London, the New Capital of Middle Eastern and North African Arts, Culture, Music, and Literature, by Malu Halasa

Culture Street mural for Grenfell Tower, with poem by Ben Okri, North Kensington, London, image courtesy of IranWire and #PaintTheChange. London-based writer Malu Halasa canvasses the Middle Eastern and North African culture scene in London, where even in lockdown, there’s still much to experience. London makes travelers think of high tea and empire. For those of us who live here and have a passion for and write about the Middle East, London has emerged, more than New York or Paris, as a capital of Arab and Iranian culture outside the region. London has emerged, more than New York or Paris, as a capital of Arab and Iranian culture outside the region. It was not always like this. In the 1990s, relatively few Middle East–related events took place in London. Yet in the past twenty years that I’ve lived here, London has been transformed. The change started taking place in the 2000s. In part, political events, 9/11, and, ten years later, the 2011 Arab Spring or Awakening, as well as the wars in between and after 2011, prompted writers, journalists, and activists to forgo the usual conversation about winners and losers of regional conflicts. Instead, we began to look to creative expression from these countries and in the diaspora for a different kind of understanding and engagement. It was an approach that continued the conversations many of us were having with the people and voices that came onto the streets and in the squares... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'

[ World Literature Today | 2021-04-19 19:22:28 UTC ]

Other news stories related to: "London, the New Capital of Middle Eastern and North African Arts, Culture, Music, and Literature, by Malu Halasa"


10 New Audiobooks for Spring 2024

AudioFile recommends 10 excellent new audiobooks for spring, including masterful new works from Hanif Abdurraqib, Percival Everett, and more. Whether you’re looking for a memoir told in the author’s own voice or a fascinating novel performed by professional narrators, you’ll find something... Continue reading at The Millions

[ The Millions | 2024-05-21 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Paul Scheer was abused as a child. His new memoir helped him reclaim 'the power of my voice for my childhood'

Paul Scheer's memoir-in-essays, 'Joyful Recollections of Trauma,' centers largely around the abuse he and his mother suffered at the hands of his stepfather. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2024-05-21 10:00:29 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Inside Reese Witherspoon’s Literary Empire

In today's book news: an in-depth look at Reese Witherspoon's book club, upcoming books that "should" be bestsellers, why you should buy yourself a bookstore gift card, and more. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2024-05-20 18:19:41 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Is print dead? Not at this indie bookstore publishing L.A.'s untold stories

A local electrical engineer with a passion for literature is on a mission to share the stories of local authors who have struggled to break into the mainstream publishing industry. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2024-05-20 10:00:37 UTC ]
More news stories like this


What Pearl S. Buck’s Memoir Can Teach Parents of Disabled Children

When my daughter was a year old, my mother handed me a worn-out copy of Pearl S. Buck’s The Child Who Never Grew (1950). The act of giving me this book felt significant, like an inheritance that she passed on to me. She, as the mother of a child with disabilities, passed it on to […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2024-05-20 08:55:53 UTC ]
More news stories like this


A bunch of fake Kathleen Hanna biographies were released on the same day as her new memoir.

Yesterday, the iconic Riot Grrrl Kathleen Hanna published a memoir with Ecco/HarperCollins. And Rebel Girl: My Life as a Feminist Punk is already being touted as an “electric, searing” history from one of rock’s biggest icons. Unfortunately, the book has some competition. From a nefarious bevy... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2024-05-15 16:58:59 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Column: L.A.'s only Spanish-language children's bookstore will soon get más grande

Cool stuff was everywhere I looked. A compendium of Latin American folk tales. A young-adult version of radio legend Maria Hinojosa's memoir. Picture books teaching Spanish speakers words in Nahuatl and Maya. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2024-05-15 13:00:39 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Lit Hub Asks: 5 Authors, 7 Questions, No Wrong Answers

The Lit Hub Author Questionnaire is a monthly interview featuring seven questions for five authors with new books. This month we talk to: * Noé Álvarez (Accordion Eulogies: A Memoir of Music, Migration, and Mexico) Anna Dorn (Perfume & Pain) Abby Geni (The Body Farm) Aimee Nezhukumatathil... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2024-05-14 08:56:57 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Lit Hub Daily: May 13, 2024

“I had assumed my mother had written a novel about real estate—after all the title was A Hot Property…” Kate Feiffer on reading her mother’s x-rated novel and considering female-authored erotica as a form of social critique. | Lit Hub Memoir Jessica Shattuck recommends a reading list of of the... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2024-05-13 10:30:32 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Book Deals: Week of May 13, 2024

Atria lands a memoir by ‘Ted Lasso’ costar Brendan Hunt; Viking takes Lindsay Owens’s exploration of price gouging, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-05-10 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


The 2024 Pulitzer Prize–Winning Books, Reviewed

Read our reviews of this year's winning works of fiction, general nonfiction, history, biography, and memoir and autobiography. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-05-10 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


System of a Down singer Serj Tankian's new book details band's up and downs, and what fuels his activism

Before releasing new memoir "Down With the System" on May 14, Tankian spoke about why he's optimistic about Armenia, and whether we might see another album from System of a Down. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2024-05-09 21:29:13 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Lilly Dancyger Is Rethinking the Ethics of Memoir

"I do think that we, as writers, owe things to the people in our lives that we care about." The post Lilly Dancyger Is Rethinking the Ethics of Memoir appeared first on The Millions. Continue reading at The Millions

[ The Millions | 2024-05-09 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Gov. Gavin Newsom is working on a memoir as he builds his image beyond California

Ambitious politicians often publish an autobiographical book as they explore whether to launch a presidential campaign. Will California's governor be next? Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2024-05-09 10:00:06 UTC ]
More news stories like this


He Sang ‘What a Fool Believes.’ But Michael McDonald Is in on the Joke.

The singer and songwriter with a silky-smooth voice has written a memoir with Paul Reiser that recounts his story of pain and redemption with dashes of humor. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2024-05-09 09:04:03 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Panel Mania: 'A Witch’s Guide to Burning' by Aminder Dhaliwal

Aminder Dhaliwal’s new graphic novel 'A Witch’s Guide to Burning' transforms the grim notion of burning witches at the stake into an epic quest in a fantasy world marked by magic, demons, and a search for lost memories. A six-page excerpt. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-05-08 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Luis Miranda Jr. reflects on giving, the arts and his son Lin-Manuel in the new memoir 'Relentless'

Long before his son Lin-Manuel's Tony Award-winning musical “Hamilton” brought his family international recognition and unexpected fortune, Luis A Continue reading at ABC News

[ ABC News | 2024-05-07 13:34:34 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Struggling Fifth Avenue landmark Scribner Building gets a new chapter

The noble but neglected Scribner Building on Fifth Avenue has renewed the lease for its last remaining tenant at a higher rent, marking the first good news in many years for the landmarked property where F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway used to meet their publisher. Apparel retailer... Continue reading at Crains New York

[ Crains New York | 2024-05-07 09:48:08 UTC ]
More news stories like this


On Memoir, Permission, and the Thorny Terrain of Writing About Family

Oftentimes, a reader asks what it’s like to publish a memoir with family members in it. How do you seek permission? What do you do when someone in your family protests your storytelling? Do you write it anyway? In this transmission, the radio delivers the questions as something else: Where is... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2024-05-06 08:53:35 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Brittney Griner Didn’t Owe Us Anything. Her New Memoir Is Devastating.

The WNBA star does not hold back in her account of her Russian detainment and its aftermath. Continue reading at Slate

[ Slate | 2024-05-04 09:55:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this