyst renowned for her groundbreaking work in Europe\, the United States\, and across the Middle East. Jebreal’s diverse body of work reflects her life-long engagement with topics that have directly impacted her life\, both personally and professionally\, from the Palestinian-Israeli conflict\, the war on terror\, and global far right movements rising throughout Europe and the United States. Jebreal has also grappled with the the war on truth\, propaganda and conspiracy theories\, and in fact for the past five years has been teaching a course at the University of Miami\, entitled “Persuasion\, Propaganda\, and Genocide.” She is an international bestselling author\, whose novel Miral\, among other works\, has been translated into more than 14 languages. Jebreal is a Visiting Professor at the University of Miami\, and serves on the G7 Gender Equality Advisory Council\, a body relaunched in 2018 by French President Emmanuel Macron\, as well as the Advisory Board of The U.S./Middle East Project. She is fluent in Italian\, English\, Hebrew\, and Arabic. \n____________________________________________________________________________________________________ \nRSVP here
URL:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/event/tmr-conversations-rula-jebreal-on-the-present-moment/
LOCATION:Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/3.7-TMR-Conversations-Rula-Jebreal-on-the-Present-Moment-Zoom-banner-1.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="The Markaz Review":MAILTO:info@themarkaz.org
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Paris:20240225T190000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Paris:20240225T200000
DTSTAMP:20260411T173622
CREATED:20240205T161226Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240205T161226Z
UID:10000037-1708887600-1708891200@themarkaz.org
SUMMARY:TMR Book Club Discusses "Woman Life Freedom: Voices and Art from the Women’s Protest in Iran" with editor Malu Halasa
DESCRIPTION:RSVP here \nWe are on the one-year anniversary of the women’s freedom marches in Iran. \nJina Mahsa Amini’s death at the hands of Iran’s Morality Police on 16th of September\, 2022 sparked widespread protests across the country. Women took to the streets\, uncovering their hair\, burning headscarves and chanting “Woman Life Freedom’ — ‘Zan Zendegi Azadi” in Persian and “Jin Jîyan Azadî” in Kurdish — in mass demonstrations. An explosion of creative resistance followed as art and photography shared online went viral and people around the world saw what was really going on in Iran. \nWoman Life Freedom captures this historic moment in artwork and first-person accounts. This striking collection goes behind the scenes at forbidden fashion shows; records the sound of dissent in Iran where it is illegal for women to sing unaccompanied in public; and walks the streets of Tehran with ‘The Smarties’ — Gen Z women who colour and show their hair in defiance of the authorities\, despite the potentially devastating consequences. Extolling the power of art\, writing and body politics — both female and queer — this collection is a universal rallying call and a celebration of the women the regime has tried and failed to silence. \nPublished by Saqi Books\, London. We meet the editor\, Malu Halasa\, to talk about the book online\, on Sunday\, Feb. 25 at 1 pm Eastern/19:00 CET. \nRSVP here
URL:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/event/tmr-book-club-discusses-woman-life-freedom-voices-and-art-from-the-womens-protest-in-iran-with-editor-malu-halasa/
LOCATION:Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Feb-2024-Book-Club-Banner-FB.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="The Markaz Review":MAILTO:info@themarkaz.org
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Paris:20240222T190000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Paris:20240222T200000
DTSTAMP:20260411T173622
CREATED:20240212T122841Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240212T122841Z
UID:10000039-1708628400-1708632000@themarkaz.org
SUMMARY:TMR Conversations: Resistance in the Face of Annihilation
DESCRIPTION:RSVP here \nLayla Maghribi interviews Palestinian filmmakers Hind Shoufani and Saeed Taji Farouky on activism and art in Palestinian filmmaking today\, and on the role of Palestinian artists in the resistance movement\, as well as how to push back against anti-Arab and Palestinian cancellation and censorship in today’s super-charged media landscape. \nLayla will interview Hind and Saeed live on February 22nd at 1pm EST/ 7pm CET/ 6pm UK. This online event is open to all and free to the public; donations are welcome to support The Markaz Review. \nRSVP here \n_______________________________________________________________________________________________________ \nAbout the speakers \nLayla Maghribi is a British Arab journalist\, currently based in the UK after several years in the Middle East working for international media outlets\, including Reuters and CNN International. Raised in England\, Layla has lived in Italy\, Syria\, Lebanon and the UAE\, and has a special interest in social issues affecting Arabic-speaking communities\, particularly in relation to culture\, immigration and mental health. She is a correspondent with The National News based in London. You can read more of her work here or on Twitter @layla_maghribi. \nHind Shoufani is has been a filmmaker\, writer and poet for the past 25 years. She recently won a BAFTA for the Oscar-nominated short film “The Present\,” and her latest documentary\, Heavy Metal\, premiered at the Tribeca Film\nFestival in 2023. Her first feature film Trip Along Exodus screened in over 30 countries. She is a Fulbright scholar from Jordan\, with an MFA in film from The Tisch School of the Arts at NYU. Hind has won awards for her personal and professional achievements\, helmed commercial projects for corporate and NGO clients\, and influenced the literary cultural scene in the SWANA region through events\, mentorship & publications. She has published creative essays\, prose and poetry in numerous international journals\, magazines and anthologies. \nSaeed Taji Farouky is a Palestinian-Egyptian-British filmmaker\, educator\, and curator. His documentary A Thousand Fires won the Marco Zucchi award for most innovative documentary in the Directors Fortnight of the 2021 Locarno Film Festival. A previous documentary Tell Spring Not to Come This Year premiered at the Berlinale 2015 and won the Audience Choice Panorama Award and the Amnesty Human Rights Award. He runs the Radical Film School in London\, a free film course for participants from backgrounds underrepresented in the film industry.  \nRSVP here
URL:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/event/tmr-conversations-resistance-in-the-face-of-annihilation/
LOCATION:Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/2.22-TMR-Conversations-Resistance-in-the-Face-of-Annihilation-Zoom-banner.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="The Markaz Review":MAILTO:info@themarkaz.org
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Paris:20240215T173000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Paris:20240215T183000
DTSTAMP:20260411T173622
CREATED:20240207T093311Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240207T095354Z
UID:10000038-1708018200-1708021800@themarkaz.org
SUMMARY:TMR Conversations: Anna Lekas Miller on "Love Across Borders" with Lina Mounzer
