BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//The Markaz Review - ECPv6.15.20//NONSGML v1.0//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH X-WR-CALNAME:The Markaz Review X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite X-WR-CALDESC:Events for The Markaz Review REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H X-Robots-Tag:noindex X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Europe/Helsinki BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+0200 TZOFFSETTO:+0300 TZNAME:EEST DTSTART:20230326T010000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0300 TZOFFSETTO:+0200 TZNAME:EET DTSTART:20231029T010000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+0200 TZOFFSETTO:+0300 TZNAME:EEST DTSTART:20240331T010000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0300 TZOFFSETTO:+0200 TZNAME:EET DTSTART:20241027T010000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+0200 TZOFFSETTO:+0300 TZNAME:EEST DTSTART:20250330T010000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0300 TZOFFSETTO:+0200 TZNAME:EET DTSTART:20251026T010000 END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Europe/Paris BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0200 TZNAME:CEST DTSTART:20220327T010000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0200 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:CET DTSTART:20221030T010000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0200 TZNAME:CEST DTSTART:20230326T010000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0200 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:CET DTSTART:20231029T010000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0200 TZNAME:CEST DTSTART:20240331T010000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0200 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:CET DTSTART:20241027T010000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0200 TZNAME:CEST DTSTART:20250330T010000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0200 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:CET DTSTART:20251026T010000 END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Europe/Paris BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0200 TZNAME:CEST DTSTART:20220327T010000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0200 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:CET DTSTART:20221030T010000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0200 TZNAME:CEST DTSTART:20230326T010000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0200 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:CET DTSTART:20231029T010000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0200 TZNAME:CEST DTSTART:20240331T010000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0200 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:CET DTSTART:20241027T010000 END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/New_York BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT DTSTART:20220313T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST DTSTART:20221106T060000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT DTSTART:20230312T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST DTSTART:20231105T060000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT DTSTART:20240310T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST DTSTART:20241103T060000 END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Helsinki:20241218T190000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/Helsinki:20241218T200000 DTSTAMP:20260425T005257 CREATED:20241127T160907Z LAST-MODIFIED:20241128T145344Z UID:10000071-1734548400-1734552000@themarkaz.org SUMMARY:Roundtable Discussion: World Arabic Language Day DESCRIPTION:.في اليوم العالمي للغة العربية، يسر المركز بالعربي دعوتكم إلى مائدة مستديرة باللغة العربية لأول مرة \nيشارك في المائدة الكاتب والصحفي المصري أحمد ناجي، حيث سيناقش سياسات إنتاج العربية الفصحى من القرن التاسع عشر وحتى عصر الذكاء الإصطناعي. كما تشارك الكتابة والروائية المصرية نورا ناجي، حيث ستناقش تأثير العوامل الثقافية والاجتماعية على تشكيل أسلوب\n.الكاتبات، وإلى أي مدى تعبر اللغة عن خصوصية التجربة النسائية مقارنة بالأدب العام \n.يدير المائدة محمد ربيع، وهو كاتب ومحرر وشريك مؤسس في مكتبة خان الجنوب في برلين \n  \nرد على الدعوة هنا \n  \nOn the World Arabic Language Day\, The Markaz Bil Arabi is pleased to invite you to our first-ever roundtable in Arabic on Wednesday\, December 18th at 1pm EST/ 6pm UK/ 7pm CET. \nEgyptian writer and journalist Ahmed Naji will participate in the roundtable\, where he will discuss the policies of producing classical Arabic from the 19th century until the age of artificial intelligence. Egyptian writer and novelist Nora Nagi will also participate\, where she will discuss the impact of cultural and social factors on shaping the style of female writers\, and to what extent language expresses the specificity of the female experience compared to general literature. \nThe roundtable will be moderated by Mohammad Rabie\, TMR’s Arabic editor\, a novelist and founding partner of the Khan Aljanub Bookstore in Berlin. \nRSVP here URL:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/event/roundtable-discussion-world-arabic-language-day/ LOCATION:Online ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/12.18-World-Arabic-Lang-Day-Roundtable-zoom-wide.jpg ORGANIZER;CN="The Markaz Review":MAILTO:info@themarkaz.org END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Helsinki:20241124T190000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/Helsinki:20241124T200000 DTSTAMP:20260425T005257 CREATED:20241101T165755Z LAST-MODIFIED:20241107T131708Z UID:10000069-1732474800-1732478400@themarkaz.org SUMMARY:TMR Book Club Discusses "Selamlik" with author Khaled Alesmael DESCRIPTION:RSVP here \nJoin us for our final book club discussion of the year on Sunday\, November 24th at 1pm EST/ 7pm CET as we dive into “Selamlik” with the author Khaled