Arts and Culture

September 10, 2011

The Only Muslim I Agree With

The only Muslim I agree with 100% (well, more like 90% of the time) is me. Sometimes I question by dusk religious thoughts that at dawn seemed prophetic. But mostly I agree with myself about God, Mohammed, Jesus, the five pillars of Islam–and yes, the Muslim cliché the hijab, and all other things attributed to Continue reading

Arts and Culture, Author, Islam/Muslim, Middle East

9/11, hijab, Islam, Muslims in America, Pew Forum, religious beliefs
July 21, 2011

Just Peachy in Jordan

In Jordan, my mother’s garden has a peach tree that doesn’t stop giving at this time of the year. She hands out bags of peaches to neighbors and relatives and anyone who passes by on the street. She makes peach jam with whatever peaches she can save, and still she mourns the peaches that fall Continue reading

Arabs, Arts and Culture, Food, Jordan, Middle East, recipes, Travel

baking, Middle East, Peach Cake, Peaches
July 12, 2011

Jordan: “Yes, I don’t know”

“Where can I get a Blackberry battery?” I asked in the Nokia shop. The two men working in the shop both pointed and said, “That way.” They were both pointing in different directions. It didn’t result in a “jinx” moment where they both looked at each other, laughed and then agreed on a direction. Nope, Continue reading

Arabs, Arts and Culture, Jordan, Middle East, Travel

“I don’t know”, Jordan
June 3, 2011

War and Body Image: Guernica and Arab American Literature

When my friend and author Randa Jarrar asked me for a short story for a collection she was editing for Guernica, I wrote “Girls on Ice.” Those were the people talking in my head at the time. Some form of them is always talking in my head because they are in part who I once Continue reading

Arabs, Arts and Culture, Author, Books, Islam/Muslim, Middle East, Publishing

alienation, Arab Americans, Guernica, literature, short stories
May 25, 2011

The Right To Drive Well

I support jailed Saudi Manal Al Sharif’s right to drive. I support her right to join the men on the roads in her country, a country that has one of the highest car accident fatalities in the world, like most of the countries in the region. See, having spent big chunks of my life in Continue reading

Abu Dhabi, Arabs, Arts and Culture, bahrain, Dubai, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Middle East, Saudi Arabia, Travel

Driving, Manal Al Sharif, Middle East, Safety, Saudi Arabia, Women
May 16, 2011

Tor’s Palestinian Photographs: 1967 and 1977

Today my friend and photographer Tor Eigland sent me two of his photographs as his way of remembering 63 years of the Palestinian Naqba (Catastrophe). Tor is Norwegian and he’s covered events around the world since the 1960s, but his most amazing stuff is of the Middle East (aside from his photo of Castro on Continue reading

Arabs, Arts and Culture, Jordan, Lebanon, Middle East, Palestine, Travel

Naqba, Palestinians, Photography, Tor Eigland
May 12, 2011

Talking Poetry, Not Osama

Because Abu Dhabi has become such a crossroads of the world since I have lived here, I find myself having a lot of “how did I get here” moments. For example in the years since 9-11, I’ve never sat around picturing where I’d be the day after Osama bin Ladin was put to rest, relatively Continue reading

Abu Dhabi, Arabs, Arts and Culture, Author, Books, Middle East, Publishing, Travel

Iowa Writers Programme, poetry, poets
May 5, 2011

The First Female Superhero

I spoke at TEDx Abu Dhabi last week. TED is hard, writing is hard–being a superhero is even harder. But that’s what I talked about at TEDx: My favorite female superhero, Scherhazade. I also consider her the first female superheroine. I’ll post the video in which I explain why when I’m feeling more heroic and Continue reading

Abu Dhabi, Arabs, Arts and Culture, Author, Books, Islam/Muslim, Middle East

Arabian Nights, Scherhazade, TEDx
March 2, 2011

What Arabs Talk About At Dinner

On a recent work trip to Kuwait, my American colleague started chuckling while he listened to my Syrian cousin and me arguing about the solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “Is this what sitting down to dinner with family sounds like in the Middle East?” he asked. Yep. Pretty much always unless there is a divorce Continue reading

Arabs, Arts and Culture, Egypt, Islam/Muslim, Jordan, Lebanon, Middle East, Palestine

Arabs, Dinner Conversation, Middle, Middle East
February 5, 2011

Cue the Camels and the Donkeys…and the Cool Cats

It’s time that we get our Middle East animals straight. The other day when I was watching men on camels and horseback charge through Tahrir Square in Cairo, whipping demonstrators, I felt like I was witnessing a bad Hollywood remake of Ben Hur or any other “cue the camels” movie depicting battle in the Holy Continue reading

Abu Dhabi, Arabs, Arts and Culture, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Middle East, Travel

animals, camels, cats, donkeys, Middle East

About Alia

Alia Yunis is a writer, journalist and filmmaker. She is currently producing and directing “The Golden Harvest,” a feature length documentary about how olive oil has shaped the Mediterranean culture, cuisine and history for 6,000 years, through war and peace. Her debut novel, The Night Counter (Random House) has been critically acclaimed by the Washington Post, Entertainment Weekly, and several other publications. It was also chosen as a top summer read by the Chicago Tribune and Boston Phoenix. The Boston Globe has called it “wonderfully imaginative…poignant, hilarious.” Alia was born in Chicago and grew up in the U.S., Greece, and the Middle East. She has worked as a filmmaker and journalist in several cities, especially Los Angeles. Her fiction has appeared in several anthologies, including The Robert Olen Butler Best Short Stories collection, and her non-fiction work includes articles for The Los Angeles Times, Saveur, SportsTravel Magazine, and Aramco World. She currently teaches film at Zayed University in Abu Dhabi.