Retrospective Look at Mouawad’s ‘Most Lebanese’ Play in Wake of Recent Boycott Campaign in Lebanon From his award-winning play “Littoral” and its continuation, “Incendies,” Wajdi Mouawad frequently delivers compelling narratives surrounding family — whether it be a bereaved son navigating the complications of burying his father in his native, war-torn Lebanon like in “Littoral,” or in “Incendies,” where two siblings based in Montreal return at the request of their dead mother to their birthplace in the Middle East in search of a father and brother they’ve never met. Like a connective tissue be ..read more

A pioneer of female directors in the history of modern Lebanese theater, Latifa Multaqa has guided generations of actors since Lebanon’s golden age of theater, embodying the art of theater as an actor, director, and teacher. Multaqa, 92, passed away on April 9, 2024, joining her husband and partner on stage, Antoine Multaqa, who left this world a few weeks prior. Since the 60s and 70s, the Multaqa duo have established their reputation as pillars of modern Lebanese theater, opening doors to experimental theater alongside fellow pioneers Muneer Abou Debs and Raymond Jebara. From the legal pulpit ..read more

While Arab theater sits at a crossroads amid questions about its path toward the future, another pillar of modern Arab theater exits the stage. Antoine Multaqa, 91, who passed away in his sleep on February 21, 2024, nurtured the development of experimental theater alongside his wife, fellow director and actor Latifa Multaqa (née Chamoun), during Beirut’s golden age of theater. In its current state, Arab theater stands a shadow of its former self, nowhere nearly as celebrated as it was during the 1960s and 1970s when Antoine Multaqa, Muneer Abou Debs, Raymond Jebara, and others ushered modernis ..read more

Although nearly 50 years have passed since her death, Egypt’s beloved diva, Umm Kulthum, has continued to captivate generations. One can still hear her alluring voice emanating from cafes and car radios in the streets of Egypt or find photographs from her famous performance at Paris’ L’Olympia Theater sold as merchandise. She has consistently remained in the spotlight long after her death, with new books and other artistic homages giving a retrospective of her life and career.  ..read more

In recent years, media reports have raised concerns over a worrying decline in the Arab cultural scene. Government restrictions on the media and artistic expression have taken a toll on art and cultural production across the Arab world, whether in literature or art. In Lebanon, where the ongoing liquidity crisis has continued unabated since 2019, discontent with the state and worsening economic conditions were intensified by the pandemic and the disastrous explosion of Beirut’s port in August 2020, a tragedy still fresh on the minds of many. The blast decimated large parts of Beirut’s arts and ..read more

In these times of unrest and turmoil, it comes as no surprise that the passing of who some called Syria’s beloved “Cousin,” the Syrian dissident Riyadh al-Turk, feels like a farewell to the last of a fleeting generation of Arab heroes. Titles such as the “Sheikh of the Syrian Opposition” and the “Mandela of Syria” just barely skim the surface of the oppositionist’s almost-mythological role in the struggle against tyranny throughout the last century. It is not just Riyadh al-Turk’s survival of torture, sacrifice, and solitary confinement throughout over two decades of political imprisonment und ..read more

Upon her passing, critics must reintroduce the late author, whose literary legacy was lost in the haze of time Despite her reputation as one of the boldest Lebanese women writers at the peak of her career, Layla Baalbaki’s passing without much coverage on October 21, 2023, though delivering a shock throughout the Arab literary world, did not come as a surprise given the journalist and writer’s retreat from the spotlight since the 60s. Baalbaki was the first Lebanese woman tried in court for “outraging public decency” with her short story collection, “Spaceship of Tenderness to the Moon” (1963 ..read more

As part of their Critical Arab American Studies, Syracuse University’s “ Arab American: A Reader in SWANA Studies” celebrates the emerging field of Arab American, Southwest Asian, and North African Studies not by “canonization but rather by inquiry and exploration.” This collection of 39 essays offers a comprehensive and scholarly introduction to the field and highlights the interdisciplinary anti-racist, anti-imperialist, and feminist perspectives of this growing and innovative field. The varied collection also includes excerpts from early seminal works, many of which have been reviewed in th ..read more

The pioneering Mahjar writing of first-wave Arab American literature has fascinated those in the diaspora community and their homelands for over a century. Modernist characteristics of this literature contributed to its fascination, as it developed earlier than modernism in Arabic literature. The Mahjar modernist movement emerged in the early 20th century, rooted in romanticism and spiritual philosophy. Arab American poetry diverged from Arab poetry dramatically in form and theme, characterized by simple language, freedom from tradition in rhyme and meter, and the abandonment of stereotypes. T ..read more

After a long stay in London, Layla returned to Beirut in 2009  to sign her novels, “I Live” and “The Gods Deformed,” and her short story collection “Spaceship of Tenderness to the Moon,” which had been republished by Dar al-Adab, at the Beirut Book Fair. Surrounded by her books, Layla seemed as if she was still preserving her old magic and charm. She was Beirut’s “star” novelist during the 60s, especially after “Spaceship of Tenderness” was banned in 1964 on charges of immorality. She was arrested, tried, and won the case ..read more