poetry

July 17, 2021

My Heart Groans Like a Mack Truck on a Steep Slope

My Heart Groans Like a Mack Truck on a Steep Slope Continue reading

Arabs, Arts and Culture, bedouins, Islam/Muslim, Middle East, poetry, Saudi Arabia

bedouins, Nabati poems, Najd, poetry
July 27, 2012

Poetic Pomegranates

Nothing like a Rumi poem about pomegranates to sum up what is hip in literature and food circles today. Both these Middle Eastern imports—Rumi and pomegranates– have gone from near obscurity to near cliché levels in Western cultural hotspots over the past few years. Yet another reason for the pomegranate to laugh in Rumi’s poem. Continue reading

Arab Americans, Arts and Culture, Film, Food, Middle East, Minnesota, recipes

Laughter, Middle East, poetry, Pomegranates, recipes, Rumi
January 16, 2012

Being Good Enough

OUR PLIGHT By: Michael J. Oghia June 2011 Beirut, Lebanon Dedicated to all my Arab–American brothers and sisters that know exactly how I feel. Who am I, but a complex amalgam of contradictory identities? Two, which exist paradoxically, yet never seem to make you feel complete. They glare at you for one, Snarl at you, Continue reading

Arab Americans, Arabs, Arts and Culture, Middle East

disenfranchisement, Immigration, poetry
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
June 27, 2010

Outlandish Landless LandMine by Sami Zarour

Most of what I post on this blog are about the upside of life in the Middle East because most people living outside the borders of the Middle East, whether physically or mentally, are unaware that there is an upside. Plus I don’t really know how to write about the tragedies of the region without Continue reading

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

poetry, sami zarour

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.

poetry

My Heart Groans Like a Mack Truck on a Steep Slope

Poetic Pomegranates

Being Good Enough

Talking Poetry, Not Osama

Outlandish Landless LandMine by Sami Zarour