DESCRIPTION:RSVP here \nWhen Anna Lekas Miller met and fell in love with Salem Rizk in Istanbul\, she had no idea that the obstacles they would have to overcome in order to build a life together would include a Muslim Ban and the UK Home Office. The fellow journalists were both in Istanbul covering the fallout from the Syrian war and the ISIS occupation. But when a deportation order for Rizk was issued\, the couple was forced to contend with all the heretofore invisible structural inequalities between them\, a result of the lopsided choices afforded to them by their respective passports (American; Syrian). \nLekas Miller’s book\, Love Across Borders\, is at once a recounting of the couple’s efforts to find a place that would allow both of them to settle down long-term without fear of deportation\, as well as an overview of the borders and laws that have come to shape love stories such as theirs. On the way\, she speaks to a number of other couples—in the US\, Europe\, and Lebanon—about their struggles (some truly harrowing) to build a life together in a world where your worth as a human being is often assessed in relation to your passport. \nFor TMR’s February issue\, appropriately entitled LSD (for Love\, Sex\, Desire)\, Anna Lekas Miller will be in discussion with writer and TMR Senior Editor Lina Mounzer. The discussion\, much to Lekas Miller’s chagrin\, is scheduled for February 15 – as close to Valentine’s Day as possible without foiling anyone’s plans for the big day. \n“Honestly\, I hate Valentine’s Day\,” she confided\, “but because of this book I’m forever associated with it\, for better or for worse.” \nThis led to a brainwave on Mounzer’s behalf\, who will be steering the discussion through the book and the process of writing it\, but will also put Lekas Miller in the hot seat with a series of fun and racy questions about all things love and romance. Audience members are also invited to ask questions pertaining to both facets of the book\, which is at once a serious political manifesto and a series of heart-pounding romantic tales. And given that it’s around Valentine’s Day\, if someone is looking for romantic advice\, perhaps the discussants might also be persuaded to weigh in…Join us on February 15\, 2024 at 5:30pm CET/ 4:30pm UK/ 11:30am EST. \nRSVP here \n_______________________________________________________________________________________________________ \nAbout the speakers \nAnna Lekas Miller is a writer and journalist who covers stories of the ways that conflict and migration shape the lives of people around the world. She has reported from Palestine\, Lebanon\, Turkey\, and Iraq\, covering the Israeli occupation\, the Syrian civil war and exodus to Europe\, and the rise and fall of the Islamic State. Since moving to London\, she has turned her attention to the rise of the far right in Europe and the United States\, investigating immigration systems\, white supremacist ideology\, and the ways that people are standing up to them. She is most interested in stories of love and healing in an unpredictable and unstable world. Her journalism and essays have appeared in Vanity Fair\, the Intercept\, CNN\, the New Humanitarian\, The Markaz Review and New Lines. \nLina Mounzer is a Lebanese writer and translator. She has been a regular contributor to the New York Times and her work has appeared in the Paris Review\, Freeman’s\, Washington Post\, and The Baffler\, as well as in the anthologies Tales of Two Planets (Penguin 2020)\, and Best American Essays 2022 (Harper Collins 2022). She is a senior editor at The Markaz Review. \n_______________________________________________________________________________________________________ \nThis online event is open to all and free to the public; donations are welcome to support The Markaz Review. \nRSVP here
URL:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/event/tmr-conversations-anna-lekas-miller-on-love-across-borders-with-lina-mounzer/
LOCATION:Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/2.15-TMR-Conversations-with-Anna-Lekas-Miller-Zoom-banner-wide.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="The Markaz Review":MAILTO:info@themarkaz.org
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Paris:20240128T190000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Paris:20240128T200000
DTSTAMP:20260411T173622
CREATED:20240111T133206Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240122T144445Z
UID:10000036-1706468400-1706472000@themarkaz.org
SUMMARY:TMR Book Club Discusses "Traces of Enayat" with Iman Mersal
DESCRIPTION:RSVP here \nCairo\, 1963: Enayat al-Zayyat’s suicide becomes a byword for talent tragically cut down\, even as Love and Silence\, her only novel\, languishes unpublished. Four years after al-Zayyat’s death\, the novel will be brought out\, adapted for film and radio\, praised\, and then\, cursorily\, forgotten. For the next three decades it’s as if al-Zayyat never existed. \nYet when poet Iman Mersal stumbles across Love and Silence in the nineties\, she is immediately hooked. Who was Enayat? Did the thought of her novel’s rejection really lead to her suicide? Where did this startling voice come from? And why did Love and Silence disappear from literary history? To answer these questions\, Mersal traces Enayat’s life\, interviews family members and friends\, reconstructs the afterlife of Enayat in the media\, and tracks down the flats\, schools\, archaeological institutes\, and sanatoriums among which Enayat divided her days. Touching on everything from dubious antidepressants to domestic abuse and divorce law\, from rubbish-strewn squats in the City of the Dead to the glamour of golden-age Egyptian cinema\, this wide-ranging\, unclassifiable masterpiece gives us a remarkable portrait of a woman artist striving to live on her own terms. Published by And Other Stories in the UK. \nWe will meet to discuss the book with the author on Sunday\, Jan. 28 at 1 pm Eastern/19:00 CET. \nRSVP here
URL:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/event/tmr-book-club-discusses-traces-of-enayat-with-iman-mersal/
LOCATION:Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jan-2024-Book-Club-FB-banner.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Paris:20231207T190000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Paris:20231207T200000
DTSTAMP:20260411T173622
CREATED:20231124T084626Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20231124T101813Z
UID:10000035-1701975600-1701979200@themarkaz.org
SUMMARY:Aliyeh Ataei\, Écrivaine Afghane-Iranienne\, Présente Son Livre d'Essais au Grain des Mots
DESCRIPTION:The Markaz Review et le Grain des Mots organisent une rencontre littéraire le 7 décembre avec \nALIYEH ATAEI pour son livre LA FRONTIÈRE DES OUBLIÉS aux éditions Gallimard. \n \nRendez-vous à la librairie indépendante de Montpellier\, le Grain des Mots\, le jeudi 7 décembre à 19:00\n15 Bd du Jeu de Paume\, 34000 Montpellier\n\n\n\nLa frontière des oubliés\n[Koorsorkhi] \n\n\nTraduction du persan par Sabrina Nouri –Préface d’Atiq Rahimi\nCollection Du monde entier\, Gallimard \n\n\n\nNeuf récits composent La frontière des oubliés et retracent le parcours de l’écrivaine\, depuis sa fuite\, enfant\, de la frontière afghane pour se bâtir une vie à Téhéran. Dans chacune de ces vignettes de vie qui se font écho\, elle brosse le portrait de ses compatriotes exilés\, des « frontaliers »\, souvent des femmes\, qui portent tous des traces de la guerre\, des plaies profondes marquées par des balles invisibles. À chaque rencontre\, elle s’interroge sur la violence\, l’exil et l’identité. En s’imprégnant de son propre vécu\, Aliyeh Ataei embrasse ici plus largement le sort de tous ceux qui ont hérité des « chromosomes-douleurs »\, se faisant l’écho de leurs voix si peu audibles.\n\nLa frontière des oubliés nous fait découvrir une nouvelle plume puissante venue d’Iran. De son style clair et tranchant\, Aliyeh Ataei dévoile des vérités qui secouent\, et bouleversent.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAvec la modération de Jahangir Farazmand (événement en persan et français). Professeur d’anglais à l’Université de Montpellier\, Jahangir Farazmand a passé les premières onze années de sa vie à Téhéran ; il a quitté l’Iran trois mois avant la révolution islamique pour venir en France\, sans se douter que son voyage allait durer quatre décennies.
