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Stella Gitanoʹs "Withered Flowers" is a powerful short story collection that showcases work from the very beginnings of an impressive and unusual literary career. The stories, now translated by Anthony Calderbank, centre on the lives of Sudanʹs marginalised and are elevated by bold, fearless imagery. Marcia Lynx Qualey read the bookMore

In 2011, the year of the Syrian revolution, Dima Wannous left her homeland and moved to Beirut. At that point she had published a volume of short stories and a novel, but afterwards she suffered writerʹs block. Her new novel is something of a personal account about overcoming trauma in the wake of dictatorship and war. By Volker KaminskiMore

In the south-eastern Tunisian region of Medenine, music represented a socially marginalised way for post-emancipation blacks to advance. These days thatʹs not enough to satisfy the younger generation. By Marta ScaglioniMore

Hoda Marmar is the administrator of the popular bilingual "Bookoholics" group in Beirut, which recently celebrated its sixth anniversary and which has, in those six years, discussed 125 books in Arabic and English. By Marcia Lynx QualeyMore

Music is back in Mosul, as are books and paintings. With Islamic State gone, locals are enjoying their newfound freedom and embracing culture. Will it last? Judit Neurink reports from MosulMore

Mahi Binebine's father spent 35 years at the court of the Moroccan King Hassan II, not as a diplomat or a minister, but as the king's jester. Although the storyline sounds like something straight out of the Arabian Nights, it is in fact based on real events. By Volker KaminskiMore

"Bilqiss" is a provocative novel that hit French bookstands in 2015, telling a sardonic tale of a courageous woman in an unidentified Muslim country where it is a crime to read poetry, use make-up or own lingerie. By Dagmar WolfMore

Any journey to southern Spain, to Al-Andalus, is akin to the start of a dream that finds its beguiling continuation beyond the Pillars of Hercules, in the Andalusian cities of northern Morocco – Tangiers, Chefchaouen, Tetouan, Fes, Meknes, Larache and Asilah. The relationship between Morocco and Spain is closer than we think. By Mourad KusserowMore

Now available in English translation, Shahad al-Rawiʹs bestselling debut novel "The Baghdad Clock" offers a strikingly direct portrayal of life in Iraq in the nineteen nineties, combining magical-realist elements with the advantage of hindsight. Marcia Lynx Qualey read the bookMore