House Arrest

I knew this lockdown business was serious when they cancelled my convocation.

The New Politics of Exclusion: Gaza as Prologue

Gaza’s small size, its misery, and continued vulnerability belie its profound significance, which has always been misunderstood and overlooked—except by Israel.

Prison Letters From a Free Spirit on Slow Death Row

With his letters from maximum security on death row, Tiyo Attallah Salah-El reveals what the prison experience is really like.

Guantánamo—The World’s Most Infamous Prison

An excerpt from Sarah Mirk's graphic novel describes life in the infamous US prison in Cuba.

Faraj Bayrakdar, Once Syria’s Prisoner, is Freedom’s Poet

India Hixon Radfar reviews the newly-translated collection of poetry from a former prisoner in Syria.

Memoirs of a Militant, My Years in the Khiam Women’s Prison

An exclusive excerpt from the memoirs of Nawal Qasim Baidoun, the Lebanese militant imprisoned by Israel.

The Untold Story of Zakaria Zubeidi

Ramzy Baroud writes of a whole generation of Palestinians in the West Bank who are caught up in an impossible dilemma.

“The Passion of Evangelina”—fiction from Anthoney Dimos

Protests, jails and death characterize this short story set in Athen's Syntagma Square, the site of many 20th-century dramas.

Interview With Prisoner X, Accused by the Bashar Al-Assad Regime of Terrorism

A Syrian refugee successfully resettled in Brussels shares part of his story.

Poetry: Mohammed El-Kurd’s Rifqa Reviewed

India Hixon Radfar reviews the first collection of poetry from Palestinian firebrand Mohammed El-Kurd.

Gitmo and Abu Ghraib, Infamous Symbols of US Human Rights Violations

Mischa Geracoulis reviews Maria Armoudian's "Lawyers Beyond Borders, Advancing International Human Rights Through Local Laws and Courts."

Khalida Jarrar—How to Resist and Win inside Israeli Prisons

Ramzy Baroud presents an excerpt of the memoir by former Israeli prisoner and attorney Khalida Jarrar.

The Story of Jericho Sheikh Daoud and His Beloved Mansaf

Palestinian chef Fadi Kattan recounts the tale of famed imprisoned leader Sheikh Daoud Iriqat and his beloved dish, mansaf.

OUT OF OUR MINDS

Freedom To Read

TMR's literary editor gives insight and nuance to our Summer 2025 double literary issue.

MEMOIR

In TMR 48 • MEMOIR we present several original essays, two short stories and two book reviews, designed to convey the immediacy of memory, as both an element of storytelling and the basis for history.

RETURNING HOME

In the 50th issue of The Markaz Review, diverse writers explore the return home in creative nonfiction, fiction excerpts and prose poems.

MEZZE

The June issue offers a diverse selection of essays, reviews and fiction, with a centerpiece by Lina Mounzer and art story by Hadani Ditmars.

LOVE, WAR & RESISTANCE

Can love act as a transformative force during challenging times, in the face of 2000-pound bombs, drones, AI surveillance, snipers, annexation and expulsion?

GENRE FICTION

In which our literary editor becomes your guide through TMR 47, a double issue packed with fiction and the last monthly issue of 2024.

FROM HERE, ONE YEAR ON

In the guise of an editorial, senior editor Lina Mounzer struggles to find the words to describe the horror of the past year, and hopelessness as we confront endless war.

ANIMALS

TMR's November issue deliberately eschews the binary and inspirational relationship between the proverbial “man and beast."

GATEKEEPERS

In the guise of an editorial, senior editor Lina Mounzer struggles to find the words to describe the horror of the past year, and hopelessness as we confront endless war.

STORIES

REFUGE

TMR's editor reflects on the experience of seeking home and refuge.

MARSEILLE

TMR's Marseille issue brings together art, music, essays, hybrid works, and photography to create a kinetic portrait of the city and interrogate the nature of displacement, exclusions, networks, pluralism, historical traces, revived languages, experiences, and belonging.

WATER

Is the cost of water really higher than the cost of petrol? Are we destined to run out of water if we don't find a way forward? 4 films, 6 charitable organizations you should know.

SUMMER FICTION ’24

Our literary editor takes us on a deluxe reader’s tour of the stories behind the stories in the double summer fiction issue for 2024.

THEATRE

In which the editors of The Markaz Review and playwright Hassan Abdulrazzak present the theatre issue.

FORGETTING

What shall we forget and what shall we remember, and can forgetting also be a force for good? The editors inquire.

PARIS

Editor Jordan Elgrably muses on a PARIS issue mostly from the viewpoint of its Arab and Middle Eastern residents.

