Middle East | Middle East
Jun.24.2011
The "Arab Spring" was led by Egypt, a country with an emerging literature much like that of South Africa 30-40 years ago. If the recent governmental overthrow produces nothing more than a louder voice for writers there, it will be a great success, for Egypt and the Middle East.
In Cairo,...
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Jun.18.2011
Doug Roberts with one of his cats
By Anthony S. Policastro
When I read Doug Roberts' book, The Man Who Fooled SAVAK, it was one of those stories that completely engrossed me where I couldn't put it down until it was finished.
Inspired by true events in the early 1970s, The Man Who Fooled SAVAK...
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Jun.16.2011
The New York Times ran a travel article last weekend about things to do in Jerusalem during the Jewish Sabbath when most things are shut. The article was fairly typical of shorter travel writing in that all the experiences described were unlikely to surprise anyone. Eat hummus at the restaurants....
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Jun.02.2011
I'm launching my new Podcast called The Man of Twists and Turns today. It'll include interviews with writers and discussions of my own creative process for my books about Palestinian detective Omar Yussef, Mozart and Caravaggio. It’s a podcast about writing for writers and for readers who love good...
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May.17.2011
When she was in her early twenties, Egyptian writer Ghada Abdel Aal began the complicated process of seeking a spouse. It involved meetings in parental living rooms over awkward glasses of tea. On one such occasion her potential groom spent his time screaming at a soccer game on tv. Another turned...
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May.12.2011
I've written this story as an immediate response to the murder and arrest of anti-government demonstrators all over Syria--and elsewhere in the Arab world. It’s a work of fiction based on the characters in my series of Palestinian crime novels. But real people are still being killed.
DAMASCUS...
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May.08.2011
When Kamal Abdel-Malek was a young student, he chose to study outside the Arab world, eventually becoming a professor at Brown and Princeton Universities in the US. It was the first step in the physical and intellectual journeys of this intriguing Egyptian writer. Born in Alexandria and now a...
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May.01.2011
If there had never been a Palestinian intifada, I might never have written my novel about the death of Mozart, MOZART’S LAST ARIA, which is published today in the UK by Corvus. (http://www.mattrees.net/mozart.html)Of course, 4,000 people would also be alive who are now dead. In the course of...
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Apr.15.2011
Some people are always expecting or hoping for a war. They’re even working towards that end. When you live in the Middle East, you come to such a realization eventually.Most people are like me, however. The wars sneak up on them. They notice the signs, then they bury them because they think they’re...
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Apr.08.2011
Susan Abulhawa is a unique voice in contemporary fiction. She’s a Palestinian, born in Kuwait to a refugee family. She spent some years in an orphanage in East Jerusalem, her ancestral city, before university education in the US and she now lives near Philadelphia. She’s the founder of a wonderful...
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