The Odyssey That Forged a Stronger Athenian
An Athens native returns to Greece after a 20-year sojourn across the Mediterranean and Middle East, covering turmoil and displacement.
Tag: Damascus
The Swimmers and the Mardini Sisters: a True Liberation Tale
Syrian British novelist Rana Haddad reviews the new feature film from Sally El Hoseini on Netflix.
Ziad Kalthoum: Trajectory of a Syrian Filmmaker
Film historian Viola Shafik interviews Syrian filmmaker Ziad Kalthoum about his peripatetic life in Syria and beyond.
The Intruders and the City
Rasha Abbas, a Syrian writer who ventures into the surreal, examines her conflicted relationship with Berlin.
Kairo Koshary, Berlin’s Egyptian Food Truck
A serial entrepreneur, engineer and nomad settles in Berlin, only to start up an Egyptian food truck.
Two Syrian Brothers Find Themselves in “We Are From There”
Angélique Crux reviews the award-winning documentary from Lebanese filmmaker Wissam Tanios.
Questionable Thinking on the Syrian Revolution
Critic Fouad Mami suggests that a Syrian author may be guilty of pseudo-thinking in service of the counterrevolution.
Fiction: “Skin Calluses” by Khalil Younes
Syrian artist and writer Khalil Younes recalls the strained sexuality of Martyrs Square in Damascus.
“The Translator” Brings the Syrian Dilemma to the Big Screen
Jordan Elgrably reviews the recent feature film from directors Rana Kazkaz and Anas Khalaf.
Fiction from “Free Fall”: I fled the city as a murderer whose crime had just been uncovered
TMR presents an exclusive excerpt from Abeer Esber's fourth novel, translated here by Nouha Homad, about a Damascene woman on the run, hiding out in Dubai.
Temptations of the Imagination: how Jana Elhassan and Samar Yazbek transmogrify the world
Rana Asfour provides an intimate look at two new Arab novels in translation, from Lebanese and Syrian authors.
Objective Brits, Subjective Syrians
"What a British person imagined Syria or the Middle East to be ... was more important than what I or people like me thought. We were subjective, but their opinions were objective."
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.
The Limits of Empathy in Rabih Alameddine’s Refugee Saga
The Wrong End of the Telescope a novel by Rabih Alameddine Grove Atlantic (Sept 2021) ISBN 9780802157805 Dima Alzayat When in 2018 director Lena Dunham announced she had been hired… Continue reading The Limits of Empathy in Rabih Alameddine’s Refugee Saga
Syria’s Ruling Elite— A Master Class in Wasta
Lawrence Joffe on how the al-Assad and Makhlouf families have mastered the art of control and corruption in a country decimated by a decade of war.