Weekly

Three stories published every Friday

“Tomorrow is Better Than Today”: 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

Ungrounding: A History of Genocide Written into the Soil

A new book catalogues the architecture of Israeli military violence and displacement that have made Gaza unliveable.

17 JULY 2026 • By Selma Dabbagh

“Ya’ll Come Back Now”—fiction

At a family holiday, a father's death and the birth of a child collapse time and challenge faith in unexpected ways.

17 JULY 2026 • By Nezar Andary

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, Tareq Baconi

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

“Tomorrow is Better Than Today”: 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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