Alesmael. \n_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ \nABOUT THE BOOK: \nAn unflinching story about Arab masculinity and homoeroticism. \nFurat\, a Syrian in his early 20s\, visits Sibki Park in Damascus\, one of the city’s most popular cruising areas. There he learns about the hammams\, secret meeting places for gay men located throughout the old city. Inside these public baths\, the air is thick with the scent of bay laurel soap\, and naked men hide in the steam. Furat faces sometimes violent disapproval from all levels of society\, religion\, and the man in the street–and yet he manages to find the love he’s been seeking just before his world collapses and he’s forced to flee. \nSelamlik is the story of Furat’s journey\, along with that of other refugees. It’s a journey in which they face physical and economic hardship\, draconian migration laws\, and the unwelcome grief\, shame\, and hatred they’ve carried with them from their ever more distant pasts. Despite everything\, Furat remains steadfast in his pursuit of passion\, pleasure\, and love. \nPublished by World Editions\, translated by Leri Price\, 2024 (pages 240). \n  \nABOUT THE AUTHOR: \nA Syrian-Swedish queer writer\, journalist\, and filmmaker based in London. His writing appears in several media outlets\, including New Statesman in London and Taz in Berlin. He speaks about queer literature particularly Arabic and Syrian at public events and universities\, including Oxford University\, the University of Sussex\, and the University of Essex. \nHis debut novel\, Selamlik (2018)\, A queer Syrian refugee story informed by his personal life as a gay refugee in Europe after the civil war in Syria and the book has received notable acclaim and was shortlisted for the German SKOUTZ Award in 2021. \n_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ \nRSVP here URL:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/event/tmr-book-club-discusses-selamlik-by-khaled-alesmael/ LOCATION:Online ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Zoom-wide-banner.jpg ORGANIZER;CN="The Markaz Review":MAILTO:info@themarkaz.org END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Helsinki:20241113T190000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/Helsinki:20241113T200000 DTSTAMP:20260425T005257 CREATED:20241101T164017Z LAST-MODIFIED:20241113T161218Z UID:10000068-1731524400-1731528000@themarkaz.org SUMMARY:Roundtable Discussion: Day of the Imprisoned Writer DESCRIPTION:RSVP here \nWriters in prison should have been a phrase entering extinction after the death of fascism at the end of World War II. Instead\, there are more incarcerated writers in the world today than at perhaps anytime since WWII. From the famous cases of Alaa Abd El-Fattah in Egypt and Narges Mohammadi in Iran\, to the little-known poets & writers in jail across the globe\, PEN International marks November 15th each year as The Day of the Imprisoned Writer. \nJoin novelists Ahdaf Soueif and Maaza Mengiste with writers Mina Thabet from PEN International and Jordan Elgrably from The Markaz Review on Wednesday\, November 13th at 1pm EST/ 7pm CET\, as we discuss what can be done to put an end to the incarceration of writers\, and the persecution of freedom of expression. \n_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ \nAbout the speakers: \nAhdaf Soueif is the author of – among other titles – the bestselling The Map of Love (shortlisted for the Booker Prize and translated into more than 30 languages)\, the well-loved In the Eye of the Sun (1993) and Cairo: a City Transformed\, her account of the Egyptian revolution of 2011. As a translator\, her rendering of Mourid Barghouti’s I Saw Ramallah has become a classic. As a political and cultural commentator\, her Mezzaterra (2004) has been influential and her articles for the Guardian are published in the European and American press. From 2011 to 2015 she wrote a weekly column for the Egyptian national daily\, al-Shorouk. In 2007 Ms Soueif founded the Palestine Festival of Literature – PalFest\, which takes place in the cities of occupied Palestine and Gaza. Ms Soueif has been awarded four honorary doctorates and was the first recipient of the Mahmoud Darwish Award (Palestine) in 2010. In 2019 she received the European Cultural Foundation’s Princess Margaret Award. Twitter: @asoueif • FaceBook: Ahdaf Soueif. \nMaaza Mengiste is the author of The Shadow King\, shortlisted for the 2020 Booker Prize\, and a recipient of the American Academy of Arts & Letters Award in Literature. It was named a Best Book of 2019 by New York Times\, NPR\, Time\, Elle\, and other publications. Beneath the Lion’s Gaze\, her debut\, was selected by the Guardian as one of the 10 best contemporary African books. Maaza has been awarded fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation\, DAAD\, the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers\, and the Fulbright Scholar Program. \nMina Thabet is a UK-based writer\, researcher and human rights expert focusing on the Middle East and North Africa. He is the head of the MENA region for PEN International and has been covering issues of freedom of expression and the challenges writers face across the region. He has also worked with minority communities in the region to combat discrimination and violence against religious and ethnic minorities and promote diverse cultures\, languages\, and religious freedoms. \nJordan Elgrably is an American\, French and Moroccan writer and translator whose stories and creative nonfiction have appeared in many anthologies and reviews\, including Apulée\, Salmagundi\, and the Paris Review. Editor-in-chief and founder of The Markaz Review\, he is the cofounder and former director of the Levantine Cultural Center/The Markaz in Los Angeles (2001–2020). He is the editor of Stories From the Center of the World: New Middle East Fiction (City Lights\, 2024)\, and co-editor with Malu