Weekly

Three stories published every Friday

Where Do People Who Refuse to Belong, Belong?

A writer stands her ground, in response to criticisms of her column, "recklessly" simplifying a fraught discourse.

24 JULY 2026 • By Amal Ghandour

The Real Serpent in Daniyal Mueenuddin’s Novel

The true "serpent" of this novel, set against the shifting social landscape of contemporary Pakistan, may be its unexamined biases.

24 JULY 2026 • By Farah Ahamed

Metropolis Cinema Celebrates Two Decades in Beirut

The Metropolis Cinema in Beirut celebrates twenty years of showing indie cinema, surviving multiple crises.

24 JULY 2026 • By Jim Quilty

“Today is Better Than Tomorrow”: Survival in Anbar

Kali Rubaii explores how Iraqi farmers endure despite U.S. military intervention, as they repair their war-damaged homeland.

17 JULY 2026 • By Nazli Tarzi

Essay

The Passive Voice of Light: On Grief and Imperial Grammar

A Palestinian teacher remembers the sister who taught her the passive voice, not knowing that grammar would be used to…

10 July, 2026 • By Hanan Habashi

Searching for Perseus

A writer returns to her homeland — Lebanon — after years abroad, tracing the fault lines between memory and ruin.

19 June, 2026 • By Lara Atallah

Washing Off the Rosewater Tint

The Library of Arabic Literature was forced to shutter, ending a vital injection of Arabic into the bloodstream of translated…

29 May, 2026 • By Chip Rossetti

Fiction

“The Lens of the North and the Lung of the South”—fiction

This haunting tale explores the Mediterranean as an artistic inspiration, a deceptively hopeful bridge, and a vast cemetery.

19 June, 2026 • By Zeinab Ghassan Khaddour

“The House Dog”—fiction

This gothic short story is set on the island of Unguja in Tanzania, where an idyllic house hides something darker.

8 May, 2026 • By Rebecca Lloyd

“Tarragon”—a short story

In a house shaped by war, a child’s question about a mysterious plant opens onto something far more dangerous.

8 May, 2026 • By Erfan Mojib

Books

Art and Disillusionment in Saleem Haddad’s Floodlines

Our reviewer examines the Arab melancholy at the heart of Saleem Haddad’s second novel.

20 February, 2026 • By Layla AlAmmar

Kinship and Culture in This Queer Arab Family

A new anthology from Saqi Books explores LGBTQ+ Arabs and their families from ten points of view.

20 February, 2026 • By Zein Murib

Two New Books Show How Gaza Changed the World

For Avi Shlaim and Gilbert Achcar, the genocide in Gaza is a turning point, one from which there is no…

13 February, 2026 • By Rebecca Ruth Gould

Music

Algerian Mother Tongues—the Music of Amel Zen and IWAL

In Algeria, singer-songwriter Amel Zen and the group Iwal write and perform in their indigenous Dahri and Chaoui.

24 April, 2026 • By Sana Herireche

Youssra El Hawary’s Taraddud — Sound as Survival

In Egypt where nationalist anthems are weaponized and satire becomes grounds for persecution, Taraddud stands as an act of survival.

17 October, 2025 • By Salma Harland

Artist At Work: Maya Youssef Finds Home in the Qanun

Rana Asfour talks to Syrian-born and raised qanunist Maya Youssef, who now lives and teaches in the UK.

22 May, 2023 • By Rana Asfour

Film

Erige Sehiri’s Promised Sky on Migrants, Racism, and Hope

An unorthodox family forged by crisis, three African women living together in Tunis, shelters a young shipwreck survivor.

27 March, 2026 • By Karim Goury

Setting History Right in All That’s Left of You

A new Palestinian drama set in 1948, 1978, 1988, and 2022 sets aside Zionist myths and recognizes historical injustices.

5 March, 2026 • By Jordan Elgrably

An Impossible Task in The President’s Cake

Hasan Hadi delivers a remarkable neorealist fable about childhood, obedience, and survival under dictatorship.

6 February, 2026 • By Alex Demyanenko

Interviews

“Today is Better Than Tomorrow”: Survival in Anbar

Kali Rubaii explores how Iraqi farmers endure despite U.S. military intervention, as they repair their war-damaged homeland.

17 July, 2026 • By Nazli Tarzi

The Impossible Return: A Conversation with Tareq Baconi

A conversation between writers unfolds into a meditation on exile, memory, and how history inhabits our most private lives.

10 July, 2026 • By Saleem Haddad

Border as Fiction: A Conversation with Shady Lewis

Lewis, fresh off his win of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, reflects on borders, bureaucracy, and more.

12 June, 2026 • By Abdelrahman ElGendy
 
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