The Latest

New Short Fiction: 'Denial Likes Small Activities'

New Short Fiction: ‘Denial Likes Small Activities’

Fiction /
This story comes from Hussein al-Abri's latest collection, Time Slips Away in the Corner (2026) ...

Book Review: Ansam Abu Sitta’s ‘Bench of the Reserves’

Book Review: Ansam Abu Sitta’s ‘Bench of the Reserves’
Gaza, Palestine, Reviews /
Book Review: Ansam Abu Sitta’s ‘Bench of the Reserves’ Reviewed by Nada Hodali Live in the present moment, do not miss out on what is happening there in front of you! Why are you always stuck in the past? Most of us have had this line thrown at us in different situations. In the case of being a Palestinian, however, being stuck either in the past or the future has become a survival mechanism for ...

Mahmoud Darwish: ‘The End of Things’

Mahmoud Darwish: 'The End of Things'
Poetry /
There are events around the world this September 25-27 celebrating the poetry of Mahmoud Darwish, after the Arab World Institute and Centre Pompidou declared September 25 to be "Mahmoud Darwish Poetry Day." ...

Fiction

New Short Fiction: ‘Denial Likes Small Activities’

New Short Fiction: 'Denial Likes Small Activities'

This story comes from Hussein al-Abri’s latest collection, Time Slips Away in the Corner (2026).

...

Classic Short Fiction from Tunisia: ‘Hajj Zayan’

Classic Short Fiction from Tunisia: 'Hajj Zayan'

Mostafa Khraïef (1910-1967) was a prominent Tunisian poet, writer, and journalist.

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Short Fiction by Muhammad Khudayyir

Short Fiction by Muhammad Khudayyir

A story from the fall of 1983 by the scribe of Basra, Muhammad Khudayyir.

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Poetry

Mahmoud Darwish: ‘The End of Things’

Mahmoud Darwish: 'The End of Things'

There are events around the world this September 25-27 celebrating the poetry of Mahmoud Darwish, after the Arab World Institute and Centre Pompidou declared September 25 to be “Mahmoud Darwish Poetry Day.”

...

Poetry in Translation by Fadwa Suleiman

Poetry in Translation by Fadwa Suleiman

“I’m sitting alone in my room / my clothes scattered around me”

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Texts After the Screaming

Texts After the Screaming

Nour Balousha wrote these two poems “after I stopped screaming, not because it ended, but because I grew too exhausted to keep screaming.”

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Interviews

On Music, Memory, and Damascus

On Music, Memory, and Damascus

“Music is one of the arts most connected to place, as it is a physical vibration in a space.”

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On Shaping ‘The Book of Damascus’

On Shaping ‘The Book of Damascus’

The Book of Damascus, ed. Zaher Omareen, is a new anthology in their “Reading the City” series. Here, editor Zaher Omareen talks with Fifi Bat-hef about selecting ten stories to represent a city as complex and storied as Damascus.

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Palestinian Sittis and the Inheritance of Memories

Palestinian Sittis and the Inheritance of Memories

In this conversation, Hooda Shawa offers inspiring insight into her experience writing such a personal and powerful novel as well as herself as an author.

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In Focus

From Gaza
Between Two Arabic Translators with Yasmeen Hanoosh
May Goes On: (Re)-Introducing May Ziadeh

From the archives

A Talk with Poet Golan Haji: ‘Languages Never Draw Geographical Boundaries’

A Talk with Poet Golan Haji: 'Languages Never Draw Geographical Boundaries'

” Jaziri wrote poetry with one set of alphabets which at that time were used in four languages: Kurdish, Ottoman Turkish, Persian, and Arabic. Sometimes, he used the four languages in one couplet. His poems are still recited and sung by Kurds. That coexistence of languages was quite natural, the alluring music was convincing, although I sometimes understood almost nothing.”

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‘Resistance and the Palestinian Folk Song’

'Resistance and the Palestinian Folk Song'
This piece appeared in our Spring 2021 SONG issue.  By Shaimaa Abulebda It was last year when a short video ...

‘Writing in Gaza’: by Yousef el-Qedra

'Writing in Gaza': by Yousef el-Qedra
Yousef el-Qedra is a poet and playwright in Gaza; you can read more of his work in translation in Hayden’s ...