Halasa of Sumūd: a New Palestinian Reader (Seven Stories\, 2025)\, Based in Montpellier\, France and California\, he tweets @JordanElgrably. \n_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ \nRSVP here \nThis online event is free to the public. Donations are welcome to support The Markaz Review. URL:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/event/roundtable-discussion-day-of-the-imprisoned-writer/ LOCATION:Online ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Zoom-wide-banner-1.jpg ORGANIZER;CN="The Markaz Review":MAILTO:info@themarkaz.org END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Helsinki:20240929T190000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/Helsinki:20240929T200000 DTSTAMP:20260425T005257 CREATED:20240823T092207Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240829T093957Z UID:10000057-1727636400-1727640000@themarkaz.org SUMMARY:TMR Book Club on Stories from the Center of the World readings & conversation DESCRIPTION:The Markaz Book Club invites you to readings and conversation about Stories from the Center of the World: New Middle East Fiction\, edited by Jordan Elgrably and published in May by City Lights in San Francisco. Participating are editors Jordan Elgrably and Malu Halasa\, along with writers Leila Aboulela\, Farah Ahamed and Tariq Mehmood\, who will read from their short stories\, and discuss the state of short fiction out of the region TMR calls “the center of the world\,” from Pakistan in the east to Morocco in the west.\n\n\nJoin us for this roundtable discussion on Sunday\, September 29th at 1pm EST/ 6pm UK/ 7pm CET on Zoom.\n\n\nRSVP here\n\n_____________________________________________________________________________________________________\n\nAbout the speakers:\n\n\nLeila Aboulela is author of the story “Raise Your Head High.”Her most recent novel is River Spirit\, published by Saqi Books. Her short story collection Elsewhere\, Home\, won the Saltire Fiction Book of the Year. Leila was born in Cairo\, grew up in Khartoum and moved in her mid-twenties to Scotland where she now lives.\n\n\n\nFarah Ahamed wrote the story “Anarkali\, or Six Early Deaths in Lahore.” Her writing has been published in Ploughshares\, White Review\, LA Review of Books\, Massachusetts Review\, World Literature Today and The Markaz Review\, among others. She lives in London.\n\n\nJordan Elgrably is the founder of The Markaz Review\, author of the story “The Afghan and the Persian\,” and editor of the anthology Stories from the Center of the World published by City Lights.\n\n\nMalu Halasa is literary editor at The Markaz review and the author of the short story “A Dog in the Woods” in the same anthology.\n\n\n\nTariq Mehmood is the writer of the story “The Settlement\,” as well as a novelist and filmmaker. Among his works are the novel Hand On The Sun\, on the experience of racism by young migrants to the UK\, and While There Is Light\, a novel backdropped by the case of the BRADFORD 12. He lives and teaches in Beirut.\n\n_____________________________________________________________________________________________________\n\nThis program is online and free to the public. Don’t miss what promises to be a rich conversation about short stories and TMR’s first fiction anthology. This roundtable is supported by grants from Hawthornden and Open Society Foundations. \n  \nRSVP here URL:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/event/tmr-book-club-discusses-stories-from-the-center-of-the-world-with-readings-from-editor-jordan-elgrably-and-contributing-writers/ LOCATION:Online ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/9.29-September-TMR-Book-Club-.jpg ORGANIZER;CN="The Markaz Review":MAILTO:info@themarkaz.org END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Helsinki:20240814T190000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/Helsinki:20240814T200000 DTSTAMP:20260425T005257 CREATED:20240731T132216Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240801T085935Z UID:10000056-1723662000-1723665600@themarkaz.org SUMMARY:WRITING ACROSS BOUNDARIES: Queerness\, Multilingualism\, and Generational Clashes in Fiction DESCRIPTION:RSVP here \nQueerness\, multilingualism\, and generational clashes are some of the themes for this roundtable conversation celebrating The Markaz Review’s summer double literary issue. MK Harb from Beirut\, Nektaria Anastasiadou from Istanbul\, and Qais Akbar Omar from Kabul join The Markaz’s literary editor Malu Halasa. They will discuss the art of fiction\, the universality of localism\, and the challenges facing writers from the Middle East and beyond in western-centric publishing. Learn the secrets and techniques behind writing a compelling short story. \nJoin us for this roundtable discussion on Wednesday\, August 14 at 1pm EST/ 6pm UK/ 7pm CET. \nThis program is online and free to the public. Don’t miss what promises to be a rich conversation about writing and publishing fiction. This roundtable is supported by grants from Hawthornden and Open Society Foundations. \n_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ \nAbout the speakers: \nMalu Halasa is the Literary Editor of The Markaz Review. Her latest anthology\, Woman Life Freedom: Voices and Art From the Women’s Protests in Iran was shortlisted for the 2024 Bread and Roses Prize for Radical Publishing\, in the UK. She is co-editor\, with Jordan Elgrably of Sumūd: A New Palestinian Reader that will be published by Seven Stories Press in October. Her debut novel\, Mother of All Pigs was reviewed by the New York Times as “a microcosmic portrait of … a patriarchal order in slow-motion decline.” \nRead her editorial\, “Why Summer Fiction? For the Wonders & Miracles” in our double summer fiction issue \n  \nMK Harb is a writer from Beirut. He received his graduate degree in Middle Eastern Studies from Harvard University in 2018. Harb served as Editor-at-Large for Lebanon at