This travelogue was written as part of a journey overland through the Middle East I completed in 2009 and was originally published in The Alligator. The sun is burning overhead, white-hot in the unforgiving emptiness of the sky. Its relentless heat scorches the stones on which I am sitting and turns the dry earth into … Continue reading »
A review of 66 Minutes in Damascus, first published in The Arab Review The hood smells like cigarettes and old sweat, its blackness tempered by the sliver of light coming through its frayed seams. I can hear my heart thumping in my chest and feel the cold, rough surface of the wall in front of … Continue reading »
This article was originally published on The Arab Review. Even from the outside, I know immediately which apartment belongs to Zena: the open door framed by a cascade of pink lights, the scent of cardamom-laced coffee wafting invitingly down the staircase. Beirut-based artist and writer Zena el Khalil tells me she likes to use pink … Continue reading »
Street art, Tahrir Square and a lingering sense of pride in Egypt’s chaotic capital. Continue reading »
This is an extract of a review I wrote for The Arab Review. Write down:Arab. a name with no friendly diminutive. a patient man, in a country brimming with anger. My roots have gripped this soil since time began, before the opening of the ages before the cypress and the olive, before the grasses flourished… … Continue reading »
