Contemporary Iraqi Fiction
A book of contemporary writers from Iraq should be a welcome corrective to the bias our current notions of Iraq …
Category Archives: Middle East
The Veil – Ahdaf Soueif, Egypt/U.K.
Ahadaf Soueif, is a Cairo born, Egypt and U.K educated, writer, predominantly of fiction. She got major attention with her …
“I Think of You” — Stories from Ahdaf Soueif, Egypt and England
Giving birth in a Muslim hospital where a sign in English reads, ‘Under no circumstance you must be alone with …
The Long Way Back by Fuad al-Takarli: A Novel from Iraq
The ascension of Saddam Hussein to the peak of Iraqi power began in 1958 when a coup led by Brigadier …
The Kite — Over the Lebanese-Israeli Border — a Film
Many years ago I translated The Manuscript of a Crow, a short story by Spanish author Max Aub, the protagonist …
The Last of the Angels by Fadhil al-Azzawi, Iraq
Fadhil al-Azzawi’s 1992 The Last of the Angels while not a particularly long book (275 pages in the Free Press …
Season of Migration to the North — Tayeb Salih, Sudan
I’ve been trying to keep my focus on fiction and film from the North African/Middle Eastern countries where the 2011 …
The Mother of the Bride – Screwball Comedy from Egypt, 1967
Comedies of family life have been a regular feature of movies and television in the US from the 1950s right …
Afrita Hanem: The Genie Lady — Egypt, 1951
Egypt as Egyptian movie goers saw it in 1951 (1949?) in Afrita Hanem: The Genie Lady [also known as Little …
There’s A Man in Our House — Egypt
We’re familiar enough with movies about daring resistance fighters in wars or to oppressive regimes –if they are French, Spanish, …
Arabic Literature as Windows into the Hearts of the Struggle
I long ago proved to myself that reading everything in the world, was impossible. I couldn’t even get through the …
A Poem from Egypt
from The Utopia of Cemeteries Unpainted walls, stone filled ground fragile bones not even able to stand and my bones …