Asymptote Journal (2020-2023)\, commissioning and writing pieces relating to Arab literature in translation. His fiction and nonfiction work has been published in The White Review\, BOMB Magazine\, The Times Literary Supplement\, Hyperallergic\, and Jadaliyya\, among others. \nRead “We Danced”—a story by MK Harb in TMR 43 SUMMER FICTION ’24 \n  \nNektaria Anastasiadou is the 2019 winner of the Zografeios Agon\, a Greek-language literary award founded in 19th-century Constantinople. Her debut novel\, A Recipe for Daphne\, was shortlisted for the 2022 Runciman Award\, longlisted for the 2022 Dublin Literary Award\, and a finalist with an Honorable Mention for the 2022 Eric Hoffer Book Award. Her second novel\, Στα Πόδια της Αιώνιας Άνοιξης/Beneath the Feet of Eternal Spring was written in Istanbul Greek\, and published by Papadopoulos in 2023. \nDive into her story\, “An Inherited Offense”—a Levantine story on the island of Leros in our summer fiction issue \n  \nQais Akbar Omar is the author of A Fort of Nine Towers that has been published in more than twenty languages\, and the co-author of A Night in the Emperor’s Garden. Omar was born in 1982 in Kabul\, Afghanistan\, and holds a BA in journalism from Kabul University\, and an MFA in Creative Writing from Boston University. He was a Scholars at Risk Fellow at Harvard University. Omar has written for the New York Times\, the Atlantic\, the Sunday Times\, and the Cairo Review of Global Affairs\, and published short stories in the Southern Review\, Guernica\, and elsewhere. \nDiscover his centerpiece story\, “The Social Media Kids”—a short story by Qais Akbar Omar in our latest issue  \n_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ \nRSVP here URL:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/event/writing-across-boundaries-queerness-multilingualism-and-generational-clashes-in-fiction/ LOCATION:Online CATEGORIES:Roundtable ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/8.14-TMR-43-SUMMER-FICTION-Roundtable-Discussion-Zoom-wide-1.jpg ORGANIZER;CN="The Markaz Review":MAILTO:info@themarkaz.org END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Helsinki:20240801T190000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/Helsinki:20240801T200000 DTSTAMP:20260425T005257 CREATED:20240720T113013Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240720T114749Z UID:10000055-1722538800-1722542400@themarkaz.org SUMMARY:FROM ARABIC to ENGLISH: The Challenges & Rewards of Literary Translation DESCRIPTION:RSVP here \nEnglish has become the world’s lingua franca — and one of the largest languages for literary work from the Middle East and beyond. Fresh from publishing our double summer fiction issue\, The Markaz Review presents five seasoned translators who work to find the best English version of original writing in Arabic: Lina Mounzer\, Chip Rossetti\, Nada Faris\, Zia Ahmed & Rana Asfour. \nJoin us for this roundtable discussion moderated by Lina Mounzer on Thursday\, August 1st at 1pm EST/ 6pm UK/ 7pm CET. \nThis program is online and free to the public. Don’t miss what promises to be a rich conversation on the art of translation\, with all its challenges and rewards. This roundtable is supported by grants from Hawthornden and Open Society Foundations. \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 translation of Tarek Abi Samra’s essay\, “Flaubert’s Poison Pen” from the Arabic in our latest issue. \n  \nChip Rossetti’s published translations include the novel Beirut\, Beirut by Sonallah Ibrahim; the short story collection Animals in Our Days by Mohamed Makhzangi; Utopia by Ahmed Khaled Tawfik; and No Windmills in Basra\, by Diaa Jubaili. His translations have also appeared in Asymptote\, The White Review\, Banipal\, and Words without Borders. He has a Ph.D. in modern Arabic literature from the University of Pennsylvania\, and has worked in book publishing for over 20 years. He is currently the Editorial Director for the Library of Arabic Literature series published by New York University Press. \nRead his translation of Diaa Jubaili’s flash fiction\, “The Doll with the Purple Scarf” in our latest issue. \n  \nNada Faris is a writer and literary translator. In 2018\, she received an Arab Woman Award from Harper’s Bazaar Arabia for her impact on creatives in Kuwait. She is an Honorary Fellow in Writing at Iowa University’s International Writing Program (IWP) Fall 2013; and an alumna of the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) 2018: Empowering Youth through the Performing Arts. Faris holds an MFA in Creative Writing (Poetry & Literary Translation) from Columbia University. She is the author of multiple books in different genres. Her shorter works have appeared in: The Norton Anthology for Hint Fiction\, Gulf Coast Journal\, Indianapolis Review\, Nimrod\, Tribes\, One Jacar\, The American Journal of Poetry\, and more. Lost in Mecca by Bothayna Al-Essa (DarArab\, 2024) is Faris’ first literary translation. \nRead her translation of Nora Nagi’s short story\, “Certainty” in our latest issue. \n  \nZia Ahmed is an American writer and translator from Virginia. He lived in Muscat\, Oman\, for three years. His work has appeared in The Washington Post\, Asymptote Journal\, Sard Adabi and Nizwa\, Oman’s premier literary magazine. A translation of his Arabic short story “La Takhif” [“Be Not Afraid”] will appear in an upcoming issue of the Denver Quarterly. \nRead his translation of Hamoud Saud’s short story\, “A Blind Window on Childhood” from the Arabic in our latest issue. \n  \nRana Asfour is the Managing Editor at The Markaz Review\, as well as a freelance writer\, book critic and translator. Her work has appeared in such publications as Madame Magazine\, The Guardian UK and The National/UAE. She chairs the TMR English-language BookGroup\, which meets online the last Sunday of every month. She tweets @bookfabulous. \nRead her translation of an excerpt from