February 2010
Nicolas Wadimoff's Film on Gaza: "Aisheen"
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The documentary film "Aisheen – Still Alive In Gaza" scooped the ecumenical jury prize at this year's Berlinale. The film, which was produced one month after the end of the war in Gaza, does not focus on the destruction itself, but about the life that follows it. Igal Avidan spoke to the Swiss filmmaker Nicolas Wadimoff
The "Beirut Art Center"
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The new "Beirut Art Center" sees itself as an independent art space with an ambitious programme for bringing contemporary art forms to a wider public. Charlotte Bank reports from Beirut
Golden Bear for "Bal" at the Berlinale
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Ultimately, the Berlin International Film Festival managed to come up with at least one plausible winner, the Turkish-German co-production
Bal (Honey) from director Semih Kaplanoglu. Michael Althen reports on a worthy winner at a not-so-worthy festival
Cherien Dabis's Film "Amreeka"
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The film "Amreeka" tells the story of a Palestinian family trying to cope with life in its new home, a small town in Illinois. Qantara's Rasha Khayat went to see the award-winning film and spoke to director and screenplay-writer Cherien Dabis about her successful project
Jordi Savall and Montserrat Figueras
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Jordi Savall and Montserrat Figueras, both world renowned specialists in early music, have produced an album that explores musical traditions from Jerusalem's various epochs: the Jewish, the Christian, the Arab and the Ottoman eras. Lewis Gropp introduces the intercultural musical project
The Fusion Guitarist Kamal Musallam
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The Dubai-based Jordanian jazz guitarist Kamal Musallam recently released his fifth album. "LuLu" is an unusual mix of blues, jazz, and traditional rhythms from the Arabian Gulf. Martina Sabra introduces the album and musician
Interview with Anant Kumar
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Ever since Salman Rushdie's novel
Midnight's Children won the prestigious Man Booker Prize in 1981, there has been a whole series of very successful Indian writers. Hans Dembowski discussed the significance of bestseller writers such as Aravind Adiga, Arundhati Roy and Shashi Tharoor with Anant Kumar
The Moroccan-Belgian Writer Rachida Lamrabet
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In her novel "Woman Country", Rachida Lamrabet describes the painful soul-searching of a Moroccan woman who has emigrated to Belgium. The young woman finds herself torn between a western lifestyle and the traditions of her homeland. A review by Volker Kaminski
Portrait: Singer Hindi Zahra
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Hindi Zahra is the new face of a young generation of emancipated, cosmopolitan songwriters in North Africa. Her album "Handmade" is due to be released in late February. Stefan Franzen caught up with Hindi Zahra in Paris
Even Alaa Al Aswany's early works were shot with the brilliance for which he is now renowned. This collection of short stories centres on Hisham, soon to be a professor of surgery, who loses himself in cynicism and criticism of Egyptian culture. Angela Schader read the book
In an interview with Qantara.de the winner of this year's Arabic Booker Prize Abdo Khal talks about the significance of this major award for the Gulf region, as well as the division of Arab culture into a centre and a periphery. Loay Mudhoon spoke to him
"Hoshruba" is a fantasy epic written in 19th century Muslim India. Now Muhammad Ali Farooqi has produced the first ever translation of "Hoshruba" into any language. In this interview with Lewis Gropp he talks about this unique epic, Urdu literature, and the colonially induced Urdu-Hindi divide
An Israeli soldier almost turns into a Palestinian underground fighter. This remarkable transformation is the subject of a novel by the Tunisian-French author Hubert Haddad. The motif may have something to do with the author's dual allegiances – Haddad is an Arab Jew. Kersten Knipp reviews his novel "Palestine"
Germany took centre stage at the eighth Dubai Jazz Festival. Hamburg led the way, sending no fewer than seven bands to the Persian Gulf. Jan Tengeler reports
In the place where the largest library of the classical antiquity once burned to the ground, its spirit of openness and dialogue is now being revived. Young creative people from the theatre scenes in Europe and the Mediterranean region are performing their work in Alexandria. Susanne Schanda reports
brownbook magazine is a middle eastern magazine dedicated to create awareness for the growing talent that is available in the region whether they are artists, galleries, photographers or even talented individuals who add value to the region and beyond. More...
In this authors@google lecture, Salman Rushdie talks about his latest novel, "The Enchantress of Florence", which brings together the Italian cradle of the Renaissance with the enlightened Mughal Empire of Akbar the Great. More...
Known as an expert on Islam and Islamic art, in his book Titus Burckhardt presents in-depth analyses of seminal examples of Islamic architecture, from Spain and Morocco to Persia and India. Click here to have a look at an extensive excerpt...
Fadhil Al-Azzawi's novel The Last of the Angels, set in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk during the 1950s, was recently published in English. Read the excerpt chapter "Hameed Nylon" on Words Without Borders...
