Series: Middle East Literature in Translation

What if all the Palestinians in Israel simply disappeared one day? What would happen next? How would Israelis react? These unsettling questions are posed in Azem's powerfully imaginative novel. Set in contemporary Tel Aviv, forty-eight hours after Israelis discover all their Palestinian neighbours have vanished, the story unfolds through alternating narrators. Alaa, a young Palestinian man, converses with his dead...

"On the way to Marrakesh, a superb sunrise, the sun high in the sky." With this simple yet luminous opening, Abdelwahab Meddeb invites the reader to wander the vibrant streets and sacred sites of this lively city in the heart of Morocco. Returns to Marrakesh chronicles Meddeb’s return visits to the Red City from 1968 through the 1990s, documenting both...

In this lyrical collection, Omani author Hamoud Saud invites readers into the soul of Muscat, the capital city of Oman, a country famed for its long coastline, rugged mountains, and stark desert landscapes. This geography provides the backdrop for stories that reveal both the beauty and hardship of a country and people on the margins. Saud’s Muscat is not a...