logo
episode-header-image
Apr 2023
1 h

Kuwait & "An Unlasting Home" | Mai Al-Na...

AFIKRA
About this episode
tail spinning
Up next
Oct 2025
What Will People Think? | Sara Hamdan on the Jimmy Fallon Book Club Shortlist
Author Sara Hamdan discusses her journey to becoming a published writer and the nuanced storytelling behind her book, "What Will People Think?" from its unexpected appearance on Jimmy Fallon's Book Club shortlist to navigating the complexities of Palestinian heritage in her work. ... Show More
54m 2s
Sep 2025
The Hollow Half: a Memoir of Bodies and Borders | Sarah Aziza
The author discussed her multigenerational Palestinian family memoir "The Hollow Half: A Memoir of Bodies and Borders," which spans from mandate Palestine to the present day. Sarah Aziza reflects on her relationship with her Palestinian identity, the complexities of being "half" ... Show More
1h 1m
Jul 2025
Ihsan Abdel Quddous's Enduring 20th-Century Legacy | Jonathan Smolin
Professor of Middle Eastern Studies at Dartmouth College, Jonathan Smolin, discusses his book "The Politics of Melodrama: The Cultural and Political Lives of Ihsan Abdel Kouddous and Gamal Abdel Nasser," which examines the life and work of Ihsan Abdel Quddous who played an immens ... Show More
56m 27s
Recommended Episodes
Apr 2023
MAI AL-NAKIB | Kuwait and "An Unlasting Home" | Book Club
<p>Mai Al-Nakib talks about her novel "An Unlasting Home" which traces Kuwait's rise from a pearl-diving backwater to its reign as a thriving cosmopolitan city to the aftermath of the Iraqi invasion.</p><p>Mai Al-Nakib is a Kuwaiti writer and academic. She was born in Kuwait and ... Show More
1 h
Jan 2022
SAFIA ELHILLO | Home is not a country | Book Club
<p>In this Book Club, we talked to Safia Elhillo about her book "Home is not a country."  The novel is about family, identity, and finding yourself in the most unexpected places.</p><p>Created & hosted by<a href="https://www.instagram.com/mikey_mu/%E2%80%8E"> Mikey Muhanna</a>, a ... Show More
24m 21s
Jan 2021
Beirut's Literary Landscape | Ghenwa Hayek
<p>We talked about Ghenwa Hayek's work on the entangled relationships between literary and cultural production, space and place, and identity formation in the modern Arab Middle East, with a specific focus on Lebanon. We also discussed her book "Beirut, Imagining the City: Space ... Show More
52m 30s
May 2023
MALAKA GHARIB | Belonging, Divorce, & Summer in Egypt | Book Club
<p>In this episode of Book Club, Malika Gharib joins us to share her musings on what it means to be an artist, the symbiotic relationship between journalism and comics, as well as what the 'American Dream' truly means. She reflects on growing up as a first-generation Filipino Egy ... Show More
1h 1m
Dec 2020
A Literary Dialogue of Arab-American Identities | Randa Jarrar & Zaina Arafat
<p>Randa Jarrar is a performer and the author of the forthcoming memoir "Love Is An Ex-Country", the novel "A Map of Home", and the collection of stories "Him, Me, Muhammad Ali". Zaina Arafat is the author of the novel "You Exist Too Much", with stories and essays appearing in Th ... Show More
57m 56s
Mar 2021
Beirut's Literary Pulse | Rima Rantisi
<p>In this conversation, we are talking to Rima Rantisi on her writing and being the founding editor of Rusted Radishes: Beirut Literary and Art Journal, which publishes artists and writers from Lebanon, its diaspora, and the region and is currently in its eighth circulation.</p> ... Show More
57m 52s
Feb 2021
Hisham Matar & Some of the Best Arab Literary Works
<p>We talked to the writer behind the award-winning books from the award-winning novels, “In the Country of Men” and “Anatomy of a Disappearance”, to his Pulitzer Prize recipient memoir, “The Return”, and his latest book " A Month in Siena".  </p><p>This event was hosted in colla ... Show More
54m 48s
Oct 2022
A Visual Exploration of Borders and Identity | Nadia Kaabi-Linke
<p>Nadia Kaabi-Linke talked about her work as a visual artist and her process for creating pieces and holding exhibitions.</p><p>Nadia Kaabi-Linke was born in Tunis, Tunisia, in 1978, and raised in Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates. She graduated from the University of Fine Ar ... Show More
55m 58s
Jan 2023
AMAL GHANDOUR | Collective Failure to Improve Our Region | Book Club
<p>Amal Ghandour talked about her book 'This Arab Life,' where she explores common cultural and societal issues that most generations in the Arab world face.</p><p>Amal Ghandour is a Lebanese-Jordanian author and blogger (Thinking Fits), with a career that spans more than three d ... Show More
59m 31s
May 2022
NAOMI SHIHAB NYE | The Turtle of Oman & Michigan | Book Club
<p>Naomi Shihab Nye talked about her books ‘The Turtle of Oman’ and ‘The Turtle of Michigan<strong>.</strong> The books are about Aref as he travels from Muscat, Oman, to Ann Arbor, Michigan.</p><p>Naomi Shihab Nye was born in St. Louis, Missouri. Her father was a Palestinian ref ... Show More
57m 42s