Morocco’s Bīylmawn Festival and the Threat of Cultural Attrition
The Bīylmawn festival has recently made a comeback but not everyone is pleased with the highly stylized and artistically reimagined carnival.
The Imagination Interviews
World Picks from the Editors: July 15 — August 2
Film and photography festivals, concerts, art, standup comedy, lectures...TMR World Picks run the gamut and are selected by our editors.
“Firefly”—a short story by Alireza Iranmehr
In this short story, an Iranian conscript keeps disappearing from duty. The natural world leaves clues of his whereabouts.
“The Mulberry Tree”—an excerpt from Altercation in Jahannam
In the Libyan village “Hell,” temperatures soar to unimaginable heights, and war breaks out over a parking space in the shade of a tree.
Victoria—An Excerpt
We present the first chapter of Karoline Kamel’s debut novel in a new translation in English by Ranya Abdelrahman.
Dune in 2024: A World Beyond Saving
The meta-narrative in Frank Herbert's Dune trilogy foresees the modern disaster of never-ending colonialism and a planet destroyed by oil.
The Top 12 Books to Read This Summer
Travel through the center of the world this summer from the comfort of your couch when you pick up any of these wonderful books.
“An Inherited Offense”—a Levantine story on the island of Leros
In this short story by Nektaria Anastasiadou, the male and female terebinth trees of a Levantine childhood help heal a fractured family.
Why Summer Fiction? For the Wonders & Miracles
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.
Deena Mohamed
Featured artist Deena Mohamed is an accomplished Egyptian graphic novelist and author of the fantasy trilogy "Shubeik Lubeik" [Your Wish Is My Command].
Flaubert’s Poison Pen
Flaubert's theory of meaning and form rests on a mystical conception of the nature of writing, alongside the theory of music in writing.
“The Social Media Kids”—a short story by Qais Akbar Omar
In Qais Akbar Omar’s short story, a surprise homecoming threatens to upend the lives of a 14-year-old and her independent mother in Kabul.
The Mourning Diaries of Atash Shakarami
The diaries provide a complex double-layered narrative of Nika as a victim of regime brutality, and of Atrash as a survivor of state horror.
“Ten-Armed Gods”—a short story by Odai Al Zoubi
In a stream of consciousness short story by Odai Al Zoubi, a minister under investigation in the Syrian government awaits his fate.
“A Blind Window on Childhood”—a short story by Hamoud Saud
Omani writer Hamoud Saud’s short story “A Blind Window on Childhood” translated from Arabic by Zia Ahmed, reveals a family's secret history.