Culture

Frankfurt Book Fair (photo: Sebastian Gollnow/dpa/picture-alliance)

Frankfurt Book Fair

Iran drops out, citing interference

Iran has withdrawn its participation in the Frankfurt Book Fair, accusing the event of meddling in the country's domestic affairs. Organisers have denied the accusation. By Kristina Reymann-SchneiderMore

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Lebanese author Rabih Alameddine (photo: Benito Ordonez)

Rabih Alameddine’s "The Wrong End of the Telescope"

We are all in search of a home

In “The Wrong End of the Telescope”, Rabih Alameddine draws us away from the headlines and into the personal story of one individual. Mina is complex, compelling and very real. By pulling us into her life and allowing us to see Lesbos through her eyes, the reality of the refugee camp comes alive. Richard Marcus read the bookMore

Christy Lefteri's "The Beekeeper of Aleppo": Escaping hell on earthGiuseppe Catozzella’s ″Don′t tell me you′re afraid″: The flame of OlympiaLGBTQ+ Pride: Being queer and Arab
Two of the four steel slabs of US artist Richard Serra's "East-West/West-East" installation in the Qatari desert (photo: Mustafa ABUMUNES AFP)

Richard Serra sculpture in Qatar desert

4WD pilgrimage to acclaimed installation

Deep in the Qatari desert, security guards have a lonely time keeping 24-hour watch over one of the world's most isolated artworks, created by renowned U.S. sculptor Richard SerraMore

Qantara photo essay: Qatar's new national museum – a rose in the desertThe Arab Museum of Modern Art in Qatar: Can Mathaf restore a pan-Arab artistic identity?Art Dubai: A new world of art
Arab women mobilise: the superheroine Qahera frees political prisoners, much to the displeasure of those in power (photo: Deena Mohamed)

Cartoonists in the Arab world

Children of the revolution

How are comic book artists in the Arab world responding to the political situation in the region? Lena Bopp talks to illustrators Lina Ghaibeh and George Khoudry about young artists' collectives and feminist superheroesMore

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Portrait of Salman Rushdie dated 1986 (photo: Kharbine Tababor/imago images)

Salman Rushdie's "The Satanic Verses"

The long road to German publication

Following the recent brutal attack on Salman Rushdie, famous writers have been reading passages from his works. Torsten Landsberg takes a look at the struggle in 1988 to publish "The Satanic Verses" in GermanMore

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Illustration from Fariduddin Attar's "Vogelgespraeche" published by Edition Orient 2022 (source: Edition Orient)

Attar’s "The Conference of the Birds"

There is no person whose soul has not suffered

Fariduddin Attar’s "The Conference of the Birds", one of the seminal works of Islamic mysticism, has recently been published in sumptuously illustrated German translation. It makes an excellent introduction to the Persian poet. By Gerrit WustmannMore

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Iranian artist Parastou Forouhar (photo: private)

Mahsa Amini’s death

Iranian artist Parastou Forouhar: "I am really livid "

Iranian artist Parastou Forouhar has lived in Germany since 1991. Full of rage, just like the protesters, she hasn't yet given up on the idea of justice. By Julia HitzMore

German-Iranian artist Parastou Forouhar: What it means to be Iranian these daysMahsa Amini's death: Iranians unite in rage and mourningGolineh Atai's unsung heroines: In Iran, freedom is femaleParastou Forouhar's website
Algerian Jewish musican Edmond Nathan Yafil, in the centre with the violin and the striking moustache (source: over-blog.fr)

Muslims and Jews in the Maghreb

A whispered history

The history of Jews and Muslims is far more entangled than you might imagine – but you have to listen out for it. In "Recording History", Christopher Silver takes us on a sonic journey into twentieth-century North Africa, to a forgotten world of records and recording artists – and the music that defined an era. Interview by Tugrul von MendeMore

First Congress of Arab Music in 1932: A richly diverse palette of rhythm and timbreSephardi Singer Yasmin Levy: "In my songs there is no war"The Maghrebʹs Moorish-Spanish legacy: Andalusia begins in northern MoroccoOfficial Gharamophone website
Still from "Flee" (source: fleemovie.com)

Afghan refugee confronts his past

"Flee", one man's story

Jonas Poher Rasmussen's Oscar-nominated animated documentary “Flee” focuses on the life of a refugee from Afghanistan. Based on a true story, it centres around the question: when does flight end? By Jane EsherMore

Denmark's new "Flugt" Museum: Flight has a million facesEurope, Ukraine and refugees: Compassion, a sliding scale?Jadd Hilal's debut novel: Women searching and yearning for home
Arab punk fusion band Al Qasar (photo: Kid Richards)

Al Qasar’s "Who Are We"

