Culture

Iranian author Maryam Djahani (source: Sujet)

Maryam Djahani's debut novel "Ungebremst durch Kermanschah"

Tearing through Kermanshah

In her debut novel "Ungebremst durch Kermanschah", Maryam Djahani draws readers into the life of a young woman desperate to assert herself against Iranian provincialism and her family. Gerrit Wustmann read the book for Qantara.deMore

Alireza Abiz' "Censorship of Literature in Post-Revolutionary Iran": Iranian literature – the censor’s mindsetYoung Iranian women writers in Germany:: Patchwork identitiesInterview with the Iranian author Fariba Vafi: "Cliches have no place in writing″Ava Farmehri's "Through the sad wood our corpses will hang": Flashback to a childhood in Tehran
Iranian musician Kioomars Musayyebi (photo: Kurt Rade)

Kioomars Musayyebi's "A voice keeps calling me"

The nights speak to me

With his new album, "A Voice Keeps Calling Me", the Persian santur player Kioomars Musayyebi is building bridges from Iran across the Arab world to European early music. By Stefan FranzenMore

Hindol Deb's "Essence of duality": Beyond the exotic – for a new East-West dialogueElektro Hafiz: A musical maverickThe West-Eastern Divan Orchestra: Consoling concertosMisagh Joolaee's "Unknown Nearness": Silent yearnings
Still from Iman K. Zawahry's "American*ish" (distributed by

Fatima & Zawahry's "American*ish"

Not quite the American dream

"American*ish" – co-written by Aizzah Fatima and Iman K. Zawahry, and directed by the latter – is a rom com for an America too many don't want to acknowledge. Whereas most mainstream American TV and films present the Muslim immigrant community as a monolithic group with a kind of hive mind, this film goes out of its way to break the mould. By Richard MarcusMore

The West and Islam 20 years after 9/11: Paranoia, nowInterview with Pakistani American actress Aizzah Fatima: "Human, flawed and funny"Muslim youth in America: The "mipster" phenomenon
Etel Adnan, Lebanese American poet and artist (photo: Pierre René-Worms/RFI)

Etel Adnan, Lebanese American poet and artist

A woman full of questions and innocence

Etel Adnan, the artist who transcended the borders of culture and language, may have died in Paris, writes Lebanese author Elias Khoury, yet her death holds a mirror up to the stifling rhythm of what Beirut has become. Indeed, every death now seems a metaphor for the death of BeirutMore

Book review: Etel Adnan's "Conversations with my soul": Illuminating the obscureInterview with Etel Adnan: ''I react to what is happening in the world''Elias Khoury: "Lebanon has always rebelled against political repression"
Arabist and author Tim Mackintosh-Smith (photo: YouTube screenshot)

Arabist Tim Mackintosh-Smith

"Reading Arabic is a bit like playing chess"

Tim Mackintosh-Smith's latest book – "Arabs" – reveals how linguistic developments helped and hindered the progress of Arab history. In interview with Qantara.de, he talks to Elisabeth Knoblauch about how, even in today’s politically fractured post–Arab Spring environment, Arabic itself is still a source of unity and disunityMore

The Arabic language: A better understandingThe Arab world: Arabic – the last tie that bindsTyranny in the Islamic world: Keeping the tribe aliveThe Koran as a text from Late Antiquity: A European approach
Catalan-Moroccan author Najat El Hachmi (photo: Orlanda Verlag)

Najat El Hachmi’s "La filla estrangera"

An irrepressible desire for freedom

In her latest novel, Catalan-Moroccan writer Najat El Hachmi tells the story of a young migrant woman struggling to balance her desire for freedom and the demands of tradition and family. With great openness and a sensuous use of language, El Hachmi paints a picture of the timeless conflict encountered by young people striving for self-determination. Volker Kaminski read the book for Qantara.deMore

Leila Slimani's "The Country of Others": Dreams in times of crisisSocial media fosters creative writing in the Maghreb: Published by FacebookMeryem Alaoui's "Straight from the Horse’s Mouth": A fiercely enjoyable feminist fairytaleQantara dossier: "Moroccan literature"
Afghan American author Nadia Hashimi (photo: Nahid Popal)

Book review: Nadia Hashimi's "Sparks like Stars"

Reclaiming memories long buried

In "Sparks Like Stars", Nadia Hashimi pulls the reader behind the curtain of modern history to peek backstage at the impact of war and terror on individual lives. Richard Marcus read the bookMore

Book review: Raihana Raha's "My Mother's Tales": Fairy tales depicting independent Afghan womenInterview with filmmaker Mariam Ghani: The power of propagandaInterview with Iranian-German author Siba Shakib: "The notion of home is bound up with loss"
Malaysian rising hip-hop star, SYA (photo: Mohd Rasfan/AFP)

