Alia Yunis

January 9, 2011

On Being Just Plain American

It seems like most of my life, I’ve been asked what it’s like to be Arab or Palestinian or Lebanese or Muslim. I’ve even been asked questions about being Latino and Jewish, based on my appearance I assume. However, I can’t remember anyone ever asking me what it is like to be an American, although Continue reading

Arabs, Arts and Culture, Author, Books, Middle East, Publishing

American identity, Arab
January 2, 2011

MY PSYCHIC POWERS AND THE MIDDLE EAST

The other day a colleague told me he was really excited to see how his students would react to a short story he had given them to read. “They’re not going to read it,” I predicted. He didn’t believe me. Sure enough, the next day no one had read it. “How did you know?” he Continue reading

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

Middle East, New Year’s Resolutions, psychic predictions
December 30, 2010

The Quran and the Quest For Kindness

In the last years of my dad’s life, I spent a lot of time asking him questions about the Quran. It wasn’t because either one of us was having a religious rebirth or even because it gave us some common ground together other than playing backgammon, although it did do that. It was because my Continue reading

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

Beautiful, Kindness, Koran, Quran
December 15, 2010

Doner Kabob and Schweinefleisch

At the baggage carousel at the Stuttgart airport, the first stop of the book tour for Feigen in Detroit (Aufbau 2010), I waited for my suitcase while four Gulf women dressed like they had arrived at a spa at the North Pole waited for their 10 gargantuan suitcases. From eavesdropping, I gathered the baggage was Continue reading

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

Abu Dhabi, Feigen in Detroit, Germany, Middle East, Publishing, The Night Counter
November 14, 2010

Feigen in Detroit: The Night Counter in Germany

Many people ask me why “The Night Counter” is called “Feigen in Detroit” in German, which means “Figs in Detroit.” Therein lies the beauty of translation. It’s all about what your translators (Max Stadler and Nadine Puschel) and publisher (AufBau) see in German that you didn’t see in English. I have loved working with AufBau Continue reading

Arts and Culture, Author, Books, Middle East

Books, Feigen in Detroit, Germany, The Night Counter
November 3, 2010

Muslims Wearing Things

I miss living in the US every day for many reasons, but among the things I don’t miss are the shallow debates on TV that pretty much follow the line of “Muslims: Terrifying or just really scary?”–usually a heated debate book ended with some heart pounding intro and outro musak– like these are one of Continue reading

Author, Books, Islam/Muslim, NIght Counter Reviews and Press

Cloths, Muslims, The Night Counter
October 28, 2010

Get Out of My Face, You Donkey

Ruhi min wiji, ya hamra. Budrabik kef, these are the two phrases that my preadolescent nephews in Virginia would say to me every chance they got when I hung out with them this past month. Every time they said them, more animated with each rendering, they would start howling with little boy laughter. Get out Continue reading

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

Arabic, Cursing, Love of Bad Language, Swearing
October 21, 2010

Zayed University Film Festival In San Francisco

There has been more than one time me in my life when the call to prayer has been a comfort to me, and that includes at 4:30 a.m. yesterday when I had to walk to my car in the dark to go get to school in time for “The Best the Zayed University Film Festival” Continue reading

Abu Dhabi, Arabs, Arts and Culture, Film, Islam/Muslim, Middle East
October 20, 2010

Horse Power and the Abu Dhabi Film Festival

Everyone says the UAE has only two seasons, hot and hotter. But there is a far better season, the film festival season. The Abu Dhabi Film Festival kicked off last week and is now going strong with 170 films from around the world. Tops on my list to see are Miral, Carlos, Kingdom of Women, Continue reading

Abu Dhabi, Arabs, Arts and Culture, Film, Islam/Muslim, Middle East
October 12, 2010

Kimchi Falafel and Other Great American Meals

Falafel is not falafel–heck it’s not even good food– when it contains eggs, is yellow inside and out, weighs more than a tennis ball, is bigger than a tennis ball, or worst of all, refried. But such have been my sad falafel encounters in New York, where everyone seems to be peddling falafel, including the Continue reading

Abu Dhabi, Arts and Culture, Author, Food, Middle East, recipes, Travel

American food, falafel

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.