For Our 50th Issue, Writers Reflect on Going Home
In the 50th issue of The Markaz Review, diverse writers explore the return home in creative nonfiction, fiction excerpts and prose poems.
exile
Three Poems by Najwan Darwish
Najwan Darwish, author of nine books of poetry, on Palestine, love and loss, from his new definitive poetry collection.
Maya Abu Al-Hayyat’s Defiant Exploration of Palestinian Life
Zahra Hankir reviews Hazem Jamjoum's English translation of Palestinian novelist Maya Abu Al-Hayyat's novel "No One Knows Their Blood Type."
Annahita Mahdavi West: Two Poems
Iranian American poet Annahita Mahdavi West presents two poems, "Exile" and "City of War" from her book "Dusty Relic."
Palestine Features in Larissa Sansour’s Sci-Fi Future
Larissa Sansour is a Palestinian-born artist whose photography, film, sculpture, and installation art is bound up with visions of the future.
Olivia Elias presents Three Poems
Acclaimed French-language poet of the Palestinian diaspora, Olivia Elias probe the upheavals of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Waqas Khwaja—Two Poems from No One Waits for the Train
The poetry of Waqas Khwaja captures in image, narrative voice, and personal memory the terrible beauty of an innocence now lost.
Three Worlds: Memoirs of an Arab-Jew by Avi Shlaim—a Review
Selma Dabbagh reviews Avi Shlaim's memoir about his coming-of-age as an Iraqi Jew, living as a minority in Israel and then in England.
The Return of Danton—a Play by Mudar Alhaggi & Collective Ma’louba
A play about the French Revolution highlights the experiences of Syrian actors and theatre makers as artists in exile.
What We Write About When We (Arabs) Write About Love
Eman Quotah reviews a new anthology of love poems by Arab poets writing in English in the diaspora and in country.
Edward Said: Writing in the Service of Life
Academic and novelist Layla AlAmmar interrogates her life's creative and scholarly achievements against the teachings of Edward Said.
Hartaqât: Heresies of a World with Policed Borders
In a mix of theatrical performance, music and visual arts, three voices bear witness to the courage of exiles, reports Nada Ghosn.
Allen C. Jones—Two Poems from Son of a Cult
A child grows up in a Northern California cult — a close-knit community of 400 people who seek to live an ideal, even utopian life.
“My Mother is a Tree”—a story by Aliyeh Ataei
Aliyeh Ataei's new story centers on a young woman exploring herself as a writer while choosing life in Paris.
Deniz Goran’s New Novel Contrasts Art and the Gezi Park Protests
A novel about "toxic authoritarianism" and how it has shaped the lives of countless young persons in Turkey, sometimes through exile.