A hard message for a hard world

Welcome to the world of Al Qasar, where Arabic music collides head-on with punk and psychedelic to create something powerful and beautiful. "Who Are We" is a raucous, subversive trip into the urban landscapes inhabited by a new generation of Arabs around the world. By Richard MarcusMore

The Kominas: More than just a Muslim punk bandSyrian oud player Bahur Ghazi: Hoping for a phoenixAbderrahmane Abdelli's "Songs of Exile": Yearning for home
Symbolic image LGBTQ in the Maghreb (photo: DW/F.Steinborn)

Queer Film Festival in Tunisia

Between fear and courage

With queer people facing widespread discrimination in Tunisia, the Mawjoudin Queer Film Festival will kick off in the country's capital Tunis on 22 September in a semi-public setting. Sarah Mersch reportsMore

LGBTQ+ Pride: Being queer and ArabR.I.P. LGBTQ activist Sarah Hegazy "How can I survive in a society based on hate?"Brian Whitaker – "Unspeakable Love": Gay and lesbian life in the Middle East
Symbolic image of a menorah, the Jewish seven-branched candlestick (photo: Roland Weihrauch/dpa/picture-alliance)

Nathan Englander's "kaddish.com"

Guilt and belated mourning rights

In Nathan Englander's novel "kaddish.com", a Jewish man is plagued by feelings of guilt and regret for disregarding the rules of the Kaddish (prayer for the dead) for his deceased father a decade before. A witty yet simultaneously melancholy novel for all readers, not just people of faith. By Volker KaminskiMore

Rabbi Elhanan Miller on interfaith dialogue: Bringing Jews and Muslims togetherInterfaith dialogue: Muslim-Jewish pilgrimage to AuschwitzIrish author Colum McCann: "Apeirogon" – an entire kaleidoscope of pain
"Love and Compassion", 1971, by Syrian graphic designer Burhan Karkutli (source: eyeondesign.aiga.org)

“A History of Arab Graphic Design”

Shaping collective memories

Bahia Shehab and Haytham Nawar's award-winning "A History of Arab Graphic Design" (2020) took ten years to produce. In interview with Marcia Lynx Qualey, Shehab talks about the project and the difficulties in compiling an Arab graphic design textbookMore

Tunisian calligrapher Nja Mahdaoui: Building the futureModern Arabic graffiti: Ancient calligraphy meets politicsContemporary art from Saudi Arabia: The Kaaba as a security zone
Goethe Medal winner Mohamed Abla from Egypt at the award ceremony in Weimar, 28.08.2022 (photo: Goethe-Institut)

Mohamed Abla awarded Goethe Medal

Telling stories through art

Mohamed Abla is the first visual artist from Egypt to be awarded the Goethe-Institut’s Goethe Medal, Germany’s highest honour in the area of foreign cultural policy. Stefan Weidner sheds some light on the artist’s workMore

Cartoon museum in Egypt: "Provisions" for travellers to Tunis Village Art and revolution in the Arab world in 2015: Struggling against the restoration of "order"2022 Goethe Medal awardees: Outstanding contributors to cultural dialogue
Screenshot of German-born director Cem Kaya (source: BR)

Cem Kaya on Turkish pop culture

As multi-faceted as Asia Minor

Known for his documentary films about Turkish pop culture, German-born director Cem Kaya's latest work "Liebe, D-Mark und Tod" (Love, Deutschmarks and Death) focuses on the musical culture of Turkish migrants in Germany. He talks to Schayan Riaz about his creative processes, German-Turkish relations and of course, about the musicMore

60 years German-Turkish Recruitment Agreement: German-Turks take the arts by stormTurkish Arabesque songs: Sensitive machosMuhabbet: Rehabilitated crooner
Kurdish author Bachtyar Ali (photo: KEYSTONE/picture-alliance)

Kurdish author Bachtyar Ali

Tackling the tornado of history

Bachtyar Ali sends the hero of his latest novel – "Mein Onkel den der Wind mitnahm" – literally flying. Jamshid is so thin after his years as a political prisoner that a gust of wind sweeps him through the bars of his prison cell and out to freedom. Volker Kaminski read the bookMore

Interview with Kurdish author Bachtyar Ali: "I only exist where my words take flight"James Joyce′ "Ulysses" in Kurdish: Across snotgrean seas"Min Dît – The Children of Diyarbakir": Fairytale and social Utopia
Iranian author Abbas Maroufi in his Berlin bookshop (photo: pciture-alliance)

Death of Iranian writer Abbas Maroufi

Engaged in cultural dialogue

Following a serious illness, writer, publisher and journalist Abbas Maroufi has died at the age of 65 in a hospital in Berlin. He was best known for his novel "Symphony of the Dead". By Pedram HabibiMore