URL:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/event/07-12-aliyeh-ataei-ecrivaine-afghane-iranienne-presente-son-livre-dessais-au-grain-des-mots/
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/rencontre-litteraire-7-decembre-2-aliyeh-ataei.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Paris:20231126T190000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Paris:20231126T200000
DTSTAMP:20260411T173622
CREATED:20231115T121541Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20231115T123722Z
UID:10000034-1701025200-1701028800@themarkaz.org
SUMMARY:TMR Book Club Discusses "Palestine +100: stories from a century after the Nakba" with Special Guests
DESCRIPTION:RSVP here\nPalestine + 100: stories from a century after the Nakba poses a question to 12 Palestinian writers: what might your country look like in the year 2048 — a century after the tragedies and trauma of what has come to be called the Nakba. How might this event — which\, in 1948\, saw the expulsion of over 700\,000 Palestinian Arabs from their homes — reach across a century of occupation\, oppression\, and political isolation\, to shape the country and its people? Will a lasting peace finally have been reached\, or will future technology only amplify the suffering and mistreatment of Palestinians? \nCovering a range of approaches — from sci-fi noir\, to nightmarish dystopia\, to high-tech farce — these stories use the blank canvas of the future to reimagine the Palestinian experience today. Along the way\, we encounter drone swarms\, digital uprisings\, time-bending VR\, peace treaties that span parallel universes\, and even a Palestinian superhero\, in probably the first anthology of science fiction from Palestine ever. \nTranslated from the Arabic by Raph Cormack\, Mohamed Ghalaieny\, Andrew Leber\, Thoraya El-Rayyes\, Yasmine Seale and Jonathan Wright. Published by Comma Press in the UK.  \nWe will meet to discuss the book with host Rana Asfour and special guest writers Basma Ghalayini and Selma Dabbagh on Sunday\, Nov. 26 at 1pm EST/ 7pm EST/ 6pm UK. \nRSVP here
URL:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/event/tmr-book-club-discusses-palestine-100-stories-from-a-century-after-the-nakba-with-special-guests/
LOCATION:Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Nov-2023-Book-Club-Promo.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Paris:20231114T190000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Paris:20231114T200000
DTSTAMP:20260411T173622
CREATED:20231102T115157Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20231102T200319Z
UID:10000032-1699988400-1699992000@themarkaz.org
SUMMARY:Avi Shlaim on His Memoir Three Worlds and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
DESCRIPTION:RSVP here.\nRespected historian at Oxford and author Avi Shlaim (The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World) was born in Iraq but raised and came of age in Israel. In his new memoir Three Worlds: Memoirs of an Arab-Jew\, he describes the bygone world of Arab Jews\, reviews the narrative of Zionism and its call to “rescue” eastern Jews from the Middle East\, and critiques many of the received ideas about Jews and Arabs. \nJournalist Layla Maghribi interviews Avi Shlaim live on November 14 at 7pm CET/ 6pm UK/ 1pm EST. They will discuss Three Worlds\, as well as the present war on Gaza and the implications of the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. \nThis online event is open to all and free to the public; donations are welcome to support The Markaz Review. \nRSVP here.\n\n\nAbout the speakers\nAvi Shlaim was born in Baghdad and grew up in Israel.  As one of the “New Historians” in Israel\, he was part of a group that reassessed the history of the country and often shined a light on the repression of the Palestinians. He is now a Professor of International Relations at St Antony’s College\, Oxford. His previous books include the critically acclaimed The Iron Wall and he writes regularly for the Guardian\, Middle East Eye and other outlets. \nLayla Maghribi is a British Arab journalist\, currently based in the UK after several years in the Middle East working for international media outlets\, including Reuters and CNN International. Raised in England\, Layla has lived in Italy\, Syria\, Lebanon and the UAE\, and has a special interest in social issues affecting Arabic-speaking communities\, particularly in relation to culture\, immigration and mental health. She is currently the host of Third Culture Therapy\, a podcast that explores mental wellbeing from a cultural perspective and is writing her first non-fiction book. You can read more of her work here or on Twitter @layla_maghribi. \n  \n\n\nMore about this event\nThe guest for this upcoming event is Baghdad-born British-Israeli historian\, Avi Shlaim and will be guest hosted by writer and podcaster\, Layla Maghribi. Shlaim will be discussing his latest book\, Three Worlds: Memoirs of an Arab-Jew\, and how many of the revelatory themes are relevant to the current war on Gaza. \nEvocatively recollecting a bygone era in Baghdad before the 1950s\, when some 130\,000 Jews lived almost entirely harmoniously alongside their Muslim compatriots\, Shlaim’s book was already an intriguing read when it came out earlier this spring. Now\, to the backdrop of unremitting violence and upheaval in Israel / Palestine\, I reread it with a mixture of searing lament for a lost era and a much-needed inspiration for a possibly peaceful future. \nBesides debunking the Zionist-propagated myth that Arabs and Jews have always hated each other\, Shlaim’s book lays bare other controversies. Years of research and archival work led him to conclude that it was Israeli-backed militants who were behind many of the bombings targeting Jews in Iraq in the 1950s and not Arab-Iraqis\, as was claimed. Israel’s terrorising actions against Iraqi-Jews were inflicted in a bid to encourage massive migration to Israel with the promise that they would be safer\, and more prosperous\, in country solely for Jews. Shlaim’s revelations shine a painful spotlight on the traumatisation of innocent civilians for political gains as well as the weaponization of antisemitism\, issues that remain painfully weighty today. \nThe memoir is a coming-of-age story between multiple worlds – the Arab\, Jewish\, Israeli and British. Tracing his early years in Baghdad\, where in 1945 Shlaim was born the youngest child and only son of a prosperous Jewish businessman and notable member of Iraqi of community\, his happy childhood is upended with the sudden fleeing of his family to Israel when he was five years old. \nIn Israel\, the “promised land” failed to deliver any tangible gains for the Shlaim family who had fallen steeply in economic and social status following their reluctant exile. After centuries of living in and among Arabs\, and being an indelible part of the culture\, the Shlaim family\, like many Arab-Jews of that era\, were tragically uprooted from their lives and communities for the sake of an ideology they were reluctantly forced to adopt. Besides not subscribing to the narrowly exclusive Zionist identity\, the discrimination they faced for being Arab Jews\, or Mizrahim as they are referred to in Israel\, compounded his family’s sense of alienation. Robbed of their belonging in Iraq and rejected by their community in Israel\, Shlaim recounts with poignant clarity the pains of a cohort of Zionism’s oft-ignored victims. \n  \nRSVP here.