Burn It All Down

Senior editor Lina Mounzer articulates the inexpressible, inconsolable feelings at a time when genocide is occurring before the eyes of the world.

LSD

Introduction to the Markaz Review’s Love, Sex and Desire issue

ENDINGS & BEGINNINGS

An editorial from the editor in chief as we close the end of an often painful, difficult and yet at times hopeful year.

RACISM & IDENTITY

Home is not where you were born; home is where all your attempts to escape cease.

REVOLUTIONS

Melissa Chemam argues we ought to take the long view on the Arab uprisings and remember the many French revolutions by way of precedence.

TRUTH?

Discerning the truth is one thing for a news junkie and another for a flaneur reading a novel — the search for truth can be literal — imagine a reporter chasing after facts, stats, quotes and “balance” — while a poet is after something else altogether, something more elusive, but nevertheless precious, like a pearl in an oyster.

WALLS

National populism promotes xenophobia, blaming outsiders and immigrants for our woes. One emotional quick fix is to shun foreigners, building walls to protect homeland security and keep out those who would denigrate the country’s social fabric. Walls are also thrown up between women and men, like the glass ceilings that prevent more people of color and women from getting ahead professionally. The stories in our WALLS issue help us think more clearly about the walls that exist, the walls that need to come down, and the walls inside ourselves.

WASTA

Wasta is who you know (or don’t) to get your foot in the door, and often to get anything done, but wasta is also about corruption and waste. From Palestinian wasta to stories set in Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Tunisia and the diaspora, this issue kicks the can down the road, and packs a wallop.

COMIX

The bande dessiné or graphic novel is one of the most popular forms of creative expression in the Middle East and North Africa. Here guest editor Aomar Boum (Morocco) curates a superlative issue featuring artists and storytellers who convey a wealth of 21st-century narratives.

ORIGINS

The region we call the center of the world includes great diversity in terms of its ethnic and religious groups, each with their own identity, language and history. This issue features Black Iranians, Kurds, Armenians, the Amazigh, Coptic Egyptians, Rum and Somalians, among others.

ARCHITECTURE

TMR Issue 36 – 17 articles – 199 pages From urban explosions and masterplanning to megaprojects and nation-branding, this issue explores architecture, design and urbanism, with an emphasis on the countries represented on the SWANA map. Whether reinventing national traditions in order to brand regional and national identities, or attempting to build the biggest, tallest, most striking structure or shopping mall, the essays here ask why do cities look the way they do? How energy efficient and structurally safe are they? What are the trends and the exceptions, and how do cities and regions come back after disasters such as the recent earthquakes in Turkey and Morocco, or the cataclysmic flooding in Libya? 

LAUGHTER

TMR Issue 16 – 7 articles – 57 pages An issue devoted to laughter and levity — to satire, irony, humor and the ludicrous; to exploring, representing and offering perspectives on humor’s uses and forms, from historical to contemporary cultures. After a couple of rough Covid years, not to mention climate and human disasters everywhere, we can all truly use some fun and comic relief.

FIRE

TMR Issue 15 – 11 articles – 80 pages As the planet heats up, raging wildfires have become more common and deadly. From California and Oregon to Greece, Algeria, Turkey and Australia, it often appears that climate change is here and the world as we know it has already changed forever.

FOOD

TMR Issue 20 – 15 articles – 107 pages We live at once in a time of great abundance and yet greater scarcity, with the war in Ukraine, for instance, holding up grain shipments to the Middle East and Asia (which is having a direct effect on Lebanese and Egyptian households, already strained to the limit). While millions are on the verge of starvation in Yemen and Afghanistan, people in the west continue to enjoy a world of plenty. Recognizing that we are living in challenging times, this issue includes stories about family gatherings, scarcity, fusion dishes, traditional recipes and food in Palestine.

HEROINES

In the new issue of TMR, the editors present their case for everyday women achieving the extraordinary as they overcome adversity.

BEIRUT

The Markaz Review or TMR exists to create community and be a virtual home away from home. We support artists and those of us who rely on creative people for insight, hope and inspiration.

BERLIN

Editor Jordan Elgrably introduces the BERLIN issue guest editor, Viola Shafik, and more than a dozen new contributors to TMR.

MADNESS

The world may be driving us crazy, but sharing our stories across cultures and borders is one way to hang on to our sanity.

DESIRE

TMR Issue 19 – 14 articles – 85 pages Some of us think of the Buddha and perhaps Herman Hesse's classic novel Siddhartha, while others might recall the novels of Milan Kundera or perhaps Gabriel García Márquez. Some people say DESIRE makes them think of hunger, while others ponder food scarcity, or working creatively in the kitchen to produce a delicious meal. Desire may conjure the contrast between the poorest among us and others who live for extravagance. Desire for many is about passion, love, poetry. What do you think of when you think of desire?