Women in Malaysia

SYA, Def Jam's taboo-breaking female Malaysian rapper

The first female signing for label Def Jam – the label behind superstars from Jay-Z and Rihanna to BTS and Justin Bieber – in Southeast Asia, SYA's debut single "PrettyGirlBop" tackles misogyny and acceptance in her Muslim-majority homelandMore

Interview with Malaysian artist Nadiah Bamadhaj: Freeing the body from conservatism"Sisters in Islam" in Malaysia: Women working for reformIslam and politics in Malaysia: Islamist genie is out of the bottle
Sitar player Hindol Deb (photo: Hindol Deb 2021)

Album review: Hindol Deb's "Essence of duality"

Beyond the exotic – for a new East-West dialogue

For Western listeners, the sound of the sitar is perhaps the most cliched musical symbol of India. Sitar player Hindol Deb, who lives in Cologne, Germany, has just released his debut album, which explores new ways of combining the Hindustani long-necked lute with jazz. Stefan Franzen had a listenMore

Album review: The Dosti Music Project′s ″Travelers″: Coming homeNew West-Eastern jazz divan: A humanist consensus for a multicultural societyElektro Hafiz: A musical maverickAlbum review: Misagh Joolaee's "Unknown Nearness": Silent yearnings
Opening on 29 October: The new Atatürk Cultural Center on Taksim Square in Istanbul (photo: Mirjam Schmitt/dpa/picture alliance)

The new Ataturk Cultural Center in Istanbul

Turkey's second modern age

Between Ataturk's republican utopia and Erdogan's 21st century Islam: the newly built AKM Cultural Center in Istanbul. By Tomas AvenariusMore

Restoring Istanbulʹs Ataturk Cultural Center: More than merely prestige?The Nazi glorification of Ataturk: Ankara's shining star Criticising Erdogan: Don't romanticise the Kemalist legacy!Cengiz Aktar's "The Turkish Malaise": Why is Erdogan gambling away Turkey's future?
Jordanian author Jalal Barjas, this year's winner of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction (photo: IPAF)

Interview with Jordanian novelist Jalal Barjas

"Some Arab writers present distorted images of their societies"

Jordanian writer Jalal Barjas' novel "Notebooks of the Bookseller", which won this year's Booker International Prize for Arabic Fiction, was celebrated at a symposium during the Berlin International Literature Festival in September. A large number of Germans and Arabs interested in Arabic literature attended. On the sidelines, journalist Rim Najmi caught up with Jalal BarjasMore

Women and the International Prize for Arabic Fiction: How many women does it take to win the IPAF?Arabic-to-English literary translation: Raising the profilePublication of Arab literature in English: Change of paradigm
Awarded the Student Oscar: "TALA'VISION" from the Film Academy Ludwigsburg, Germany (photo: Philip Henze)

The world through Tala's eyes

"Tala'vision" – sadly poetic

Winner of the Student Oscar: a little girl in a bombed-out flat in Syria. The television is her only window to the world – but even this is taken away from her. Nikolas Fischer watched the impressive filmMore

Berlin's Human Rights Film Festival: "Captains of Zaatari" – the unshakeable power of dreamsJordan and the influx of refugees: The true SamaritansDocumentary film: "For Sama": The girl from a country in ruins Berlin's Human Rights Film Festival: The Moria Film School – "...and here we are"
Abdulrazak Gurnah smiling in a garden (photo: AP Photo/picture-alliance)

Abdulrazak Gurnah and Tsitsi Dangarembga

Can the Nobel Prize "revitalise" African literature?

Abdulrazak Gurnah is the fourth author from sub-Saharan Africa to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. Is the tide turning for African writers? By Annabelle Steffes-HalmerMore

Abdulrazak Gurnah – "Pilgrim's Way": As foreign as a drop of oil in waterNobel Peace Prize 2014: Serving stereotypes about the subcontinent?Philippines' Nobel Prize winner Ressa says "nothing is possible without facts"
Marwan Rechmaoui's "Beirut by the Sea", concrete, beeswax, copper on wood, 267.9 x 569.6 cm (photo: Sfeir-Semler Gallery Beirut/Hamburg)

Marwan Rechmaoui exhibition in Beirut

But the trees kept voting for the axe

The work of artist Marwan Rechmaoui is both minimalist and complex and embodies the faultlines of his home city. Some of his latest pieces are now on show at a leading Beirut gallery – its first exhibition since the explosion that rocked the city last summer. By Lena BoppMore

