Ronya Othmann's novel "Die Sommer" (The Summers) tells the story of Leyla – the daughter of a German and a Yazidi Kurd – who visits her grandparents' Yazidi village in northern Syria every summer until the village ceases to exist. Schayan Riaz spoke to the authorMore

"Siphr", Naima Shalhoub's first studio album, is a reflection of both the musician's Lebanese background and her commitment to social justice. While each song is a compelling mixture of musical and lyrical influences from both her American home and her Middle Eastern heritage, the album is deeply rooted in the philosophy of numbers and their symbolic and literal meanings. By Richard MarcusMore

In a novel response to Libya’s ongoing civil war, photographers in the capital, Tripoli, are building a vast archive of photographs highlighting the beauty that can be found despite the chaos and bloodshed. By Moutaz AliMore

The hero of Cihan Acar's engrossing debut novel is a young Turkish-German man who has returned to "Hawaii", a troubled district in his native city of Heilbronn, searching for a new beginning in life after the premature end to his football career. As he does so, the simmering animosity between the city's self-appointed vigilante civil defence groups and Turkish mafia clans descends into full-scale war. By Volker KaminskiMore

Spring 2020 finally saw the publication of Aziz Binebine's Tazmamart memoir in English, translated by Lulu Norman. While it has now been nearly 30 years since the prisoners left their underground cells, Tazmamart remains synonymous both with hidden military prisons and with the terrors of Morocco’s Years of Lead. Marcia Lynx Qualey read the bookMore

21 July marks the centenary of the birth of Mohammed Dib, one of the founding fathers of French-language Algerian literature. Born in 1920 in Tlemcen, Algeria's national writer spent the greater part of his life in exile. He passed away on 2 May 2003 in the Parisian suburb of La Celle-Saint-Cloud. By Regina Keil-SagaweMore

Blending East African, Bollywood and Arab music traditions, Groupe RTD's "The Dancing Devils of Djibouti" is not only a stunning album, it is also the first internationally-released recording of music from this small and isolated country. By Richard MarcusMore

It was American literary figures who propagated the myth of the city of Tangier in north-western Morocco as a den of permissiveness and danger. Notwithstanding this Western view of the city, Tangier is to this day a city that belongs to no specific culture or continent. Claudia Mende takes us on a literary tourMore

The Franco-Moroccan band Bab L'Bluz has named their debut CD "Nayda!" after the musical youth movement. Stefan Franzen introduces the unique music comboMore