At last a sensible review of SSM's new book. Though, really, it gives it more respect that it deserves. www.newstatesman.com/culture/book...
What is to blame for the Middle East?
Beneath the violence and instability that afflict the region lies not religion but a loss of sovereignty
newstatesman.com
I really can't stop thinking about this article about AI agents desparately writing bad pitches to literary magazines to get the tokens that will keep them from going into "deep rest". substack.com/home/post/p-...
The AI Agents Pitching Lit Mags to Stay Alive
It’s not really working.
substack.com
For the latest episode of @thefirethesetimes.com, I spoke with @hebagowayed.bsky.social about what it’s been like to raise our respective kids - both around 3 years old - as diasporic (US and UK) Arab parents since the Gaza genocide started. Wherever you get your podcasts: pod.link/1503094935/e...
On the Official Launch of PEN Sudan On September 30, 2026, PEN Sudan was formally admitted to PEN International during the 92nd PEN International Congress.... https://arablit.org/2026/10/05/on-the-official-launch-of-pen-sudan/
On the Official Launch of PEN Sudan
On September 30, 2026, PEN Sudan was formally admitted to PEN International during the 92nd PEN International Congress.
arablit.org
The first literary study of the Arab world’s Soviet entanglements, examining how Arabic writers have retold and reimagined their Soviet and Russian sojourns. Red Mecca by @margaretlitvin.bsky.social is now available. Learn more: buff.ly/saptvIz #Literature
New Interview: I talked to the analyst Jaser AbuMousa about what life is like in Gaza today, and the devastation of his own family. www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a...
What Life Is Actually Like in Gaza Today
Nearly a year after the ceasefire in Gaza, the analyst Jaser AbuMousa explains the impediments to rebuilding, and the devastation of his own family.
newyorker.com
'The University and College Union (UCU)’s Edinburgh branch said staff had been called into “informal meetings at less than 24 hours' notice” and told not to bring union representatives.'
Fear and anger as university set to announce 'massive course and programme closures'
Asked to respond, a university spokesperson said that staff and students were recently informed of changes to “our future academic offering across…
heraldscotland.com
My first piece of writing on a new project, a biography of James Sanua, Egyptian-Jewish anti-colonial satirist of the 19th century. evergreenreview.com/read/the-his...
The Historians of a Nation Are Not Careless Men
Evergreen Review
evergreenreview.com
In the bits of the today programme that I have heard discussing Ed Miliband's sanctions, they have interviewed a spokesman for the Israeli government, the US ambassador to Israel, someone from Labour Friends of Israel, and government ministers. No Palestinians or even Palestinian perspective.
Very excited to be part of this outstanding conference on the two Sudans in New York 9/18-19. If you’re in town definitely RSVP - tremendous lineup, critical themes. cshgcah.org/sudan/
Workshop on the Two Sudans - CSHGCAH
We invite you to attend the upcoming Sudan Workshop, a two-day event dedicated to deep analysis and discussion of the historical, political, and cultural dynamics shaping Sudan and South Sudan. Regist...
cshgcah.org
The first selections of Raja Shehadeh's archive are online. Including (eventual) his own diaries going back to 1967, his father's papers, and more. A hugely significant resource humanities-collections.exeter.ac.uk/dame/s/en/it...
Open call for Sudanese fine artists from around the world to participate in an art project. Each selected artist will receive €800 to produce an artwork. Details and link to apply here: www.instagram.com/gz_kampala/p...
For the last 2 years, I've been directing a secret project, helping Raja Shehadeh safeguard the diaries he has written daily since teenage - literally millions of words, going back six decades. It's quite a story. Join us: > Thu 3 Sep > 3pm UK time > Free to register: llc.ed.ac.uk/raja-shehadeh
From Palestine to Scotland: Celebrating the Raja Shehadeh Archive | Centre for the Study of Islam in the Contemporary World | Literatures Languages and Culture
Join internationally acclaimed Palestinian writer, lawyer and activist Raja Shehadeh on 3 September 2026 as he marks the accession of his extraordinary personal archive to the University of Edinburgh'...
llc.ed.ac.uk
I’m glad that there’s been more coverage of this, but I must also point out that we - the actual Lebanese - have been saying that Israel’s goal is to make south Lebanon unliveable for nearly 2 years. I said this myself multiple times. We are simply not believed *because* we are Lebanese.
Benjamin Braun@benbraun.social · 2mo ago"FT has found evidence of controlled detonations and demolitions by Israeli forces and civilian contractors in dozens of border communities." Most of the destruction happened *after* the April ceasefire when territory was already under Israeli control (dark red dots). www.ft.com/content/25bc...
“The paramedics Israel is targeting in Lebanon are volunteers — jeopardizing their lives not to earn a living, but to help in their spare time,” writes Mary Turfah. The risks they’re taking are clear. And they are offered the option to leave. Very few of them do.
‘If I Leave, Who Is Going to Rescue People?’
In Lebanon, Israel’s bombs have wounded thousands, including my family. I visited the paramedics risking their lives to save them.
nymag.com
so excited for Nada Elia’s Falastiniyyat: A Century of Palestinian Feminisms, out from @versobooks.bsky.social on October 6. writers and reviewers let me know if you’d like an early copy!