URL:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/event/avi-shlaim-on-three-worlds-and-the-israeli-palestinian-conflict/
LOCATION:Online
CATEGORIES:Author Events
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/FB-11.14-Interview-w-Avi-Shlaim-and-Layla-Maghribi-Publication-Facebook.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20231101T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20231101T140000
DTSTAMP:20260411T173622
CREATED:20231026T133457Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20231027T211124Z
UID:10000031-1698843600-1698847200@themarkaz.org
SUMMARY:TMR 35 Public Intellectual Roundtable Discussion
DESCRIPTION:RSVP here. \nOn November 1st\, at 6pm CET (1pm EST/5pm UK/9pm Abu Dhabi)\, The Markaz Review presents a roundtable conversation\, moderated by TMR Senior Editor Lina Mounzer\, with writers Hisham Bustani and Moustafa Bayoumi\, on public intellectuals and their engagement with politics\, justice and conflict in these catastrophic times. \nThis online roundtable is open to all\, free to the public; donations are welcome to support The Markaz Review. \nRSVP here.
URL:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/event/tmr-35-public-intellectual-roundtable-discussion/
LOCATION:Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/11.1-TMR-35-PI-Roundtable-promo.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="The Markaz Review":MAILTO:info@themarkaz.org
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20231029T140000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20231029T150000
DTSTAMP:20260411T173622
CREATED:20231006T102736Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20231015T120031Z
UID:10000030-1698588000-1698591600@themarkaz.org
SUMMARY:TMR Book Club Discusses Khaled Khalifa's "No One Prayed Over Their Graves"
DESCRIPTION:RSVP here. \nThis month\, the TMR Book Club is reading and discussing No One Prayed Over Their Graves by Khaled Khalifa. \n  \nLONGLISTED FOR THE 2023 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR TRANSLATED FICTION\n\n“Gorgeous . . . Lush\, elegiac [and] Márquezian . . . A novel of abundance and generosity.” —Sarah Cypher\, The Washington Post\n\n“Richly embroidered . . . [Khalifa’s] galloping narration restores life and soul to a city that has become a byword for devastation.” —The Economist\n\nFrom the National Book Award finalist Khaled Khalifa\, the story of two friends whose lives are altered by a flood that devastates their Syrian village. \n\n\nOn a December morning in 1907\, two close friends\, Hanna and Zakariya\, return to their village near Aleppo after a night of drunken carousing in the city\, only to discover that there has been a massive flood. Their neighbors\, families\, children—nearly all of them are dead. Their homes\, shops\, and places of worship are leveled. Their lives will never be the same. \nHanna was once a wealthy libertine\, a landowner who built a famed citadel devoted to the pursuit of pleasure and excess. But with the loss of his home\, wife\, and community\, he transforms\, becoming an ascetic mystic obsessed with death and the meaning of life. In No One Prayed Over Their Graves\, we follow Hanna’s life before and after the flood\, tracing friendships\, loves and lusts\, family and business\, until he is just one thread in the rich tapestry of Aleppo. \n  \nKhaled Khalifa weaves a sweeping tale of life and death in the hubbub of Aleppine society at the turn of the twentieth century. No One Prayed Over Their Graves is a portrait of a people on the verge of great change—from provincial villages to the burgeoning modernity of the city\, where Christians\, Muslims\, and Jews live and work together\, united in their love for Aleppo and their dreams for the future. \nPublished by MacMillan in the US and Faber in the UK. We meet to discuss the book on Sunday\, Oct. 29 at 2 pm Eastern/19:00 CET. This event has been organized in collaboration with Afikra. \nRSVP here.
URL:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/event/tmr-book-club-discusses-khaled-khalifas-no-one-prayed-over-their-graves/
LOCATION:Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Oct-2023-Book-Club-Promo.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Paris:20230926T190000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Paris:20230926T200000
DTSTAMP:20260411T173622
CREATED:20230908T120944Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230908T121155Z
UID:10000029-1695754800-1695758400@themarkaz.org
SUMMARY:26 sept\, Montpellier— Rencontre Littéraire\, "Oublier Camus" avec Olivier Gloag
DESCRIPTION:Rencontre avec Olivier Gloag\, auteur franco-américain; maître de conférence à l’université de Caroline du Nord (UNC).\nModération de Pierre Daum\, reporter au Monde Diplomatique\, et auteur d’ouvrages sur le passé colonial de la France. \nmardi\, 26 septembre\, 19h au Librairie Le Grain des mots\, 15 Bd du Jeu de Paume\, 34000 Montpellier. Entrée libre. \n\nDes programmes scolaires aux discours politiques\, dans les médias et les conversations mondaines\, Camus est partout le parangon d’un humanisme abstrait qui a ceci de commode – et de suspect – qu’il plait à droite comme à gauche. Peu de chercheurs se sont penchés sur les contradictions du personnage comme le fait Olivier Gloag dans son ouvrage Oublier Camus (La Fabrique\, sept. 2023)\, à partir d’une relecture de Camus dans le texte – contradictions qui constituent pourtant la force motrice de l’œuvre camusienne\, une clé de son « style »\, et expliquent sa popularité actuelle. \nOlivier Gloag rappelle l’attachement viscéral de Camus au colonialisme et au mode de vie des colons qui traverse ses trois romans majeurs\, L’Étranger\, La Peste et Le Premier Homme. Il examine ses engagements politiques à la lumière de sa brouille avec Sartre : la tension entre révolte et révolution\, son recours à l’absurde comme refus du cours de l’Histoire\, son anticommunisme et son déni de la lutte des peuples colonisés. Il se penche enfin sur les récupérations de Camus : l’auteur le plus populaire en France et le Français le plus lu dans le monde est devenu un enjeu politique et idéologique. L’invocation d’un Camus mythifié projette un reflet flatteur mais falsificateur de l’histoire coloniale. C’est ce Camus-là qu’il faut oublier pour reconnaître les déchirements d’un écrivain tout aussi passionnément attaché aux acquis sociaux du Front populaire qu’à la présence française en Algérie.
