MQR Issue 61:2, Spring 2022
Decades of Fire: New Writing from the Middle East and North Africa
Guest Edited by Huda Fakhreddine
Cover art by Nour Asalia. Courtesy of the artist.
Table of Contents
Foreword
Poetry
- Rasha Alduwaisan | FEVER; REMOTE CONTROL; SEA HORSE
- Seif-Eldeine | THE FIRST KILL; 14 SEWING MACHINES; INSIDE A SYRIAN MOSQUE
- Paul Hanna | SHARUUNAQIA; SWEET DUMPLING (FRIED IN OIL)
- Fouad M. Fouad (trans. Fouad M. Fouad and Norbert Hirschhorn) | DÉJÀ VU
- Yusuf al-Sayigh | THE SLEEPING WOMAN’S FRUIT
- Siham Jabbar (trans. Shakir Mustafa) | from LIKE THE ANCIENT HYPATIA
- Nicholas Samaras | CHILDREN OF TAMA; CARAVAN
- Bashdar Sami (trans. Shene Mohammed) | IN OUR OWN TONGUE; THREE MEN, COUNTING ME, OR NONPAYMENT; THERE’S ONE WORD THAT’S HURTING ME
- Olivia Elias (trans. Kareem James Abu-Zeid) | FLAME OF FIRE
- Yahya Frederickson | FROM RELEASES
- Emad Abu Saleh (trans. Huda Fakhreddine) | CAVAFY
- Sarah Sassoon | MOTHER—TONGUE
- Akram Alkatreb (trans. Jonas Elbousty) | MY GOOD PEOPLE; THREE PACKS OF COORS BEER
- Najwan Darwish (trans. Kareem James Abu-Zeid) | NIGHT SONG; POETRY SLIPS AWAY; THE WATER DOES NOT REMEMBER; A FEW WORDS
- Ahmad Almallah | AFTER TEN; BORDER WISDOM
- Ashur Etwebi (trans. Ashur Etwebi and James Byrne) | DEATH, PEPPERMINT FLAVOURED; LORCA, THE LITTLE TORTOISE AND THE LITTLE TREE ; STONES; FIVE SCENES FROM A FAILED REVOLUTION
- Almog Behar (trans. Dimi Reider and Alexandra Berger-Polsky) | MY ARABIC IS MUTE; *
- Fowziyah Abu Khalid (trans. Moneera Al-Ghadeer) | OUD
- Majda Gama | ARABIAN SAFARI IN A DESERT CONSERVATION ZONE; WHEN IT IS IMPLIED BY A WOMAN NOT FROM MY COUNTRY THAT I AM NOT FROM MY COUNTRY
- Arthur Kayzakian | SYNONYMS FOR MAPS
- Tarik Dobbs | THAT JULY, MY SITO CALLS FROM DAMASCUS AT MIDNIGHT
- Ahmad al-Amin (trans. Rawad Wehbe) | A STRANGER AT HOME; THE END OF CITIES, THE BEGINNING OF SORROW
- Mena Kamel | WHEN I GO HOME IT IS THIS
- Helen Zein Eddine | PREPARTUM FROM RAISING MY PARENTS IN AMERICA
- K. Eltinaé | BREATHING EXERCISE; WATERMARK; DOWRY
Nonfiction
- Hoda Barakat (trans. Tarek El-Ariss) | AUTUMN
- Anton Shammas | CAN THE BILINGUAL SPEAK?
- Saadi Youssef (trans. Khaled Mattawa) | IN LUXOR: THE POET ON VACATION
- Leila Abdelrazaq | A BURST OF WIND AND LIGHT (OR, THINGS I’D LIKE TO IMAGINE)
- Miral al-Tahawy | BARQA IS TOO FAR FOR A MESSENGER
- Luqman Derky (trans. Daniel Behar) | NAFAR DOT HOMME: FOUR VIGNETTES
- Fatemeh Shams | NOTES FROM ANOTHER EXODUS: THE FOUR-MONTH STRUGGLE TO EVACUATE AFGHAN POETS AND SCHOLARS
Fiction
- Mohammad Rabie (trans. Elliott Colla) | THE LIBRARY
- Amir Hassan Cheheltan (trans. Samad Alavi) | SUMMER OF 1988
- Najwa Bin Shatwan (trans. Mona Zaki) | THE REELING CITY
- Ghassan Zeineddine | RABBIT STEW
- Yasmeen Hanoosh (trans. Levi Thompson) | THE BROKEN BARRIER OF FEAR
- Youssef Rakha | LEXI
- Jacinda Townsend | MOTHER COUNTRY
You can purchase the Spring 2022 issue here.
- I Have Been Born Three Times: An Interview with Adonis
- Fadhil’s Descent
- The Torrential Blood
- Can the Bilingual Speak?
- In Luxor: The Poet on Vacation
- Dreams in España
- Mother—Tongue
- The Library
- Sweet Dumpling (fried in oil)
- Night Song
- Nafar Dot Homme: Four Vignettes
- العود / Oud
- a burst of wind and light (or, things I’d like to imagine)
- Summer of 1988
- Death, Peppermint Flavoured
- Decades of Fire: A Virtual Reading
- Synonyms for Maps
- Poison In The Air
- Foreword: Decades of Fire
- Meet Our Contributors | Issue 61:2 | Spring 2022
- The Iron Grasshopper: A Childhood Autobiography