Mohammad Alnaas’s novel “Altercation in Jahannam” in our latest issue. \n________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ \nRSVP here URL:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/event/from-arabic-to-english-the-challenges-rewards-of-literary-translation/ LOCATION:Online CATEGORIES:Roundtable ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/7.18-TMR-43-SUMMER-FICTION-Translation-Roundatble-Zoom-wide.jpg ORGANIZER;CN="The Markaz Review":MAILTO:info@themarkaz.org END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Helsinki:20240728T190000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/Helsinki:20240728T200000 DTSTAMP:20260425T005257 CREATED:20240709T094103Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240709T140606Z UID:10000054-1722193200-1722196800@themarkaz.org SUMMARY:TMR Book Club Discusses "The Oud Player of Cairo" with author Jasmin Attia DESCRIPTION:Join us for our July Book Club discussion of “The Oud Player of Cairo” with author Jasmin Attia on Sunday\, July 28th at 1pm EST/ 6pm UK/ 7pm CET on Zoom. \nRSVP here \n_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ \nABOUT THE BOOK: \nVibrantly descriptive and evocative of the waning colonial world in Egypt during the mid-20th century\, this debut historical novel by Jasmin Attia is the compelling story of a young Egyptian woman\, Laila\, who defies the restrictive traditional roles set for women of that time\, and instead follows the path inspired by her musician father\, a much-beloved oud player\, to become a singer and performer In her own right. \nAfter extricating herself from an abusive marriage\, Laila struggles to maintain her independence as a singer in Cairo’s chic international nightclubs\, and embarks on an affair that puts her in grave danger\, forcing her to make a decision that will forever alter the course of her life. \nPublished by Schaffner Press\, 360 pages. \nABOUT THE AUTHOR: \nJasmin Attia is a 2021 graduate of the MFA program at Bennington College\, and 2022 winner of the Nicholas Schaffner Award for Music in Literature. She has attended the Bread Loaf Writers Conference\, and served as a mentor for the Cream Literary Alliance in West Palm Beach. Her writing appears in AWP’s The Writer’s Chronicle\, Lit Hub\, Electric Lit\, the Jewish Book Council’s’ Paper Brigade\, and The Millions. \n_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ \nRSVP here URL:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/event/tmr-book-club-discusses-the-oud-player-of-cairo-by-jasmin-attia/ LOCATION:Online ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/July-2024-Book-Club-FB-1.jpg ORGANIZER;CN="The Markaz Review":MAILTO:info@themarkaz.org END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Helsinki:20240630T190000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/Helsinki:20240630T200000 DTSTAMP:20260425T005257 CREATED:20240612T120228Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240626T123522Z UID:10000051-1719774000-1719777600@themarkaz.org SUMMARY:TMR Book Club Discusses "On the Isle of Antioch" by Amin Maalouf DESCRIPTION:RSVP here \nJoin us online on Sunday\, June 30th at 1 pm Eastern/19:00 CET for this month’s Book Club discussion of On the Isle of Antioch by Amin Maalouf\, translated by Natasha Lehrer. \n__________________________________________________________________________________________________________ \nAbout the book: \nIn this dystopian novel about total collapse by internationally renowned author Amin Maalouf\, a complete blackout hits a small island with only two solitary inhabitants\, who suddenly have to depend on each other. \nAlec\, a press artist with an impressive track record\, settles on a remote island in the Atlantic Ocean. He has little contact with his neighbor\, a solitary woman who wrote a cult book years ago\, before withdrawing from public life. That is\, until a gigantic power failure cuts them off from the rest of the world\, and all of a sudden they find themselves dependent on each other. The world appears to be on the brink of nuclear war and the collapse of civilization seems imminent. Just who are the mysterious friends of Empedocles\, the gang of otherworldly protectors who came swooping in to interfere with the US presidency and cure all illness? Should we trust them? On the Isle of Antioch is a suspenseful novel with mythological roots\, written in the dreamy language of the classics\, by internationally renowned scholar Amin Maalouf. \nPublished by World Editions. \nAbout the author: \nAMIN MAALOUF was born in Beirut and lived there until the Lebanese Civil War broke out in 1975. He settled in Paris in 1976 and published his first book\, The Crusades Through Arab Eyes\, in 1983. In 1993\, The Rock of Tanios\, his fifth novel\, won the Goncourt Prize\, the most prestigious literary award in France. Maalouf is a member of the Académie Française and in 2010 was awarded the Prince of Asturias Award for Literature for his entire oeuvre. In 2021 he was voted one of 12 International Writers by the Royal Society of Literature\, an initiative celebrating the power of literature to transcend borders and bring people together. He was awarded both the Terzani Prize and the Malaparte Prize for Adrift\, also published in English by World Editions. His work has been translated into 50 languages and his most recent bestselling novel available in English is The Disoriented. \nAbout the translator: \nNATASHA LEHRER is a prizewinning writer\, translator\, and editor. Her long-form journalism and book reviews have appeared in the Guardian\, the Observer\, the Times Literary Supplement\, the Nation\, Haaretz\, and Fantastic Man\, among others\, and she is literary editor of the Jewish Quarterly. She has contributed to several books\, including a chapter on France in Looking for an Enemy: 8 Essays on Antisemitism\, edited by Jo Glanville. The writers she has translated include