URL:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/event/26-sept-rencontre-litteraire-oublier-camus-avec-olivier-gloag/
LOCATION:Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/26-sept-flyer.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230924T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230924T140000
DTSTAMP:20260411T173622
CREATED:20230908T062507Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230908T064341Z
UID:10000028-1695560400-1695564000@themarkaz.org
SUMMARY:9/24—Read River Spirit\, Meet Author Leila Aboulela
DESCRIPTION:RSVP here.\n  \n\nThe Markaz Book Club novel for September 2023 is River Spirit by Leila Aboulela\n(from a rave review in the New York Times) “In 19th-century Sudan\, with the Ottoman Empire fading and Britain gaining influence in the region\, a religious leader proclaims himself the Mahdi\, or the redeemer. He aims to correct the wrongs — excessive taxation\, for one — of the foreign rulers. But as the revolution gains strength\, and the Mahdi collects followers\, his greed for power tarnishes the movement’s ideological purity. Leila Aboulela’s dazzling new novel\, River Spirit\, follows the course of that revolution as it turns into a new instrument of oppression.” \nRiver Spirit is the unforgettable story of a people who\, against the odds and for a brief time\, gained independence from foreign rule. This is a powerful tale of corruption and unshakeable devotion – to a cause\, to one’s faith and to the people who become family. \nWe’ll meet to talk about the book on the last Sunday in Sept.\, the 24th\, at 1 pm Eastern/19:00 CET. Author Leila Aboulela will be joining us. \nRSVP here.\n\n\n\n\nABOUT THE AUTHOR\nLeila Aboulela is the first-ever winner of the Caine Prize for African Writing. She is the author of six novels — Bird Summons; The Kindness of Enemies; The Translator\, a New York Times 100 Notable Books of the year; Minaret; Lyrics Alley\, Fiction Winner of the Scottish Book Awards; and River Spirit\, published by Saqi Books in March 2023. Her short story collection Elsewhere\, Home\, won the Saltire Fiction Book of the Year. Her work has been translated into 15 languages and she’s been nominated three times for the Orange Prize (now the Women’s Prize for Fiction). Leila was born in Cairo\, grew up in Khartoum and moved in her mid-twenties to Scotland where she now lives.
URL:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/event/9-24-read-river-spirit-meet-author-leila-aboulela/
LOCATION:Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Sep-2023-Book-Club-Promo-1.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Helsinki:20230919T183000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Helsinki:20230919T200000
DTSTAMP:20260411T173622
CREATED:20230830T170002Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230908T121236Z
UID:10000027-1695148200-1695153600@themarkaz.org
SUMMARY:19/09\, Paris—Olivier Gloag\, "Oublier Camus" au CAREP
DESCRIPTION:Cette conférence-dédicace est organisée en partenariat avec The Markaz Review et Orient XXI. Elle se tiendra au CAREP Paris le 19 septembre 2023 à 18h30. Il est également possible de la suivre à distance. RSVP pour le Zoom/register here to participate online. \nDémystifier Albert Camus\nDes programmes scolaires aux discours politiques\, dans les médias et les conversations mondaines\, Camus est partout le parangon d’un humanisme abstrait qui a ceci de commode – et de suspect – qu’il plait à droite comme à gauche. Peu de chercheurs se sont penchés sur les contradictions du personnage comme le fait Olivier Gloag dans son ouvrage Oublier Camus (La Fabrique\, sept. 2023)\, à partir d’une relecture de Camus dans le texte – contradictions qui constituent pourtant la force motrice de l’œuvre camusienne\, une clé de son « style »\, et expliquent sa popularité actuelle. \nOlivier Gloag rappelle l’attachement viscéral de Camus au colonialisme et au mode de vie des colons qui traverse ses trois romans majeurs\, L’Étranger\, La Peste et Le Premier Homme. Il examine ses engagements politiques à la lumière de sa brouille avec Sartre : la tension entre révolte et révolution\, son recours à l’absurde comme refus du cours de l’Histoire\, son anticommunisme et son déni de la lutte des peuples colonisés. Il se penche enfin sur les récupérations de Camus : l’auteur le plus populaire en France et le Français le plus lu dans le monde est devenu un enjeu politique et idéologique. L’invocation d’un Camus mythifié projette un reflet flatteur mais falsificateur de l’histoire coloniale. C’est ce Camus-là qu’il faut oublier pour reconnaître les déchirements d’un écrivain tout aussi passionnément attaché aux acquis sociaux du Front populaire qu’à la présence française en Algérie.\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nOlivier Gloag\n\nOlivier Gloag est maître de conférences à l’université de Caroline du Nord (UNC) à Asheville. Ses recherches portent notamment sur les représentations coloniales dans la littérature hexagonale\, l’histoire culturelle et littéraire de la France au XXe siècle. Il est l’auteur de Albert Camus\, A Very Short introduction (Oxford University Press\, 2020). Son ouvrage Oublier Camus\, paraît aux éditions de La Fabrique en septembre 2023. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAfifa Bererhi\nProfesseure émérite de littérature française et francophone\, Afifa Bererhi a enseigné à l’université Benyoucef Benkhedda d’Alger dont elle a dirigé le département de français.\nRécipiendaire du Doctorat honoris causa de l’université de Valenciennes où elle a été fortement impliquée dans l’école-doctorale algéro-française. Parmi ses publications : Algérie\, ses langues\, ses lettres et ses histoires ; L’autobiographie en situation d’interculturalité ; Camus et les Lettres Algériennes\, l’espace de l’interdiscours. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSarra Grira\n\nModératrice de la conférence.\nJournaliste\, rédactrice-en-chef d’Orient XXI.
URL:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/event/olivier-gloag-oublier-camus-au-carep-a-paris-le-19-09/
CATEGORIES:Author Events
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/19-sept-flyer.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230827T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230827T140000
DTSTAMP:20260411T173622
CREATED:20230802T085307Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230815T161008Z
UID:10000026-1693141200-1693144800@themarkaz.org
SUMMARY:A Stranger in Baghdad with Elizabeth Loudon
DESCRIPTION:RSVP here.\n\n\nTMR’s August 2023 book club selection is the novel is A Stranger in Baghdad by Elizabeth Loudon\n  \nIn beautifully rendered prose\, a mother and a daughter struggle as outsiders in Baghdad and London in this intergenerational drama set against a background of political tension and intrigue \n“Who would be charmed by tales of life in the beautiful old house on the banks of the Tigris—looted now no doubt\, its shutters torn and the courtyard strewn with mattresses?” \nOne night in 2003\, Anglo-Iraqi psychiatrist Mona Haddad has a surprise visitor to her London office\, an old acquaintance Duncan Claybourne. But why has he come? Will his confession finally lay bare what happened to her family before they escaped Iraq? \nTheir stories begin in 1937\, when Mona’s mother Diane\, a lively Englishwoman newly married to Ibrahim\, an ambitious Iraqi doctor\, meets Duncan by chance. Diane is working as a nanny for the Iraqi royal family. Duncan is a young British Embassy officer in Baghdad. When the king dies in a mysterious accident\, Ibrahim and his family suspect Diane of colluding with Duncan and the British. \nSummoning up the vanished world of mid-twentieth-century Baghdad\, Elizabeth Loudon’s richly evocative story of one family calls into question British attitudes and policies in Iraq and offers up a penetrating reflection on cross-cultural marriage and the lives of women caught between different worlds. \nTo read an excerpt\, click here. \nWe’ll meet to talk about the book on the last Sunday in August\, the 27th\, at 1 pm Eastern/19:00 CET. \n\nRSVP here.
