{"id":38061,"date":"2025-08-25T12:25:23","date_gmt":"2025-08-25T10:25:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/?post_type=tribe_events&p=38061"},"modified":"2025-08-25T12:25:23","modified_gmt":"2025-08-25T10:25:23","slug":"tmr-book-club-discusses-omar-khalifahs-sand-catcher-with-special-guests","status":"publish","type":"tribe_events","link":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/event\/tmr-book-club-discusses-omar-khalifahs-sand-catcher-with-special-guests\/","title":{"rendered":"TMR Book Club Discusses Omar Khalifah’s “Sand-Catcher” with special guests"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sign up to participate here<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Join us on Sunday, September 28th at 1pm EST\/ 6pm UK\/ 7pm CET to discuss Omar Khalifah’s Sand-Catcher<\/em> with special guests!<\/p>\n

About the book:<\/strong><\/p>\n

A sardonic, thrilling fable about collective memory and the many ways it can be saved or subverted. Omar Khalifa\u2019s debut novel Sand-Catcher<\/em> is at once a polyphonic satire and a tightly plotted tale of suspense. Walking the line between gallows humor, rage, and depthless heartbreak, it is a unique reflection of contemporary Palestinian identity in all its facets.<\/p>\n

Four young, Palestinian journalists at a Jordanian newspaper are tasked, on account of their heritage, with profiling one of the last living witnesses of the Nakba, the violent expulsion of native Palestinians by the nascent state of Israel in 1948. Confident that the old man will be all too happy to go on record, the reporters are nonplussed when they are repeatedly, and obscenely, rebuffed. This living witness to history, this secular saint, has no desire to be interviewed, no desire for his memories to be preserved, no desire to serve as an inspiration for the youth of tomorrow. What he wants is to be left alone.<\/p>\n

As threats from the team\u2019s editor-in-chief put more and more pressure on the journalists, they must decide just how far they\u2019re willing to go to get the old man on the record. After all, what possible weight can one stubborn demand for privacy have when balanced against the imperative to bear witness?<\/p>\n

Published by Coffee House Press, 2024.<\/p>\n

About the author & translator:<\/strong>
\nOmar Khalifah<\/strong>\u00a0(author) is a novelist and short story writer in Arabic. His book, Nasser in the Egyptian Imaginary, was published in English by Edinburgh University Press in 2017. His collection Ka\u2019annani Ana (As If I Were Myself) was published in Amman, Jordan in 2010, and his novel Qabid al-Raml (Sand-Catcher) was published in 2020. His articles have appeared in Middle East Critique and Journal of World Literature. A Fulbright scholar, Khalifah is assistant professor of Arabic Literature and Culture at Georgetown School of Foreign Service in Qatar.<\/p>\n

Barbara Romaine<\/strong> is an academic and literary translator. She has published translations of five novels, most recently Waiting for the Past (Syracuse University Press, 2022), by the Iraqi novelist Hadiya Hussein. She has held two NEA fellowships in translation, one of which was for her work on Radwa Ashour&#39;s Spectres (Interlink Books, 2011). Spectres went on to place second in the 2011 Saif Ghobash-Banipal international translation competition. Romaine\u2019s translations of essays, short stories, and classical poetry have appeared in a variety of literary periodicals.<\/p>\n