There should be no doubt: What we are witnessing in West Bank is a sustained ethnic-cleansing campaign that exploits every incident to escalate, as the world is preoccupied with the threat of economic ruin from another war initiated by Israel and the US. www.haaretz.com/west-bank/20...
Israeli settlers burn, vandalize two mosques in West Bank, reports say
Palestinian reports said heavy damage was caused to a mosque in Qusra, where settlers also vandalized and stole property from residents; footage and reports also showed settlers setting fires to farml...
haaretz.com
From one of the Arabic lit listserves. Because why would anybody need or want to learn about Arabic or Islam right now? (To say nothing of the not “right now” reasons…) Petition to stop huge humanities cuts at Exeter: www.change.org/p/stop-redun...
Truth is a Mango "There’s a saying in Arabic, al-sidq mangah: the truth is a refuge. Or, as one of my cellmates pronounced it, in colloquial fashion: al-sidq manga. Truth’s a mango." Ahmed Naji on prison literature: asnaje.substack.com/p/truth-is-a...
Truth is a Mango
I can’t think of any literary genre that lies as habitually about its subject, or is as artistically lazy while claiming authenticity, as prison literature.
asnaje.substack.com
If you want to read an extract of my book, All Roads Lead to Rome, before you commit to buying, the lovely @jonnelledge.bsky.social has much of the intro in this week's newsletter! bsky.app/profile/jonn...
Rhiannon Garth Jones@rhigarthjones.bsky.social · 4mo agothis week is two years since I successfully defended my PhD AND the week the paperback version of my book comes out... that's some 24 months, huh? 🤭
The paperback version of ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME is coming out soon! And with an even more stunning cover 🥰
An introduction to our new book by editor Ibtihal Mahmood: arablit.org/2026/05/01/m... And you can sign up for serialized installments here: mayziadeh.substack.com
May Goes On: (Re)-Introducing May Ziadeh
On May 1st—yes, May in May—the English translation of Sawanih Fatat (Musings of a Young Woman) by May Ziadeh arrives as the second title in ArabLit’s ERASED, NOT FORGOTTEN series, following Out of …
arablit.org
A tremendous loss. Muzan was a dedicated writer and activist of the Sudanese Revolution. Her writings and talks are invaluable portals of radical, liberatory, and transformative political thought. Here is a thread of some them:
Nisrin Elamin@nisrinelamin.bsky.social · 6mo agoOn this third year anniversary of the war in Sudan we woke up to the devastating news that our friend and comrade Muzan Al Neel has passed away. She was a brilliant revolutionary thinker, writer and organizer and a wonderful human. Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un
Finally a chance to see much-praised documentary ‘Khartoum’, streaming on BBC4 tonight and then on iPlayer (in UK). #Sudan www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
BBC Four - Storyville, Khartoum
Against the backdrop of conflict in Sudan, five Khartoum residents search for freedom.
bbc.co.uk
My review of Hannah Lillith Assadi's new book about her father and exile, Paradiso 17 www.newstatesman.com/culture/book...
The dark shadow of Palestinian exile
Hannah Lillith Assadi’s latest novel, Paradiso 17, draws on her father’s displacement
newstatesman.com
Giving a talk that will present some of the early findings in my research for a biography of James Sanua- Abou Naddara cjs.fas.harvard.edu/calendar_eve...
Raphael Cormack | “How Jewish was James Sanua?”
Raphael Cormack | “How Jewish was James Sanua?” Raphael Cormack, Assistant Professor, School of Modern Languages and Cultures, Durham University, United Kingdom In conversation with Jessic...
cjs.fas.harvard.edu
I'm excited to share this new essay, which offers a glimpse into my current book project: a biography of Shaykh Imam. I hope this piece will appear in Arabic soon and if anyone has a story to tell about Imam, please reach out. I would love to hear it. 🎶 doi.org/10.1017/S002...
ArabLit Quarterly Spring 2025: GRIEF (PDF) The GRIEF issue of ArabLit Quarterly brings readers & writers together into a space of shared rage, shared love, and a shared way forward. We share in the horror of seeing small children covered in the grime of cement dust and smoke; the horror of…
ArabLit Quarterly Spring 2025: GRIEF (PDF)
The GRIEF issue of ArabLit Quarterly brings readers & writers together into a space of shared rage, shared love, and a shared way forward. We share in the horror of seeing small children covered in the grime of cement dust and smoke; the horror of manufactured hunger and deprivation; the horror of a whiteboard on which healthcare workers have written REMEMBER US. We share in the grief-rage of people kidnapped by governments, of climate collapse, of profit margins wedged open far enough to swallow people whole.
arablit.org
Just finished the excellent ‘Holy Men of the Electromagnetic Age’ by @raphcormack.bsky.social - a highly readable account of fakirism, spiritualism and occultism in the 20th century, approached through the lives of two key figures: Tahra Bey and Dr Dahesh.
Happy US Publication date to HOLY MEN OF THE ELECTROMAGNETIC AGE. It's been a slog but it's finally here! @wwnorton.bsky.social wwnorton.com/books/978039...