Interview with the Iranian writer Abbas Maroufi: ″Self-censorship is the worst″Writers in Iran: Fighting a losing battleYoung Persian fiction: "Dort": weird fiction fresh from Iran
Geometric shapes have started to appear on Iranian carpets as part of a redesign and resizing in response to changing tastes, and fallen exports (photo: AFP)

Persian rugs in 21st century

Ancient Iranian tradition gets makeover as sales sink

Striking geometric shapes that recall 20th-century abstract art are not what you would expect to see adorning a handmade Iranian rug. But changing tastes and increased competition from Asia have forced some in the trade to redesign and resize a tradition dating back more than 2,000 years.More

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Cover of "dort" literary magazine, showcasing contemporary Persian literature (source: publisher)

Young Persian fiction

"Dort": weird fiction fresh from Iran

Literature by young Iranian authors is rare in German. Publisher and translator Arash Alborz aims to change this with his literary magazine, 'dort'. Do the first two editions live up to that promise? Gerrit Wustmann took a look for Qantara.deMore

Official 'dort' websiteModern Persian literature: Five Farsi novels and their impact on Iranian pop culturePersian poetry in the 21st century: The poem in contemporary IranCaught between tradition and modernity: Will ancient poet Hafez win the "soft war" in Iran?
Woman looking at art (photo: AP/picture-alliance)

Tehran’s Museum of Contemporary Art

Iranians flock to see Western art

For the first time in decades, contemporary Western artworks, from Donald Judd to Christo, are on public display in the Iranian capital. They had long been locked away so as not to offend Islamic values. By Suzanne CordsMore

Qantara photo essay: The art of ornamentation by Parastou ForouharGlobal history of ideas – contemporary Muslim art: Enlightenment rediscoveredLebanon between the wars: The revolutionary art of Beirut's golden 60s

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Understanding Iran's protests through its literary legacy

1979: Iranian actress Maliheh Nikjoumand argues with two clergymen who want to enforce the compulsory veil (photo: ISNA)

The protests of 2022 are not new in the political landscape of Iran, and novels can help us place them in a larger historical context, writes Laetitia NanquetteMore

Seven extraordinary Arab female modernists

Iraqi artist and calligrapher Madiha Umar pictured in Egypt in the 1950s (source: en.vogue.me)

A staunch champion of Arab women artists, Sultan Sooud Al-Qassemi, founder of Barjeel Art Foundation, curates for Vogue Arabia the modernists who have left an indelible mark on the region and the worldMore

India: Netflix audiences jump on "Darlings"

Alia Bhatt, Shefali Shah and Vijay Varma have won much praise for their performances in Darlings (source: Netflix)

Domestic violence is no laughing matter, but a dark comedy streaming on Netflix on the topic is wowing audiences in IndiaMore

Al Saqi, Europe’s largest Middle Eastern bookseller, to close

Al Saqi Books shopfront in Bayswater, London (photo: Al-Saqi Facebook)

London-based Al Saqi Books, Europe’s largest specialist bookseller for publications from the Middle East, has been forced to close because of the hike in prices of Arabic-language books and because Brexit has been "detrimental" to businessMore

How Arab and Moorish culinary innovation reinvented Portuguese cuisine

Cover of Leandro Carreira's "Portugal: The Cookbook" (published by Phaidon Press)

Arab and Moorish contribution to the Iberian Peninsula remains evident through architectural and academic advancement. But what about the cuisine? "Portugal: The Cookbook" details the vast extent of Arab culinary innovation in the country.More

Arab culture: Don’t call it belly dancing

Dance of the Almeh by Jean-Léon Gérôme (source: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

Right now, there is a crisis in American belly dancing: highest on the list is the question of cultural appropriation and whether Americans – particularly white Americans – should perform this Middle Eastern dance form at all.More

Egypt's great River Nile!

Cover of Amandine Marshall's "Childhood in Ancient Egypt", translated by Colin Clement (published by AUCPress)

French Egyptologist Amandine Marshall has a wonderful way of telling kids the story of the Nile! She is the author of 'Childhood in Ancient Egypt'More

"Mali Magic": Ancient Mali's manuscripts available online

A page from the ancient Timbuktu manuscripts (photo: Elias Altmimi, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

A virtual gallery containing thousands of Mali's ancient documents has been launched. The gallery contains up to 40 thousand documents written in ancient Arabic that have been digitised and made available online.More

New York Times: What a tiny masterpiece reveals about power and beauty

Rosette bearing the names and titles of Shah Jahan; folio from the Shah Jahan album (photo: Metropolitan Museum of Art, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

Four centuries ago, mighty crosscurrents of religion and culture flowed into a new Indian art. It was courtly and refined, but also eye-poppingly luxuriant.More