Sign up to participate here<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Join us on Sunday, September 28th at 1pm EST\/ 6pm UK\/ 7pm CET to discuss Omar Khalifah’s “Sand-Catcher” with special guests!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":227,"featured_media":38062,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_tribe_events_status":"","_tribe_events_status_reason":"","_tribe_events_is_hybrid":"","_tribe_events_is_virtual":"","_tribe_events_virtual_video_source":"","_tribe_events_virtual_embed_video":"","_tribe_events_virtual_linked_button_text":"","_tribe_events_virtual_linked_button":"","_tribe_events_virtual_show_embed_at":"","_tribe_events_virtual_show_embed_to":[],"_tribe_events_virtual_show_on_event":"","_tribe_events_virtual_show_on_views":"","_tribe_events_virtual_url":"","footnotes":""},"tags":[],"tribe_events_cat":[],"coauthors":[2040],"class_list":["post-38061","tribe_events","type-tribe_events","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTMR Book Club Discusses Omar Khalifah's "Sand-Catcher" with special guests - The Markaz Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Join us on Sunday, September 28th at 1pm EST\/ 6pm UK\/ 7pm CET to discuss Omar Khalifah's "Sand-Catcher" with special guests!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/event\/tmr-book-club-discusses-omar-khalifahs-sand-catcher-with-special-guests\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"TMR Book Club Discusses Omar Khalifah's "Sand-Catcher" with special guests\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Join us on Sunday, September 28th at 1pm EST\/ 6pm UK\/ 7pm CET to discuss Omar Khalifah's "Sand-Catcher" with special guests!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/event\/tmr-book-club-discusses-omar-khalifahs-sand-catcher-with-special-guests\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Markaz Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Zoom-wide-banner.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"960\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"Megan Jarrell\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/event\\\/tmr-book-club-discusses-omar-khalifahs-sand-catcher-with-special-guests\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/event\\\/tmr-book-club-discusses-omar-khalifahs-sand-catcher-with-special-guests\\\/\",\"name\":\"TMR Book Club Discusses Omar Khalifah's \\\"Sand-Catcher\\\" with special guests - The Markaz Review\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/event\\\/tmr-book-club-discusses-omar-khalifahs-sand-catcher-with-special-guests\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/event\\\/tmr-book-club-discusses-omar-khalifahs-sand-catcher-with-special-guests\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/Zoom-wide-banner.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-25T10:25:23+00:00\",\"description\":\"Join us on Sunday, September 28th at 1pm EST\\\/ 6pm UK\\\/ 7pm CET to discuss Omar Khalifah's \\\"Sand-Catcher\\\" with special guests!\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/event\\\/tmr-book-club-discusses-omar-khalifahs-sand-catcher-with-special-guests\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/event\\\/tmr-book-club-discusses-omar-khalifahs-sand-catcher-with-special-guests\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/event\\\/tmr-book-club-discusses-omar-khalifahs-sand-catcher-with-special-guests\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/Zoom-wide-banner.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/Zoom-wide-banner.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":960},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/event\\\/tmr-book-club-discusses-omar-khalifahs-sand-catcher-with-special-guests\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Events\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/events\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"TMR Book Club Discusses Omar Khalifah’s “Sand-Catcher” with special guests\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Markaz Review\",\"description\":\"Literature and Arts from the Center of the World\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Markaz Review\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/08\\\/cropped-New-2023-TMR-Logo-500-pix.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/08\\\/cropped-New-2023-TMR-Logo-500-pix.jpg\",\"width\":473,\"height\":191,\"caption\":\"The Markaz Review\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"TMR Book Club Discusses Omar Khalifah's \"Sand-Catcher\" with special guests - The Markaz Review","description":"Join us on Sunday, September 28th at 1pm EST\/ 6pm UK\/ 7pm CET to discuss Omar Khalifah's \"Sand-Catcher\" with special guests!","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/event\/tmr-book-club-discusses-omar-khalifahs-sand-catcher-with-special-guests\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"TMR Book Club Discusses Omar Khalifah's \"Sand-Catcher\" with special guests","og_description":"Join us on Sunday, September 28th at 1pm EST\/ 6pm UK\/ 7pm CET to discuss Omar Khalifah's \"Sand-Catcher\" with special guests!","og_url":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/event\/tmr-book-club-discusses-omar-khalifahs-sand-catcher-with-special-guests\/","og_site_name":"The Markaz Review","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":960,"url":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Zoom-wide-banner.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes","Written by":"Megan Jarrell"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/event\/tmr-book-club-discusses-omar-khalifahs-sand-catcher-with-special-guests\/","url":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/event\/tmr-book-club-discusses-omar-khalifahs-sand-catcher-with-special-guests\/","name":"TMR Book Club Discusses Omar Khalifah's \"Sand-Catcher\" with special guests - The Markaz Review","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/event\/tmr-book-club-discusses-omar-khalifahs-sand-catcher-with-special-guests\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/event\/tmr-book-club-discusses-omar-khalifahs-sand-catcher-with-special-guests\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Zoom-wide-banner.jpg","datePublished":"2025-08-25T10:25:23+00:00","description":"Join us on Sunday, September 28th at 1pm EST\/ 6pm UK\/ 7pm CET to discuss Omar Khalifah's \"Sand-Catcher\" with special guests!","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/event\/tmr-book-club-discusses-omar-khalifahs-sand-catcher-with-special-guests\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/event\/tmr-book-club-discusses-omar-khalifahs-sand-catcher-with-special-guests\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/event\/tmr-book-club-discusses-omar-khalifahs-sand-catcher-with-special-guests\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Zoom-wide-banner.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Zoom-wide-banner.jpg","width":1920,"height":960},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/event\/tmr-book-club-discusses-omar-khalifahs-sand-catcher-with-special-guests\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Events","item":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/events\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"TMR Book Club Discusses Omar Khalifah’s “Sand-Catcher” with special guests"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/#website","url":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/","name":"The Markaz Review","description":"Literature and Arts from the Center of the World","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/#organization","name":"The Markaz Review","url":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/cropped-New-2023-TMR-Logo-500-pix.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/cropped-New-2023-TMR-Logo-500-pix.jpg","width":473,"height":191,"caption":"The Markaz Review"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events\/38061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/tribe_events"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events\/38061\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38061"},{"taxonomy":"tribe_events_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events_cat?post=38061"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=38061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}