Nathalie Léger\, Chantal Thomas\, Vanessa Springora\, Victor Segalen\, Robert Desnos\, and Georges Bataille. \n__________________________________________________________________________________________________________ \nRSVP here URL:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/event/tmr-book-club-discusses-the-isle-of-antioch-by-amin-maalouf/ LOCATION:Online ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/June-2024-Book-Club-FB-1.jpg ORGANIZER;CN="The Markaz Review":MAILTO:info@themarkaz.org END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Helsinki:20240620T190000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/Helsinki:20240620T200000 DTSTAMP:20260425T005257 CREATED:20240612T115423Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240612T115423Z UID:10000050-1718910000-1718913600@themarkaz.org SUMMARY:TMR 42 • THEATRE Roundtable Discussion DESCRIPTION:RSVP here \nThis month\, TMR presents a lively and potentially contentious conversation on contemporary Arab and Arab American theatre from the viewpoint of its theatremakers in the post-Covid era. This discussion will be moderated by playwright Hassan Abdulrazzak (Iraq)\, and featuring artistic director/producer Georgina Van Welie (UK/Kuwait)\, Egyptian American playwright Yussef El Guindi (USA) and Syrian playwright Mudar Alhaggi. \nJoin us online on Thursday\, June 20th at 1pm EST/ 7pm CET/ 6pm UK. \nDiscover their work in our THEATRE issue: \n\nHassan Abdulrazzak’s centerpiece: Dare Not Speak—a One-Act Play\nYussef El Guindi’s play: As We Near the End (or What Adorno Said)\nGeorgina Van Welie’s essay: Arab Shakespeare?\nMudar Alhaggi’s play: The Return of Danton—a Play by Mudar Alhaggi & Collective Ma’louba\n\n__________________________________________________________________________________________________________ \nAbout the speakers: \nHassan Abdulrazzak is an award-winning writer of Iraqi origin\, born in Prague and living in London. His plays include The Special Relationship; And Here I Am; Love\, Bombs and Apples; The Prophet; and Baghdad Wedding (all published by Bloomsbury). Abdulrazzak has translated numerous Arabic plays and contributed to several anthologies including Iraq +100 (Comma Press). The script of his short film A Night of Gharam won the Unsolicited Scripts Short Film Grant 2022. \nBorn in Egypt\, raised in London and now based in Seattle\, Yussef El Guindi’s work frequently examines the collision of ethnicities\, cultures and politics that face Arab/ Middle Eastern Americans and Muslim Americans. His many productions include Hotter Than Egypt at Marin Theatre Company and ACT in Seattle; People of the Book at ACT; The Talented Ones at ART in Portland; and Threesome at Portland Center Stage\, ACT\, and at 59E59 (NY). Broadway Play Publishing Inc. published a collection of short pieces entitled In A Clear Concise Arabic Tongue. He is the recipient of several honors\, including the Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award\, American Blues Theater’s Blue Ink Playwriting Award\, L.A. Weekly’s Excellence in Playwriting Award\, and the Middle East America Distinguished Playwright Award. \nGeorgina Van Welie graduated from Cambridge University then joined the Royal Shakespeare Company\, where she directed three shows for their Fringe Festival before going on to found her own company Inigo Productions. Co-founder of Sabab Theatre from 2002 – 2013 she produced bilingual Arabic/English theatre productions in collaboration with prestigious performing-arts organisations that include: The Kennedy Center\, BAM New York\, Arts Emerson (USA); The Royal Shakespeare Company\, Riverside Studios\, Gate Theatre\, Shubbak Festival (UK); Le Comedie Francaise\, Bouffes du Nord (France)\, The Holland Festival\, Warsaw Festival\, Attiki Festival Greece; The Tokyo International Arts Festival\, Seoul Performing Arts Festival\, Singapore Arts Festival\, Sydney Festival; Dar al Athar Al Islamiyyah Kuwait\, Al Ain Festival\, Sharjah Biennale\, Cairo International Theatre Festival\, Le Tournesol Theatre Beirut. She is currently working on a new Shakespeare Trilogy. Georgina has also worked as story liner\, script editor and co-writer on a number of award-winning TV shows and films with Channel 4\, Pearson Television (UK) and most recently with Linked Productions Whose Country (dir. Siam Mohammed). \nMudar Alhaggi is a playwright\, dramaturg\, and cultural activist. He received a B.A in Dramatic Studies from The Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts in 2005 and shortly afterwards co-established the Street Workshop for playwriting. From 2005-2011\, he designed interactive activities for children\, and trained trainers in interactive theatre methods. He participated in several writing workshops and residency programs in Europe and the Arab region. \nHe was artist in residency in “Delfina foundation \, London 2010” and in “Schlachthaus Theater Bern\, 2014.” In 2013\, Mudar moved from Damascus to Beirut\, where did many artistic projects\, he launched “KEIT KEIT KEIT” a series of writing and documentation workshops for Syrian refugees in Lebanon. Then later in Europe ( Graz\, Zurich\, Dresden\, Berlin)\, he also was a dramaturge of ( above zero) performance\, produced by Koon theatre group\, and presented in Beirut\, Tunisa\, and Amsterdam. Also in 2014 Mudar directed (one thousand and one tents) performance\, produced by Ettijahat\, and presented in sunflower theatre in Beirut. In May-june Mudar was artist in residency in “Schlachthaus Theater Bern” where he wrote a daily blog for -Auawirleben theatre festival\, and started a collaporation with K.N.P.V teater group\, in producing (41 stunden) where was a drmaturg/ performer\, the show was premiered in 2016 in Kellertheatre wintertur. In 2014- 2015 Founder and artistic director (with Erik Altorfer) of Futures Stages\, a playwriting workshop for Syrian and