Reviews
Susan Abulhawa’s The Scar of David
When I am given a book and a time-line to read it, I usually don’t because I feel like I’m being forced into something. This was the case with... Read more
VIDEO: Bassam Saba Ensemble live at Joe’s Pub NYC
A couple weeks ago, a packed Joe’s Pub saw a very special performance by the Bassam Saba Ensemble as they celebrated the release of their long-anticipated... Read more
Trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf at Barbès
Bodies were everywhere—in chairs, against the wall, on the floor—overlapped like ice cubes in a glass. There was no room to move, let alone breathe,... Read more
More Than Jokes: 1001 Laughs Comedy Tour
“If you can get somebody to laugh, they’ll listen to whatever you have to say,” is what Amer Zahr, producer of the 1001 Laughs Arab Comedy... Read more
Dubai International Film Festival Highlights
If someone had told me last year that I would be watching the sun set in the Arabian Gulf, on the beach in a new suit as the Christmas lights illuminated... Read more
Zakia Tahiri’s Number One State of Mind
Zakia Tahiri’s Number One, tackles Morocco’s moudawana (family code), sweeping legislation which overhauled the nation’s family law,... Read more
Michael Muhammad Knight’s The Taqwacores
What is religion and what is culture? What is family and what is society? What is truth and what is communal? What is right and what is wrong? In The Taqwacores,... Read more
A Cultural Mélange of Epic Proportions in The Narcicyst
The Narcicyst, a.k.a. Jamal Abdel Narcel, a.k.a. Yassin Alsalman, a.k.a. Narcy is a bonafide entertainer. A mish-mash of all things East and West, he has... Read more
Jackie Salloum's Slingshot Hip Hop
Other reviewers express surprise and feign jaded reactions to the subject of first-time director, Jackie Salloum’s Slingshot Hip Hop. But one word runs... Read more
Alicia Erian’s Towelhead
Alicia Erian’s novel, Towelhead, reads as something of an opus to Hillary Clinton’s infamous line, “It takes a village.” But Erian fills her village... Read more