LOS ANGELES

TMR Issue 18 – 14 articles – 128 pages Acknowledging that the Middle East/Mashriq & North Africa/Maghreb are not “over there” but here, in European and American societies, present for centuries now, we present creative work about, from, taking place in or thinking about Los Angeles from afar.

FREEDOM

TMR Issue 27 – 14 articles – 154 pages Poets and writers, citizens and journalists, even educators and filmmakers are sometimes censored, beaten, arrested, imprisoned, and even murdered. We also censor ourselves; we're unable to face the truth or we’re afraid to offend because we have something to lose. But we all lose when our freedom is limited, when truth and justice are threatened. This issue is looks at freedom of expression, censorship, truth, government oppression, individual liberty, creativity, invention and reinvention.

GAMES

TMR Issue 26 – 10 articles – 95 pages Sports and games can teach universal values such as fairness, teambuilding, equality, discipline, inclusion, perseverance, respect, contributing to the development of skills needed for responsible citizenship. The SWANA region can lay claim to being the birthplace of the board game concept. But what type of citizenry should we expect when games are being constantly monetized and politicized, or else flagrant with misrepresentation and demonization? When fan control turns to population control? When violent games are being played on smart phones or consoles in air-conditioned video game cafes?

WORK

Unconventional professions, dangerous jobs, unemployment, crazy work stories, work pressure, deadlines, irritating colleagues, dead bosses, spies, assassins, tightrope workers, circus hands, labor protests, feminist icons breaking barriers, immigration attorneys saving lives, good cops/bad cops… our WORK issue relates titillating, aggravating, unbelievable, unforgettable stories related to work, fiction and creative nonfiction. Work, work, work!!!

IRAQ

On the eve of the 20th anniversary of the Iraq War, we talked to Iraqi artists, writers, playwrights, sociologists and others to present a frank picture of the history of the war and its aftermath.

HOME

HOME is dedicated to explorations of the meaning of home (and the lack thereof) in new essays, fiction and multimedia. For those who have had to leave their city, their country, there is a sense of ”permanent temporariness,” where inevitable thoughts of returning to one’s birthplace or country are thwarted by political realities on the ground (war, climate disaster, economic collapse). Then there are those who have never left, and yet still feel uncertain about belonging, and yearn for rootedness in what is an elusive search for self.

DOHA

DOHA includes short stories, essays, articles, art and film that explore Qatar’s capital and cultural mecca, from guest editor Rana Kazkaz with support from Northwestern University-Qatar.

Stories from The Markaz

TMR Issue 33 – 26 articles – 342 pages If pictures are worth a thousand words then short stories are worth a thousand-and-one. The Markaz Review’s double 2023 summer literary issue features short stories, memoir, plays, a graphic novel, and creative nonfiction, some of which appears in English for the first time, translated from Arabic or Persian, with wide-ranging themes, from from domestic abuse in Egypt to multiracial relationships in London and queer life in Beirut.

EARTH

The editors explain why they chose the EARTH theme for the 32nd issue of The Markaz Review.

PUBLIC INTELLECTUAL

TMR Issue 35 - 15 articles - 127 pages In the 20^th century, public intellectuals were the international stars of literature and ideas — they were Albert Camus, James Baldwin, Susan Sontag, Roland Barthes, Frantz Fanon, Edward Said and too many others to name in the “west.” In the Arab world and Africa there was a time when we looked to writers like Mouloud Feraoun, Kateb  Yacine and Assia Djebar in Algeria and Ghassan Kanafani out of Palestine, as well as a parade of intelligensia from Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Morocco and beyond. But who do we turn to, today?

A DAY IN THE LIFE

TMR Issue 34 - 11 articles - 102 pages This issue of The Markaz Review looks at all manner of personal experience, in the first and third person, recounted in the form of personal essays, poems and stories. Dive into what life is really like in places where you may have never set foot...

PALESTINIAN ISRAELI ?

TMR's chief editor reveals the behind-the-screens reality of naming the May 2022 issue, when "Palestinian Israeli" is a contested identity

GAZA

The Markaz Review published a special double issue devoted to Gaza when yet again, as with the current conflagration, in the summer of 2021, Israel pounded the Strip with bombs, attacking Hamas and wiping out civilians in the process. For our 11th monthly issue TMR features the work of the artist Jaime Scholnick and her series Gaza: Mowing the Lawn.