Syrian-Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. The project was supported by Ettijahat and prohelvitia. \nHis texts incude The Don Juan\, Wisal\, Bronze\, When Farah Cries\, 41 Hours\, Your Love is Fire\, Barsach\, Orura\, Just a Formality\, The Dead are Busy\, The Return of Danton. \n__________________________________________________________________________________________________________ \nRSVP here URL:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/event/tmr-42-theatre-roundtable-discussion/ LOCATION:Online ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/6.20-TMR-42-THEATRE-Roundtable-Zoom-wide.jpg ORGANIZER;CN="The Markaz Review":MAILTO:info@themarkaz.org END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Helsinki:20240529T190000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/Helsinki:20240529T200000 DTSTAMP:20260425T005257 CREATED:20240515T143343Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240521T161424Z UID:10000048-1717009200-1717012800@themarkaz.org SUMMARY:TMR Book Club Discusses “Where the Wind Calls Home” with the author Samar Yazbek DESCRIPTION:RSVP here \nJoin TMR’s Book Club on Wednesday\, May 29th at 1pm EST/ 7pm CET/ 6pm UK to discuss “Where the Wind Calls Home” with the author Samar Yazbek on Zoom. In this new novel by Syria’s most prominent writer of the National Book Award “Finalist Planet of Clay\,” a wounded nineteen-year-old soldier in the Syrian Army remembers his life lived in the traditional Alawite way. \nIn this new novel by Syria’s most prominent writer of the National Book Award Finalist Planet of Clay\, a wounded nineteen-year-old soldier in the Syrian Army remembers his life lived in the traditional Alawite way. \nAli\, a nineteen-year-old soldier in the Syrian army\, lies on the ground beneath a tree. He sees a body being lowered into a hole–is this his funeral? There was that sudden explosion\, wasn’t there … While trying to understand the extend of the damage\, Ali works his way closer to the tree. His ultimate desire is to fly up to one of its branches\, to safety. Through rich vignettes of Ali’s memories\, we uncover the hardships of his traditional Syrian Alawite village\, but also the richness and beauty of its cultural and religious heritage. Yazbek here explores the secrets of the Alawite faith and its relationship to nature and the elements in a tight poetic novel dense with life and hope and love. \nPublished by World Editions. Translated by Leri Price. \nRSVP here \n_____________________________________________________________________________________________________ \nAbout the author: \nSamar Yazbek is a Syrian writer and journalist. She was born in Jableh\, Syria\, near Latakia\, in 1970\, and studied Arabic literature at Latakia university.\n\nYazbek has been a prominent voice in support of human rights and more specifically women’s rights in Syria. In 2012\, she launched Women Now for Development\, an NGO based in France that aims at empowering Syrian women economically and socially and at educating children.\n\nIn 2010\, Yazbek was selected as one of the 39 most promising authors under the age of 40\, by Beirut39\, a contest organized by the Hay Festival. In 2011\, she took part in the popular uprising against the Assad regime\, and was forced to exile a few months later. In 2012\, she was chosen for the prestigious PEN/Pinter Prize “International writer of courage”\, in recognition of her book “In the Crossfire: Diaries of the Syrian Revolution”. She was also awarded the Swedish Tucholsky Prize\, and the Dutch Oxfam/PEN Prize\, in the following year. In 2016 Yazbek’s literary narrative “The Crossing” was awarded the prestigious French “Best Foreign Book” prize. Her novel\, “The blue pen”\, was in the third and final selection of the French Femina award\, and was shortlisted to the National Book Award\, New York under the title “Planet of Clay” in 2021.\nIn 2019\, Samar Yazbek was attributed the honorary citizenship by the City of Palermo. And in 2022\, Yazbek was chosen by the Royal Society of Literature as one of its 12 International W1riters\, along with Anne Carson\, Maryse Condé\, Yoko Ogawa and Juan Gabriel Vasquez\, among others\, thereby joining the 12 inaugural awardees of 2021\, including Annie Ernaux\, David Grossman\, Amin Maalouf and Olga Tokarczuk. The RSL international Writers program is an award recognizing the contribution of writers across the globe\, celebrating the power of literature to transcend boundaries. New writers are invited to join the program each year.\n\nYazbek has published two collections of short stories\, seven novels\, four non-fiction literary narratives. Samar Yazbek lives in France. Her books have been translated in over twenty languages.\n\nAbout the translator: \nLeri Price is an award-winning literary translator of contemporary Arabic fiction. She has twice been a Finalist for the National Book Award for Translated Literature\, in 2021 for her translations of Samar Yazbek’s Planet of Clay\, and in 2019 for Khaled Khalifa’s Death is Hard Work. Her translation of Khalifa’s Death is Hard Work also won the 2020 Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation. URL:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/event/tmr-book-club-discusses-where-the-wind-calls-home-with-the-author-samar-yazbek/ LOCATION:Online ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/May-2024-Book-Club-FB-2.jpg ORGANIZER;CN="The Markaz Review":MAILTO:info@themarkaz.org END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Helsinki:20240516T190000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/Helsinki:20240516T200000 DTSTAMP:20260425T005257 CREATED:20240509T173132Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240509T173132Z UID:10000047-1715886000-1715889600@themarkaz.org SUMMARY:TMR 41 • FORGETTING Roundtable Discussion DESCRIPTION:RSVP here \nJoin us online on Thursday\, May 16th at 1pm EST/ 7pm CET/ 6pm UK for our May