URL:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/event/a-stranger-in-baghdad-with-elizabeth-louden/
LOCATION:Online
CATEGORIES:Author Events
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/a-stranger-in-baghdad-meet-elizabeth-loudon-banner.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230702T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230702T140000
DTSTAMP:20260411T173622
CREATED:20230621T054627Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230621T055708Z
UID:10000025-1688302800-1688306400@themarkaz.org
SUMMARY:Read EMISSARIES Short Stories\, Meet Author Youssef Rakha\, July 2\, 1 pm EST
DESCRIPTION:RSVP here\nEmissaries is the new collection of short stories by renowned Egyptian author Youssef Rakha. Many of the stories have appeared previously in journals from the UK\, US and the Middle East region. In these Cairo-focused stories written at the height of the Arab Spring\, in its wake and its ruins\, the reader is led by a colorful cast of characters through a hypnagogic urbanscape pulsating with the specters of post-political Islam and failed revolution. \nWrites TMR reviewer Zein El-Amine\, “I have not read many works by Arab American writers writing in English\, but Rakha’s collection is original\, irreverent\, and provocative. What engages one most in reading his stories is the language he employs. Even though he is referencing Western pop culture and writers throughout the book\, his voice is original. In wielding such prose\, Rakha is a pied piper leading the reader into his rabbit holes. The consistency in that voice and the recurring motifs in the book make for a solid read.” Read the review. Get the audio book. Print. \nWe will meet to discuss these stories on Sunday\, July 2nd\, at 1 pm Eastern/19:00 CET. To attend\, email books@themarkaz.org. \nRSVP here
URL:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/event/read-emissaries-short-stories-meet-author-youssef-rakha-july-2-1-pm-est/
LOCATION:Online
CATEGORIES:Author Events
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/July-2-Banner-Emissaries-Youssef-Rakha-event.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Paris:20230604T190000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Paris:20230604T190000
DTSTAMP:20260411T173622
CREATED:20230515T070252Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230528T153252Z
UID:10000024-1685905200-1685905200@themarkaz.org
SUMMARY:TMR Bookgroup Discusses Enter Ghost\, with novelist Isabella Hammad
DESCRIPTION:RSVP here\n  \nThe June 2023 BookGroup Selection is Enter Ghost\, a novel by Isabella Hammad. She will be interviewed by editors Rana Asfour and Jordan Elgrably on Sunday\, June 4\, at 1 pm Eastern\, 18:00 UK and 19:00 EU.\nEnter Ghost follows actress Sonia as she returns to Palestine and takes a role in a West Bank production of Hamlet. After years away from her family’s homeland\, and reeling from a disastrous love affair\, Sonia Nasir returns to Haifa to visit her older sister Haneen. This is her first trip back since the second intifada and the deaths of their grandparents: while Haneen made a life here commuting to Tel Aviv to teach at the university\, Sonia remained in London to focus on her acting career and now dissolute marriage. On her return\, she finds her relationship to Palestine is fragile\, both bone-deep and new. \nAt Haneen’s\, Sonia meets the charismatic and candid Mariam\, a local director\, and finds herself roped into a production of Hamlet in the West Bank. Sonia is soon rehearsing Gertude’s lines in Classical Arabic and spending more time in Ramallah than Haifa\, along with a dedicated group of men from all over historic Palestine who\, in spite of competing egos and priorities\, each want to bring Shakespeare to that side of the wall. As opening night draws closer it becomes clear just how many violent obstacles stand before a troupe of Palestinian actors. Amidst it all\, the life Sonia once knew starts to give way to the daunting\, exhilarating possibility of finding a new self in her ancestral home. \nA stunning rendering of present-day Palestine\, Enter Ghost is a story of diaspora\, displacement\, and the connection to be found in family and shared resistance. Timely\, thoughtful\, and passionate\, Isabella Hammad’s highly anticipated second novel is an exquisite feat\, an unforgettable story of artistry under occupation. \nWe’ll discuss this novel on Sunday\, June 4th\, at 1 pm Eastern. \nRSVP here
URL:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/event/tmr-bookgroup-discusses-enter-ghost-palestinian-story-by-novelist-isabella-hammad/
LOCATION:Online
CATEGORIES:Author Events
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Conversation-With-Isabella-Hammad-banner.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Paris:20230518T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Paris:20230518T190000
DTSTAMP:20260411T173622
CREATED:20230512T063641Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230512T063940Z
UID:10000023-1684432800-1684436400@themarkaz.org
SUMMARY:WORK—a TMR Roundtable Conversation With 5 Writers\, May 18th\, 12 pm ET/18:00 CET
DESCRIPTION:RSVP here\nJoin The Markaz Review for a spirited roundtable with Iason Athanasiadis • Ahmed Awadalla • Nashwa Nasreldin • Meera Santhanam • Anis Shivani & moderator Jordan Elgrably\, in a conversation about work in journalism (Iason Athanasiadis on Al Jazeera)\, working in Cairo and Berlin (Ahmed Awadalla)\, working as an Arab Muslim woman in the UK (Nashwa Nasreldin)\, covering a woman filmmaker struggling to make her film in Lebanon (Meera Santhanam)\, and immigrant workers in fiction (Anis Shivani). Read writers’ WORK stories here. \nThis online roundtable is open to all\, free to the public; donations are welcome to support The Markaz Review\, a nonprofit with no paywall\, and no advertising. \nRSVP here
URL:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/event/work-a-tmr-roundtable-conversation-with-5-writers-may-18th-12-pm-et-1800-cet/
LOCATION:Online
CATEGORIES:Roundtable
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/TMR-31-WORK-roundtable-banner-1024.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230507T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230507T130000
DTSTAMP:20260411T173622
CREATED:20230401T151808Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230417T153709Z
UID:10000022-1683460800-1683464400@themarkaz.org
SUMMARY:Hadiya Hassein: Waiting for the Past
DESCRIPTION:April 2023 BookGroup Selection is Waiting for the Past\, a novel by Hadiya Hussein\, translated from the Arabic by Barbara Romaine\nHadiya 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 discover what has become of the man she loves. Yusef\, suspected by the regime of being a dissident\, has disappeared–presumably either imprisoned or executed. On her journey\, Narjis receives shelter from a Kurdish family who welcome her into their home where she meets Umm Hani\, an older woman who is searching for her long-lost son. Together they form a bond\, and Narjis comes to understand the depth of loss and grief of those around her. At the same time\, she is introduced to the warm hospitality of the Kurdish community\, settling into their everyday lives\, and embracing their customs. Barbara Romaine’s translation skillfully renders this complex\, layered story\, giving readers a stark yet beautiful portrait of contemporary Iraq. \nWe’ll discuss this novel on Sunday\, May 7\, at 12 pm Eastern. 
