Los Angeles

February 5, 2022

Keeping a Full House

Full House was my first Hollywood experience…At the end of last semester, I found myself doing something I had never done before: sharing with my students my journey to Hollywood. I told them it began with this show called Full House, which ended before any of them were even born. But they oohed and aahed, Continue reading

Arts and Culture, Los Angeles, Teaching, TV, Uncategorized, Writing

Full House, Television, Writer
July 22, 2013

Go Ahead and Film Me—Nothing Changes

“So what are you here to film?” he asked from his battered bamboo chair, as he exhaled from the stub of the cigarette in his hand, the smoke blending in with the dust sweeping through the camp. He was about 40, and had been sitting in that dark alley his entire life. One of my Continue reading

Abu Dhabi, Arab Americans, Arabs, Arts and Culture, Film, Los Angeles, Middle East, Palestine, Syria

Dreams in Their Eyes, UAE
January 30, 2012

Where are the Actors?

Every year I ask this, and here I go again for the third time, “Know any enthusiastic student filmmakers living in the Middle East?” If so, please let them know about the Zayed University Middle East Film Festival, which brings together student films from across the Middle East to reveal an industry in rebirth, as Continue reading

Abu Dhabi, Arabs, Arts and Culture, Film, Los Angeles, Middle East, Travel

Abu Dhabi, student filmmakers, Zayed University Middle East Film Festival, ZUMEFF
July 16, 2010

THE PAPERBACK RELEASE OF THE NIGHT COUNTER THIS WEEK

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Emily Lavelle (212) 572-8756 elavelle@randomhouse.com PRAISE FOR THE NIGHT COUNTER: “[Yunis] weaves a colorful tapestry…rich in character and spirit.” —Entertainment Weekly “Wonderfully imaginative…poignant, hilarious…The branches of this family tree support four generations of achievement, assimilation, disappointment, and dysfunction.…Their stories form an affectionate, amusing, intensely human portrait of Continue reading

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

Novel, Random House Press Release, The Night Counter, Three Rivers Press
August 3, 2009

Screenplay vs Novel in Seattle

I gave a talk in Seattle this weekend at the Pacific Writers Network Association annual conference on taking a novel into a screenplay. As is fairly typical of me, I got into Seattle with half an hour to spare for set up and then my traditional technological meltdown began –this time actually not my fault, Continue reading

Arts and Culture, Author, Books, Los Angeles, Publishing
July 26, 2009

The Night Counter Sells Out At Book Soup

Thank you to everyone who came to yesterday’s reading at Book Soup. You didn’t leave a copy in the store! (More books are on their way) When I first moved to LA many years ago, it was a terribly clunky move, with lots of test and trials that were not easy, in fact, often very Continue reading

Arts and Culture, Author, Books, Los Angeles, Middle East

Authors, Books, The Night Counter
July 21, 2009

THE NIGHT COUNTER: NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER AT VROMAN’S

It really is true: http://hometown-pasadena.com/2009/07/vromans-bestsellers-7202009/ Of course, that probably will not be the case next week at Vroman’s, as there are no books left in the store at the moment. But fear not, more are on the way. The Night Counter’s sold out status at one of L.A.’s best bookstores—if not one of the country’s–is Continue reading

Author, Books, Los Angeles, Middle East, NIght Counter Reviews and Press, Publishing

Author, Books, The Night Counter, Vroman’s
May 6, 2009

The Differences Between Abu Dhabi and LA, or the lack thereof

Ever since I left Los Angeles nine months ago, I’ve been saying to myself, “That’s something I should blog about.” Now that the opportunity has reason, I can’t think of any of those somethings. In fact, there has never been a time when this writer has been left so wordless. I even left this Continue reading

Abu Dhabi, Arabs, Author, Books, Food, Los Angeles, Middle East

Abu Dhabi, Los Angeles

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.