Zaina Arafat

New York

Writer and Editor at Freelance

Contributing Editor, Culture at Xtra Magazine

Palestinian-American author, Debut novel YOU EXIST TOO MUCH

Articles

Lamya H Is the Nonbinary Author Proving the Power of Queer Muslim Stories

Jun 1, 2024 | newsbreak.com | Zaina Arafat

Welcome to NewsBreak, an open platform where diverse perspectives converge. Most of our content comes from established publications and journalists, as well as from our extensive network of tens of thousands of creators who contribute to our platform. We empower individuals to share insightful viewpoints through short posts and comments.
Lamya H Is the Nonbinary Author Proving the Power of Queer Muslim Stories

Jun 1, 2024 | them.us | Zaina Arafat

Lamya H is Them’s 2024 Now Award honoree in Literature. The Now Awards honor 10 LGBTQ+ vanguards at the forefront of culture and change today. Read more here. The best characters in literature are often messy, embodying overlapping and even contradictory impulses. Why should the figures in our religious texts be any different?
The View from Palestinian America

May 13, 2024 | newyorker.com | Zaina Arafat

Ours was a scene that played out in many Palestinian American families, and it replayed with every flareup and every encroaching Israeli settlement. And yet the images on television did not always match the ones I saw during visits to Palestine: my grandmother laying out sheets of newspaper to roll stuffed grape leaves on the veranda; the call to prayer, and the little green lights shining from every mosque; the zaffe drum procession echoing from outdoor weddings.
Shakespeare shows to stream

May 10, 2024 | allarts.org | Zaina Arafat

SHAREWhat allows the works of William Shakespeare to stay relevant throughout the ages? These adaptations and explorations of the Bard’s classic plays and sonnets offer their own answers, examining his work in contemporary and nuanced ways. As always, you can watch the following list of features online or on the ALL ARTS app wherever you may stream. Note: Debuts May 10 at 9 p.m. Eastern.
Fasting for Ramadan While Gaza Goes Hungry

Mar 11, 2024 | newyorker.com | Zaina Arafat

On the evening of February 28th, thousands of people gathered on Al-Rashid Street, in Gaza City, in hopes that a convoy of aid trucks would bring them desperately needed food. The trucks arrived early the next morning, at around a quarter to five. When a large crowd encircled them in an effort to obtain food, Israeli forces, who were standing by, opened fire. More than a hundred people were killed, and hundreds more were injured.
Reading Books By Women

Mar 1, 2024 | capilanocourier.com | Capilano Courier |Caroline Perez |Zaina Arafat

We have a lot to say and the world should listen Lea Krusemeyer (she/her) // Staff WriterSol Yoon (she/her) // IllustratorThe author and philanthropist Gift Gugu Mona once said, “A wise woman does not keep her wisdom to herself. She shares wisdom with the world because she knows that through wisdom, many lives can be transformed.” Listen to what women have to say—many of us write and I urge you to read what we create.
Lemon Tree Tells Us the Everyday Cost of Fear for Palestinians

Dec 11, 2023 | vulture.com | Zaina Arafat

In the 2008 drama starring Succession’s Hiam Abbass, a peaceful lemon grove is declared “a hostile territory” by Israeli government forces. One of the most iconic images of the Palestinian resistance is a 2005 photograph of a Palestinian woman in the occupied West Bank, crying as she clings desperately to an olive tree, its branches severed, in an effort to protect it from either theft or destruction by Israeli soldiers, who linger in a military Jeep behind her.
Witnessing Gaza Through My Instagram Feed

Nov 19, 2023 | nymag.com | Zaina Arafat

Photo-Illustration: New York Magazine; Photos: wizard_bisan1/Instgram, byplestia/Instagram, motaz_azaiza/Instagram Bisan Owda, or wizard_bisan1, as her 2 million followers know her, was a filmmaker before the assault on Gaza began. In a video from October 12, she offers footage of her prewar office. It looks like a typical millennial media workspace: camcorders, whiteboards, couches, a fluffy cat napping across a desk. She has discovered the office was bombed.
The War in Gaza and New York

Nov 19, 2023 | nymag.com | Simon van Zuylen-Wood |Zaina Arafat |Mark Harris |Esther Wang

The water in the Washington Square Park fountain, dyed red as part of a pro-Palestinian demonstration on October 18. Photo: Mackenzie Jamieson At workplaces and in restaurants, on university campuses and in playgrounds, over Instagram and along lampposts, the war in Gaza has shifted something in the psyche of New York. Family members are confronting the vast distance between one another’s sense of justice. Friend-group chats that were once warm and boisterous are turning bitter and quiet.
Witnessing Gaza Through My Instagram Feed

Nov 19, 2023 | nymag.com | Zaina Arafat

Photo-Illustration: New York Magazine; Photos: wizard_bisan1/Instgram, byplestia/Instagram, motaz_azaiza/Instagram Bisan Owda, or wizard_bisan1, as her 2 million followers know her, was a filmmaker before the assault on Gaza began. In a video from October 12, she offers footage of her prewar office. It looks like a typical millennial media workspace: camcorders, whiteboards, couches, a fluffy cat napping across a desk. She has discovered the office was bombed.