Author and critic Elias Khoury: "Lebanon has always rebelled against political repression"Lebanese cartoonist Bernard Hage: "I’m afraid you have Hezbollah"Beirut publisher Nadine Touma: Dar Onboz' cases full of exquisite Arabic picture booksInterview with Lebanese writer Amin Maalouf: Petrodollars proved stronger in the Middle East than cultural tradition
"Female Voice of Afghanistan" streaming festival poster (photo: Zeitgenössische Oper Berlin)

"Female Voice of Afghanistan" streaming festival

Afghan women raise their voices against trauma

The streaming festival "Female Voice of Afghanistan" by the Zeitgenössische Oper Berlin gives Afghan female musicians a global platform – at a time when their situation has worsened dramatically. Stefan Franzen reports for Qantara.deMore

″War, Exile and the Music of Afghanistan″ by John Baily: Without music, no humanityPersian singer Mamak Khadem: Open to new influencesAfghanistan: Victim-blaming – a trope of the West's failure in AfghanistanQantara dossier: "Musical worlds"
Iranian-German author Siba Shakib (photo: Giacomo Terracciano)

Interview with Iranian-German author Siba Shakib

"The notion of home is bound up with loss"

Iranian-German author and filmmaker Siba Shakib was born in Tehran. Her best-selling novels deal with themes of heritage and the past. She speaks to Qantara.de about her new novel "Der Kirschbaum, den sie ihrer Mutter nie schenkte" (The Cherry Tree She Never Gave Her Mother), home, religion and the identity politics debate. Interview conducted by Schayan RiazMore

Modern Persian literature: Five Farsi novels and their impact on Iranian pop cultureBook review: Nava Ebrahimi’s "Das Paradies meines Nachbarn" – The scars of war Young Iranian women writers in Germany: Patchwork identities Interview with the Iranian author Fariba Vafi: "Cliches have no place in writing"
Palestinian cultural consultant and actress Huda al Imam watches her film "Ave Maria", which is part of the new "Palestinian Stories" collection launched on Netflix, at her home in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood, Jerusalem, 14 October 2021 (photo: Reuters/Ammar Awad)

Netflix launches Palestinian film collection

"We want our stories to travel"

On 14 October 2021, streaming giant Netflix expanded its service to include films either produced by Palestinians or with a Palestinian theme. "Palestinian Stories" comprises 32 award-winning movies available to viewers all round the worldMore

Streaming services battle Netflix for Arab audiencesHit streaming series "Fatma's Revenge": Netflix takes on the Turkish macho"Female Voice of Afghanistan" streaming festival: Afghan women raise their voices against trauma
Subay in front of his street painting in Paris in November 2019 (photo: AP Photo/picture-alliance)

Berlin's Human Rights Film Festival

"Yemen's Banksy" – Murad Subay creates art against war

Yemen remains the world's worst humanitarian crisis, say humanitarian organisations. At the recent Human Rights Film Festival in Berlin, street artist Murad Subay commented on the horrors of war. Elizabeth Grenier reportsMore

Graffiti artist Shamsia Hassani: Giving voice to Afghanistan's oppressedQantara photo essay: An eye-catching tableau for resistance: graffiti art in BethlehemQantara photo essay: Street art in the Egyptian revolution
Homepage banner of the Human Rights Festival in Berlin 2021 (source: Human Rights Festival Berlin)

Berlin's Human Rights Film Festival

The Moria Film School – "...and here we are"

German actress Katja Riemann has made a short yet impressive documentary about a special project in Moria. In her directorial debut, she shows how young refugees learn the basics of filmmaking. The film, part of the Human Rights Film Festival Berlin programme, can be streamed until 3 October. Rene Wildangel reports for Qantara.deMore

After the fire in Moria: For many migrants, the dream of freedom ends in LesbosGreece and the asylum-seekers: How do you solve a problem like Moria?MEP Dietmar Koester on Fortress Europe: "The EU allows human rights to be trampled underfoot"Berlin's Human Rights Film Festival: "Captains of Zaatari" – the unshakeable power of dreams
Still from the film "Captains of Zaatari" (photo: Inga Gerke)

Berlin's Human Rights Film Festival

"Captains of Zaatari" – the unshakeable power of dreams

Berlin's annual Human Rights Film Festival closed at the weekend. One entry to the festival was the documentary "Captains of Zaatari". Its Egyptian director Ali El Arabi focuses on young refugees from Syria, who dream of escaping their dismal life in the Zaatari refugee camp with the help of football. Rene Wildangel reports for Qantara.deMore

Film review: Marianna Kakaounaki’s "Invisible": Turkish refugees in Greece – out of sight, out of mindJordan and the influx of refugees: The true SamaritansAfter the fire in Moria: For many migrants, the dream of freedom ends in LesbosSyrian refugees: The burden of hospitality

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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