Qantara dossier: Iranian cinema

Film scene from 'The Salesman' shows a veiled woman in a doorway (photo: picture-alliance/dpa/Cannes Film Festival))

Since the Islamic Revolution, film culture in Iran has changed: from state propaganda films of the Khomeini era to socially critical productions today. We illuminate the facets of Iranian cinema and its resonance in the West.More

Indie film "Warsha" tackles Arab gender taboo

Still from the short film "Warsha", directed by Lebanese-Canadian Dania Bdeir (source: imdb.com)

Lebanese director Dania Bdeir, who has just scooped up the Sundance Film Festival's award for best international short film, says she wants her short to "break the norms" on sexuality and gender in the Middle East.More

Banipal Translation Prize 2021: Shortlist of 5

Saif Ghobash Banipal Translation Prize logo (source: arablit.org)

Organisers of the Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation have announced this year’s shortlist. Three translators have made the shortlist for the first time in 2021: Sarah Enany (for Rasha Adly’s 'The Girl with the Braided Hair'), Sawad Hussain (for Shahla Ujayli’s 'A Bed for the King’s Daughter'), and Elisabeth Jaquette (for Dima Wannous’ 'The Frightened Ones').More

Young Senegalese author Mohamed Mbougar Sarr wins Prix Goncourt

Mohamed Mbougar, 2021 winner of France's prestigious Prix Goncourt for Literature (photo: Joel Saget/AFP)

A young Senegalese writer unknown to the general public was on Wednesday awarded the Prix Goncourt, France's leading literature prize, with a novel exploring the destiny of a cursed African author.More

Elias Khoury: "Lebanon has always rebelled against political repression"

Lebanese writer Elias Khoury (photo: imago/ZUMA Press)

What’s the difference between an assassination and an execution? This is the headache of a question facing Lebanese; it existed before Lokman Slim was killed, and it looks likely to preoccupy people for a long while to come. The question goes to the heart of the cultural scene and the intellectuals in Lebanon, Egypt and the Arab Levant.More

"Two Gods" studies the life of a Muslim casket maker

An intensely cinematic portrait of male friendship and mentorhood. In Newark, NJ a Muslim casket maker and ritual body washer brings two young men under his wing to teach them how to live better lives.More

Lughatuna: The Living Arabic Project

The Living Arabic Project logo (source: livingarabic.com)

The Living Arabic Project, created by Hossam Abouzahr, is home to the first online, multi-dialect Arabic dictionary – app or desktop version – that focuses on practical usage and can be searched in Arabic and English.More

New Lines Magazine: How the eggplant conquered Arab cuisine

(source: DW)

From feared culinary outcast to omnipresent ingredient, this misunderstood fruit has come a long way since the 9th century.More

Treats and tradition in Tehran's oldest, tiniest teahouse

Owner Kazem Mabhutian, 63, serves tea at the smallest and oldest teahouse tucked away in an alleyway of the Grand Bazaar in the Iranian capital Tehran on 20 September 2021 (photo: ATTA KENARE / AFP)

Tea is a mainstay of popular culture across the Middle East, from Morocco to Qatar. Tucked away in Tehran's Grand Bazaar is arguably the world's tiniest tea shop. The owner's signature brew – "the tea of kndness" – is just one of the many treats awaiting discoveryMore

"Iberian Moorings" compares Muslim and Jewish golden ages

Casa de Sefarad, Cordoba (photo: Zarateman, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Known to Jews, Muslims, and Christians by three different names – Sefarad, al-Andalus, and Hispania, respectively – the Iberian Peninsula has been a centre of fertile intellectual, cultural and spiritual production for multiple religious traditions.More

New York Times: What a tiny masterpiece reveals about power and beauty

Rosette bearing the names and titles of Shah Jahan; folio from the Shah Jahan album (photo: Metropolitan Museum of Art, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

Four centuries ago, mighty crosscurrents of religion and culture flowed into a new Indian art. It was courtly and refined, but also eye-poppingly luxuriant.More

Eight Arab architects who shaped the world

New Gourna, Egypt, designed by Hassan Fathy (source: Mille)

For centuries, Arab and Islamic architecture has given birth to traditional styles and world heritage sites, which are studied across the world today for their level of detail and craftsmanship. It is a rich architectural heritage that has paved the way for modern Arab architects. We take a look at eight Arab architects who have shaped the region’s architectural scene over the past fifty years.More

BBC: How the Arab Spring changed cinema

Still from Tamer El Said's "In the Last Days of the City"

A decade after the revolutions, Joseph Fahim looks at how filmmakers reacted to the seismic events – and asks whether the real story of the uprisings is yet to be told.More