Profile of the Egyptian Comic Illustrator Ahmed Omar
Comic illustrator Ahmed Omar is primarily known for his cartoons in "El-Doshma". His comics address the issues of corruption, injustice – and the search for a better life. Matthias Sailer introduces the artist More »
Nass El Ghiwane
For decades now, Nass El Ghiwane have fascinated audiences with their individual stylistic blend of Gnawa trance music and social protest songs. Their popularity is such that they've been dubbed the "Moroccan Beatles". Andreas Kirchgäßner profiles the group More »
Missing: the Syrian Film-maker Orwa Nyrabia
Last Thursday afternoon, Orwa Nyrabia, film-maker, festival organiser and activist, disappeared as he was on the way to board a flight from Damascus to Cairo. It is assumed that he was arrested at Damascus airport by the Syrian security services. But, as Charlotte Bank reports, the case is not unique More »
Michael Muhammad Knight's Novel ''Taqwacore''
Every movement has its pioneers. With his novel "Taqwacore", Michael Muhammad Knight created a blueprint for an individual youth protest culture in the US: "Muslim Punk". His book is both shocking and provocative. But "Taqwacore" has struck a chord with Muslim youngsters who say it reflects their own conflicts of identity. By Naima El Moussaoui More »
Cinematic Arts in Jordan
Jordan does not have a long history of cinematic arts, but at the Red Sea Institute for Cinematic Arts in Aqaba students learn how to make films, being encouraged to critical debate and discourse. An interview with Paolo Remati, head of the institute More »
Interview with the Lebanese Filmmaker Jocelyne Saab
Jocelyne Saab is one of Lebanon's most daring filmmakers. In this interview with Élena Eilmes, the artist and director talks about the Beirut-related symbolism of her most recent film, and the themes of violence, reading and love in her artwork More »
Literature and Collective Trauma in Algeria
Perception of Algerian literature is dominated by the complex thematic backdrop of violence and the processing of traumatic experience. What are the reasons for this? In a piece to mark the 50th anniversary of Algerian independence, Martina Sabra debates this issue More »
Book Review: Gunnar Decker's Hermann Hesse biography
Hermann Hesse spent his life searching for truth and inner harmony outside Germany. Yet his quests to the East ultimately led him back to the West and to the realization that the alternatives he found in the East offered no short cut to salvation. To mark the 50th anniversary of his death, Gunnar Decker presents a new biography of the successful author, one which also explains the Orientalism in his work. Andreas Pflitsch read the book More »
15th Gnawa Music Festival in Morocco
As dynamic as ever in its fifteenth year, the Gnawa and World Music Festival brings together Gnawa trance and the great performers of world music, jazz and pop in the picturesque and very windy city of Essaouira on Morocco's Atlantic coast. Andreas Kirchgäßner took in the atmosphere More »
Atiq Rahimi's latest novel
In his new novel, Atiq Rahimi raises the question of what constitutes a "just" murder. In a world etched by terrorism, legal uncertainty and the daily struggle for survival, is vigilante justice a legitimate form of resistance? The author needs less than 300 pages to explore this question in the form of a novel. Volker Kaminski reports More »
