Writing

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
September 11, 2021

Early Morning Calls

How September 11 Made Me a Muslim Writer When I woke up on Sept 11, 2001 in my apartment in LA, it was still dark. I was a struggling screenwriter up with the sun. I was trying to be like Stephen King, who I’d heard somewhere woke up at 3 am to get his writing Continue reading

Arab Americans, Arts and Culture, Heritage, Islam/Muslim, Uncategorized, Writing

Arab Americans, Muslims, September 11, writers
April 4, 2019

GETTING HERITAGE IN WRITING: This Month’s Aramco World Cover Story

These are just some thoughts of mine after my third visit to Cape Town, this time to write this month’s cover story for Aramco World Magazine https://www.aramcoworld.com/en-US/Articles/March-2019/The-Handwritten-Heritage-of-South-Africa-s-Kitabs The first time I saw the Western Cape, I thought “This looks just like Los Angeles,” and then I thought, “This looks just like Lebanon.” I’m not just Continue reading

Arab Americans, Arts and Culture, Author, Heritage, Islam/Muslim, Publishing, Slavery, South Africa, Uncategorized, Western Cap, Writing

Authors, Heritage, Islam, museums, Quran, Slavery, South Africa, Travel, Western Cape, Women, Writing
February 28, 2019

The Schedule for Thessaloniki International Film Festival

We are delighted that The Golden Harvest will make its international debut at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival . Please join us if you can! For more information, visit: https://www.filmfestival.gr/en/movie/movie/11920 TONIA MARKETAKI 04 March 2019 15:30 JOHN CASSAVETES 05 March 2019 12:45 Continue reading

Arab Americans, Arts and Culture, Author, Film, Food, Greece, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Middle East, Olive Oil, olive trees, Palestine, Spain, The Golden Harvest, Writing

Culture, Film, film festival, Food, Olive oil, Olive Tree, Oman, Television, Thessaloniki Internatnional Film Festival, Writing
August 23, 2014

The Blog Tour: My Writing Process

In which I join other writers in talking about the fun and tortuous process. Continue reading

Arts and Culture, Author, Books, Film, Publishing, Writing

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.

Writing

Keeping a Full House

Early Morning Calls

GETTING HERITAGE IN WRITING: This Month’s Aramco World Cover Story

The Schedule for Thessaloniki International Film Festival

The Blog Tour: My Writing Process