Art Lights Up Riyadh This Winter
Sophie Kazan Makhlouf travels to Saudi Arabia to take in a citywide festival that may have forever changed the country's cultural landscape.
The Imagination Interviews
Messages From Gaza Now
A Gazan theatre artist, constantly endangered by the onslaught of Israeli planes, drones and bombs, writes from the heart of the matter.
Assassination in Malta: How They Killed My Mother
Teodor Reljić reviews Paul Caruana Galizia's book in which he dissects the Maltese status quo that led to his journalist mother’s murder.
Religious Misogyny Personified in Ali Abbasi’s Holy Spider
Bavand Karim reviews the film "Holy Spider" by Ali Abbassi which coldly deconstructs the brutal nature of Iran’s religious patriarchy.
Tone—Literary Criticism to Challenge the Mind
Sofia Samatar and Kate Zambreno indulge in a collective reading and writing practice to capture literary tone, writes Safa Khatib.
World Picks from the Editors: Dec 9 — Dec 22
The editors of The Markaz Review recommend several cultural world events.
The Palestine Laboratory and Gaza: An Excerpt
Antony Loewenstein, winner of Australia's highest journalism award, presents his latest exploration of Israel and Palestine.
Why 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.
“The Summer They Heard Music”—a short story by MK Harb
There are some long, languid and even dangerous summers that Beirutis can never forget, and this is one of them.
“Of Wood and Hallucination”—fiction from Mansoura Ez-Eldin
After the war, a few scant survivors become one with the elements, and one takes to writing down thousands of words a day in an invented language.
“Twelve Angels”—fiction from Ahmed Salah Al-Mahdi
In this short story by Egyptian writer Ahmed Salah Al-Mahdi, translated from Arabic, a man contends with his mortality on his death bed.
“Kabul’s Haikus”—fiction from Maryam Mahjoba
In this short story by Maryam Mahjoba, a teacher from Japan travels to Afghanistan to teach at a girl's school.
The Paranda Network—Afghan Women Writing
Breaking stereotypes that their country is only about war, Afghan women continue to write despite the Taliban, writes Lillie Razvi.
“The Waiting Bones”—an essay by Maryam Haidari
As this writer from Khuzestan remembers, the long Iran-Iraq war left many traces, names and ghosts in its eight-year wake.
Almost Every Day—from the novel by Mohammed Abdelnabi
An exclusive excerpt from Mohammed Abdelnabi's latest novel "Almost Every Day," translated from the Arabic by Nada Faris.