roundtable discussion which invites four contributors to TMR 41\, FORGETTING\, to a conversation around the culture of memory and forgetting in the Arab world. \nAs Mai Al Nakib asserts in her essay\, “Writing is a memory archive\, [providing] a portal to lost time\, to fading traces of existence.” And this archive created and maintained by writers is often preserved against/in contradiction to/in defiance of/in resistance to and in spite of the approved narratives of the State. And so\, four writers from four different Arab countries\, each with its own traumatic and turbulent relationship to memory and forgetfulness—Nabil Salih\, from Iraq\, Mai Al Nakib\, from Kuwait\, Saleem Haddad\, from Palestine via Lebanon\, and Asmaa El Gamal\, from Egypt—sit down with senior editor Lina Mounzer\, from Lebanon\, to talk about those relationships and to discuss how personal memory might act upon the historical record. \nRead this month’s editorial by Malu Halasa and Jordan Elgrably\, “Why FORGETTING?”. \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. \n  \nMai Al-Nakib was born in Kuwait and spent the first six years of her life in London; Edinburgh; and St. Louis\, Missouri. She holds a PhD in English literature from Brown University. She was an Associate Professor of English and comparative literature at Kuwait University\, where she taught for twenty years; she recently left this position to write full-time. Her research focuses on cultural politics in the Middle East\, with a special emphasis on gender\, cosmopolitanism\, and postcolonial issues. Her short story collection\, The Hidden Light of Objects\, was published by Bloomsbury in 2014. It won the Edinburgh International Book Festival’s First Book Award. Her debut novel\, An Unlasting Home—published by Mariner Books in the US and Saqi in the UK—came out in paperback in April 2023. Her short fiction and essays have appeared in various publications\, including Ninth Letter; The First Line; After the Pause; World Literature Today; Rowayat; New Lines Magazine; and the BBC World Service. She divides her time between Kuwait and Greece. \nRead her centerpiece essay in this month’s issue\, “Memory Archive: Between Remembering and Forgetting.” \n  \nSaleem Haddad is a novelist\, screenwriter\, and essayist currently based in Lisbon\, with roots in Amman\, Beirut\, and London. His award-winning debut novel\, Guapa\, was published in 2016. \nRead his book review of “My Brother\, My Land: A Story from Palestine” in our May issue. \n  \nAsmaa Elgamal is a writer and scholar from Alexandria\, Egypt. She earned her PhD in International Development and Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology\, where her research explored the colonial and military histories of spatial planning in the Middle East and North Africa. Her writing has appeared in New Lines Magazine\, Contingent Magazine\, and Insider. She was also longlisted for the 2021 DISQUIET International Literary Prize for Non-Fiction. \nRead her essay\, “The Elephant in the Box” in this month’s issue. \n  \nNabil Salih is a writer and photographer from Baghdad who holds an MA in Arab Studies from Georgetown and is pursuing a second MA in Human Rights and the Arts at Bard College. His writings appear in Jadaliyya\, Allegra Lab\, Al Jazeera English and LeftEast among others\, and have been translated to Italian\, Spanish\, French and other languages. \nRead his essay\, “Regarding the Photographs of Others—An Iraqi Journey Toward Remembering” in our latest issue. \n  \nRSVP here URL:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/event/tmr-41-forgetting-roundtable-discussion/ LOCATION:Online CATEGORIES:Roundtable ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://themarkaz.org/oldsite/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/5.16-TMR-41-FORGETTING-Roundtable-Zoom-wide-banner.jpg ORGANIZER;CN="The Markaz Review":MAILTO:info@themarkaz.org END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Paris:20240424T190000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/Paris:20240424T200000 DTSTAMP:20260425T005257 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:20260425T005257 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:20260425T005257 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:20260425T005257 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:20260425T005257 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:20260425T005257 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:20260425T005257 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:20260425T005257 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:20260425T005257 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:20231126T190000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/Paris:20231126T200000 DTSTAMP:20260425T005257 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:20260425T005257 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 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20231101T130000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20231101T140000 DTSTAMP:20260425T005257 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:20260425T005257 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:20260425T005257 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:20260425T005257 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=America/New_York:20230827T130000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230827T140000 DTSTAMP:20260425T005257 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:20260425T005257 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:20260425T005257 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 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Paris:20230518T180000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/Paris:20230518T190000 DTSTAMP:20260425T005257 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 END:VCALENDAR