URL:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/event/hadiya-hassein-waiting-for-the-past/
LOCATION:Online
CATEGORIES:Author Events
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/waiting-for-the-past-cover-hadiya-hussein-9780815611516-the-markaz-review.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Paris:20230326T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Paris:20230326T190000
DTSTAMP:20260411T173622
CREATED:20230320T140617Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230320T140709Z
UID:10000021-1679853600-1679857200@themarkaz.org
SUMMARY:Sophia Al-Maria's memoir The Girl Who Fell to Earth
DESCRIPTION:email books@themarkaz.org to join this event on Zoom\nMarch 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).\nAward-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 American and Gulf Arab cultures. Part family saga and part personal quest\, The Girl Who Fell to Earth traces Al-Maria’s journey to make a place for herself in two different worlds. \nWhen Sophia Al-Maria’s mother sends her away from rainy Washington State to stay with her husband’s desert-dwelling Bedouin family in Qatar\, she intends it to be a sort of teenage cultural boot camp. What her mother doesn’t know is that there are some things about growing up that are universal. In Qatar\, Sophia is faced with a new world she’d only imagined as a child. She sets out to find her freedom\, even in the most unlikely of places. \nThe Girl Who Fell to Earth takes readers from the green valleys of the Pacific Northwest to the dunes of the Arabian Gulf and on to the sprawling chaos of Cairo. Struggling to adapt to her nomadic lifestyle\, Sophia is haunted by the feeling that she is perpetually in exile: hovering somewhere between two families\, two cultures\, and two worlds. She must make a place for herself—a complex journey that includes finding young love in the Arabian Gulf\, rebellion in Cairo\, and\, finally\, self-discovery in the mountains of Sinai. \nThe Girl Who Fell to Earth heralds the arrival of an electric new talent and takes us on the most personal of quests: the voyage home.
URL:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/event/sophia-al-marias-memoir-the-girl-who-fell-to-earth/
LOCATION:Online
CATEGORIES:Author Events
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/the-girl-who-fell-to-earth-a-memoir-sophia-al-maria-9780061999758-the-markaz-review.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Paris:20230323T190000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Paris:20230323T200000
DTSTAMP:20260411T173622
CREATED:20230307T083324Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230320T140045Z
UID:10000020-1679598000-1679601600@themarkaz.org
SUMMARY:The Search for Home: a Markaz Review Roundtable
DESCRIPTION:RSVP Here\n  \nThe Markaz Review invites you to our HOME roundtable conversation featuring six of the writers in the latest issue talking about their essays as we seek to address the meaning of home. Due to climate disaster\, war\, civil strife and economic fallout\, there are more than 65 million refugees\, not to mention the millions of internally displaced migrants in Turkey\, Syria\, Iraq\, Afghanistan\, to name but a few of the countries experiencing upheaval. As senior writer Arie Amaya-Akkermans notes in his essay\, For Those Who Dwell in Tents\, “The tents of refuge are not just a prophetic metaphor\, but a political reality for millions of people.” \nThis discussion includes Yesmine Abida on her essay Nabeul\, Mon Amour on the town’s lost Jewish community; contributing editor Iason Athanasiadis on his 20-year  Odyssey That Forged a Stronger Athenian; Aomar Boum on his brother Mohammed at home in Morocco; TMR’s literary editor Malu Halasa on Broken Home: Britain in the Time of Migration; and Lushik Lotus Lee on Coming of Age in a Revolution. The roundtable is moderated by TMR’s editor\, Jordan Elgrably. \nThis online event is free to the public; donations are welcome to support The Markaz Review\, a nonprofit that is free to the public\, with zero advertising. \nThursday\, March 23\, at 19:00 CET (2 pm Eastern\, 18:00 UK). \n  \nRSVP Here
URL:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/event/the-search-for-home-a-markaz-review-roundtable/
LOCATION:Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/HOME-roundtable-banner-1024-1.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Asia/Beirut:20230316T180000
DTEND;TZID=Asia/Beirut:20230316T190000
DTSTAMP:20260411T173622
CREATED:20230225T150535Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230308T082044Z
UID:10000019-1678989600-1678993200@themarkaz.org
SUMMARY:TMR Conversations: Raja Shehadeh & Amal Ghandour
DESCRIPTION:RSVP\nPalestinian attorney Raja Shehadeh\, author most recently of We Could Have Been Friends\, My Father and I: A Palestinian Memoir\, will discuss his latest work\, along with such previous books as Palestinian Walks and Strangers in the House. He is a Palestinian lawyer and writer who lives in Ramallah. Shehadeh is a founder of the pioneering\, nonpartisan human rights organization Al-Haq\, an affiliate of the International Commission of Jurists\, and the author of several books about international law\, human rights\, and the Middle East. \nAmal Ghandour is the author of This Arab Life: A Generation’s Journey into Silence. Since 2009\, she has held the position of Senior Strategy Adviser to Ruwwad al Tanmeyah\, a regional community development initiative that spans Jordan\, Palestine\, Lebanon\, and Egypt. \nThis talk is free to the public. Donations are welcome to support The Markaz Review\, a nonprofit literary arts review in English\, French\, Spanish and soon\, Arabic. Thursday\, the 16th of March\, 18:00 Beirut/Ramallah • 17:00 CET • 12 noon Daylight Standard Time (New York). \nRSVP
URL:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/event/tmr-conversations-raja-shehadeh-amal-ghandour/
LOCATION:Online
CATEGORIES:Author Events
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/New-Shehadeh-Flyer-Alaa-Albaba-Fishing-in-Ramallah-1024.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Paris:20230302T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Paris:20230302T190000
DTSTAMP:20260411T173622
CREATED:20230220T143658Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230228T164011Z
UID:10000018-1677780000-1677783600@themarkaz.org
SUMMARY:Iraq\, 20 Years After the War\, From the Viewpoint of Its Creatives
DESCRIPTION:RSVP now\nIraq\, 20 years after the War\, Thursday\, 2 March\, 18:00 CET (12 noon ET/17:00 UK/19:00 Beirut/21:00 Abu Dhabi).  \nSeveral 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 befell millions of Iraqis. \nJoining the conversation (so far) are playwright Hassan Abdulrazzak and musician Hardi Kurda in the UK and artist Lahib Jaddo in the US. \n\nThis conversation will take place online\, from 18:00 – 19:00 CET. It will be moderated by Rana Asfour and Malu Halasa.\n\nRSVP now
URL:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/event/iraq-20-years-after-the-war-from-the-viewpoint-of-its-creatives/
LOCATION:Online
CATEGORIES:Roundtable
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/iraq-roundtablle-banner-art-vian-sora-sm-2.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230226T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230226T130000
DTSTAMP:20260411T173622
CREATED:20230207T164223Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230207T164345Z
UID:10000017-1677412800-1677416400@themarkaz.org
SUMMARY:Négar Djavadi's Disoriental\, Sunday\, Feb. 26\, 12 noon Eastern
DESCRIPTION:February 2023 BookGroup Selection is Disoriental\, the novel by Négar Djavadi.\n  \n“Our memories select\, eliminate\, exaggerate\, minimize\, glorify\, denigrate. They create their own versions of events and serve up their own reality.” —Négar Djavadi \n  \nThe story of a young girl and her family\, at the core of an exploration of Iranian history. \nKimiâ Sadr fled Iran at the age of ten in the company of her mother and sisters to join her father in France. Now twenty-five\, with a new life and the prospect of a child\, Kimiâ is inundated by her own memories and the stories of her ancestors\, which reach her in unstoppable\, uncontainable waves. In the waiting room of a Parisian fertility clinic\, generations of flamboyant Sadrs return to her\, including her formidable great-grandfather Montazemolmolk\, with his harem of fifty-two wives\, and her parents\, Darius and Sara\, stalwart opponents of each regime that befalls them. \nIn this high-spirited\, kaleidoscopic story\, key moments of Iranian history\, politics\, and culture punctuate stories of family drama and triumph. Yet it is Kimiâ herself—punk-rock aficionado\, storyteller extraordinaire\, a Scheherazade of our time\, and above all a modern woman divided between family traditions and her own “disorientalization”—who forms the heart of this bestselling and beloved novel.
