literature
Forget that last minute dash to the bookshop wondering what to read – I’ve done the hard work for you and created a list of my top five recommendations to read this summer so you can skip straight to relaxing! So, let’s dive right into my list of the best Middle Eastern books for your summer reading – whether you’re looking for a captivating novel to sink into, hard hitting essays or even to practice your Arabic, we’ve got just the books for you!
Have you ever noticed that most of the journalists covering the Middle East and North Africa are… well… not from the Middle East and North Africa? Lebanese journalist, editor, and author Zahra Hankir noticed this too, which ed her to edit Our Women On The Ground, a wonderful collection of nineteen essays written by women who cover their own homelands in the Middle East and North Africa.
Bedouin women’s poetry is a rich, if little-known tradition of verse that stretches from Pre-Islamic Arabia all the way to the present day. While known within the Gulf and preserved in local communities, it rarely receives large-scale attention, generally because the emotional lives of women are considered culturally sensitive.
On this list you’ll find 10 new Middle East-focused books including cookbooks, memoirs of life, adventure and migration, political analyses and philosophical gems. If you’re interested in the Middle East or looking to gain a deeper understanding of the complex politics and rich cultures of the region, this list is an excellent guide. You’ll want to add these to your reading list!
The Monk of Mokha by Dave Eggers tells the encapsulating story of Mokhtar Alkhanshali, a Yemeni-American who travels to Yemen to start a social enterprise to reignite the ancient art of Yemeni coffee. There’s only one problem – when Mokhtar set out in 2014, Yemen was on the brink of civil war.
Zainab Salbi is an Iraqi humanitarian, author and activist who founded Women for Women International…
Set in 1960s Damascus, Ghada Samman’s novel is an eminent celebration of life and female emancipation, but it also serves as a poignant reminder that the same rights and freedom of women are still being fought over both in the Syria and around the world.
On World Refugee Day, we think everyone should read An Unsafe Haven by Nada Awar…
The Last Optimist in Baghdad by Dr Brian Brivati is the true story of Ghassan…