Why We Stay in Beirut, Despite Its Countless Crises
TMR’s editor in chief, Jordan Elgrably, asks four Beirutis why they stay, and how they manage, enduring one crisis after another.
Days of Oranges—Libya’s Thawra
Yesmine Abida recalls the end of her family’s time in Tripoli and the beginning of a life without a center.
Hanan Eshaq
Hanan Eshaq is a young multimedia artist and poet from Yemen.
“Junk”—a short story by May Haddad
Recycling violence, a fighting droid wants to leave a dystopian world of mechanized blood sports, but a human gets in the way.
Unshackling Language in Arabic Children’s Literature
A children’s book publisher in the Middle East makes the case for teaching children to read in their mother tongues.
A Jaha in the Metaverse—fiction by Fadi Zaghmout
A short story by Jordanian writer Fadi Zaghout in which a traditional Jordanian “Jaha” ceremony takes place in the metaverse.
Demolition and Recreation in Benghazi: Interview with Sarri Elfaitouri
Sarri Elfaitouri on urbanism, social reforms, and the legacy of colonialism in Libya after the March 2023 demolition of the city’s center.
“The Followers”—a short story by Youssef Manessa
A selfish loser walks away from wasta and the Za’im’ nefarious agenda he created and instrumentalized in this short story by Youssef Manessa.
The Day My Life Ended, It Began
What could have been the end of life was instead a milestone that led to the writer’s greatest epiphany.
On the Herculean Task of Translating Joyce’s Ulysses into Kurdish
Kawa Nemir felt he’d been preparing to undertake the translation of James Joyce’s masterpiece his whole life…
“My Father’s Last Meal”—a Kurdish Tale
In the aftermath of his father’s death by shrapnel from an Iraqi shell, Dilan Qadir contends with a life intricately shaped by his absence.
First Kurdish Sci-Fi Collection is Rooted in the Past
Matt Broomfield reviews the first anthology of Kurdish science fiction, one that envisions new possibilities for Kurdish self-determination.