URL:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/event/negar-djavadis-disoriental-sunday-feb-26-1-pm-eastern/
LOCATION:Online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/disoriental-by-negar-djavadi-banner-1400.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230129T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230129T140000
DTSTAMP:20260411T173622
CREATED:20221128T082701Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20221219T033235Z
UID:10000016-1674997200-1675000800@themarkaz.org
SUMMARY:We Read/Discuss Out of Mesopotamia\, the novel by Salar Abdoh\, and Meet the Author
DESCRIPTION: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. \n“Imagine getting into Iraq and Syria as an observer of the war on ISIS\, and yet very soon after you’ve been close enough to RPGs to smell the explosion and feel the ground shake\, you find yourself back in your old life\, giving literary readings at swank bookstores in cities at peace\, or attending highbrow academic conferences where nobody’s dying\, except perhaps bored audience members. Juxtaposing the two realities — one savage and ridiculous\, the other sane and predictable — is what the author is after in Out of Mesopotamia.” —Jessica Proett\, The Markaz Review \nTo join the group\, email books@themarkaz.org. \n  \nSalar Abdoh is an Iranian novelist and essayist who divides much of his time between New York and Tehran. He is the author of the novels Poet Game (2000)\, Opium (2004)\, Tehran At Twilight (2014)\, and Out of Mesopotamia (2020) and the editor and translator of the anthology Tehran Noir (2014). He also teaches in the graduate program in Creative Writing at the City College of New York at the City University of New York. Abdoh seeks to help Iran re-engage with the Arab world and convey more of Iranian culture to the west. Salar Abdoh at Goodreads.
URL:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/event/we-read-discuss-out-of-mesopotamia-the-novel-by-salar-abdoh-and-meet-the-author/
LOCATION:Online
CATEGORIES:Author Events
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/OutofMesopotamia-1-509x800cover.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Helsinki:20221127T130000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Helsinki:20221127T140000
DTSTAMP:20260411T173622
CREATED:20221027T070735Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20221218T185105Z
UID:10000015-1669554000-1669557600@themarkaz.org
SUMMARY:Nov 2022 BookGroup Selection is "I Will Never See the World Again" by Ahmet Altan
DESCRIPTION: \nOnline discussion\, everyone welcome.\n  \nThe destiny I put down in my novel has become mine. I am now under arrest like the hero I created years ago. I await the decision that will determine my future\, just as he awaited his. I am unaware of my destiny\, which has perhaps already been decided\, just as he was unaware of his. I suffer the pathetic torment of profound helplessness\, just as he did. \nLike a cursed oracle\, I foresaw my future years ago not knowing that it was my own. \nConfined in a cell four meters long\, imprisoned on absurd\, Kafkaesque charges\, novelist Ahmet Altan is one of many writers persecuted by Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s oppressive regime. In this extraordinary memoir\, written from his prison cell\, Altan reflects upon his sentence\, on a life whittled down to a courtyard covered by bars\, and on the hope and solace a writer’s mind can provide\, even in the darkest places. \nTurkey in the last several years has become one of the greatest oppressors of writers\, academics and intellectuals\, with the largest prison population of political detainees in continental Europe. Erdoğan\, consolidating his power\, has fired over 5\,000 academics and 50\,000 schoolteachers\, whose progressive politics or Kurdish heritage he disliked\, or who as journalists/editors/publishers have been too outspoken\, such as widely translated novelist and newspaper editor Ahmet Altan\, 72. The author of such internationally admired works as the novels in his Ottoman Quartet\, Altan was sentenced to life in prison in 2016. He spent four years behind bars but was unexpectedly released last year. He said recently\, “Prison didn’t extinguish my desire to write.” \n  \nFind it on Goodreads. \n  \nSunday\, Nov. 27th. \nRSVP with your name to books@themarkaz.org.
URL:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/event/nov-2022-bookgroup-selection-is-i-will-never-see-the-world-again-by-ahmet-altan/
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20221030T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20221030T140000
DTSTAMP:20260411T173622
CREATED:20220812T080350Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20221218T185114Z
UID:10000014-1667134800-1667138400@themarkaz.org
SUMMARY:TMR Bookgroup Discusses "The Last White Man" by Mohsin Hamid
DESCRIPTION: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.” \n\n\n“One morning Anders\, a white man\, woke up to find he had turned a deep and undeniable brown.” So begins Mohsin Hamid’s inventive new novel\, The Last White Man. Anders\, as it turns out\, is not an isolated case. More people in an unnamed town begin to change\, including Oona\, a yoga instructor and a friend of Anders. Violence inevitably erupts around them. White vigilante gangs terrorize the transformed\, while some doggedly refuse to accept an end to whiteness. \nAt its heart\, this is a novel about seeing\, being seen\, loss and letting go. The loss of privilege that comes from being perceived as white\, and no longer being able to view the world from within whiteness\, are some of the anxieties examined here. \n(From The Guardian review by Guy Gunaratne.) \nSunday\, Oct. 30th. To join the conversation\, email books@themarkaz.org.
URL:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/event/tmr-bookgroup-discusses-the-last-white-man-by-mohsin-hamid/
CATEGORIES:Author Events
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