Malu Halasa

Featured in: Favicon

theguardian.com Favicon

nytimes.com Favicon

prospectmagazine.co.uk Favicon

truthdig.com Favicon

worldliteraturetoday.org Favicon

theoffingmag.com Favicon

themarkaz.org

Articles

Escapism in Times of War-on Genre Fiction

Dec 6, 2024 | themarkaz.org | Malu Halasa

In which our literary editor becomes your guide through TMR 47, a double issue packed with fiction and the last monthly issue of 2024. Malu HalasaSome of the earliest forms of genre writing that appeared in Egypt in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were utopian in scope. Although Egypt traditionally led the way with new norms in regional literature, this fresh burst of ideas had been brought on by unrest in the wider Middle East.
Editorial: Animal Truths

Nov 1, 2024 | themarkaz.org | Malu Halasa

Talking lions, ducks, gazelles, traveling cats, magical dogs, and giraffes — welcome to the wonderful world of TMR’s animal issue. Malu HalasaSometimes the stories of animals can express human truths more viscerally than a straightforward account of people suffering. For instance, the lions of Baghdad and the tragedy of the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq were the subjects of the graphic novel, The Pride of Baghdad.
Visuals and Voices: Palestine Will Not Be a Palimpsest

Oct 4, 2024 | themarkaz.org | Malu Halasa

Art exhibitions and new books push back against a year of cancelling Palestinian art, culture, and voices. Malu HalasaAfter a year of the war on Gaza, signs and symbols, art, and visuals from and about Palestine are still being banned, dismissed or ignored. In the US, pro-Palestinian slogans and signs have been removed from college campuses, and professors have been “advised” by university administrations not to express their views.
Featured Artists: "Barred From Home"

Sep 6, 2024 | themarkaz.org | Malu Halasa

Refugee camps, control, and dispossessed lives by artists Heba Tannous, Mahmoud Alhaj, Tayseer Barakat, Alaa Albaba, and photographer Iason Athnasiadis. Malu HalasaWho gets to decide where people live? Or which areas they should evacuate to, in order to avoid bombing or bloodshed?
Why Summer Fiction? For the Wonders & Miracles

Jul 5, 2024 | themarkaz.org | Malu Halasa

Our literary editor takes us on a deluxe reader’s tour of the stories behind the stories in the double summer fiction issue for 2024. Malu HalasaThere’s a long-standing tradition that the dog days of summer are meant for reading. For months now, newspapers and websites around the world have been publishing their fiction lists so that people can order books to take on holiday or to the beach. The Middle East is a little different. In notoriously hot countries any season is prime reading time.
Demarcations of Identity: Rushdi Anwar

May 10, 2024 | themarkaz.org | Malu Halasa

Art and a history of violence collide in Rushdi Anwar’s exhibition Endless Tears in the Garden of Eden, on now at London’s Ab-Anbar Gallery, while historian James Barr, one of the artist’s sources, considers the effects of the Sykes-Pico Agreement on the Middle East today. Malu HalasaIn the 19th century Biblical archeologists and missionaries scoured the Holy Land for evidence of the Bible’s historic authenticity.
Featured Artist Hazem Harb: "Back to Zero"

May 3, 2024 | themarkaz.org | Malu Halasa

Remembering and celebrating the old, new, destroyed, erased and dead of Palestine, a very personal artistic response to a nasty, ugly war. Malu Halasa“It’s very painful,” says Hazem Harb, referring to the continuing anguish he feels during the war on Gaza.
Beirut: From Ashes to Hope - Beyond Words Live Literature Festival

Apr 3, 2024 | beyondwordslitfest.co.uk | Lina Khatib |Caroline Hayek |Lamia Ziade |Malu Halasa

Historical PerspectivesTalkIn My Port of Beirut, Lebanese author, illustrator and visual artist Lamia Ziadé weaves together the play-by-play of the explosion that occurred in the port of Beirut on 4 August 2020. A tragedy that is also the subject of a series of reports by Albert Londres Prize-winning journalist Caroline Hayek.
World Picks from the Editors: Mar 23- Apr 5

Mar 22, 2024 | themarkaz.org | Malu Halasa

TMR World Picks are selected by our editors. We welcome your suggestions: [email protected]. TMRMohamed Gohar, The Alexandrian, an exhibitionMarch 23 — April 15, Janaklees Visual Art, Alexandria, Egypt—more infoFrom NEOM along Saudi Arabia’s northern stretch of the Red Sea to El-Alamein City on Egypt’s Mediterranean shore, deserts and coastlines are being bulldozed and repurposed in Arab countries — both those that can afford it, and those who cannot.
Human Rights Films on Ownership of History, Women’s Bodies & Paintings

Mar 11, 2024 | themarkaz.org | Malu Halasa

Interviews with filmmakers Hasan Oswald and Amjad Al Rasheed underpin this overview of three Middle Eastern films at the 2024 Human Rights Watch Film Festival, screening in London from March 14 to 24. The films on women debunk the claim that women’s empowerment in the Middle East is a “wished for” theoretical construct. Malu HalasaThe very real, visualized lives of women feature in three new films about and from the Middle East in London’s Human Rights Film Festival this year.