BOOKPATHS

Tunisia, Egypt, etc.

Arab writers reflect on the "protests [that] have spread across the Arab world."

Middle East

Journalist and Novelist Matt Rees chooses his “top 10 novels set in the Arab world.”

The Arab literary world and Western publishing don't cross over much. The literature of the Arab world is largely unknown in the west, and even westerners who write about Arabs are sometimes seen as fringe, cult writers. That comes at a cost to the west, because literature could be such an important bridge between two cultures so much at odds. What we see of the Arab world comes from news reports of war and other madness. Literature would be a much more profound contact. – from “Matt Rees’s Top 10 Novels Set in the Arab World, The Guardian

Middle East; Washington, D.C.

Jeffrey Brown talks with Michael Kaiser, President of the Kennedy Center, and others about the “ambitious, three-week-festival called “Arabesque: Arts of the Arab World.”

There will be exhibitions of fashion, including wedding dresses from around the region, of art and photography, and an Exploratorium, including a film projecting ancient texts, that will highlight Arab contributions to society between the 8th and 15th centuries: advances in math, medicine, astronomy, and chemistry.

At the heart of the festival, five theaters will feature performances in music, dance and theater, from the traditional to a rapper from Somalia named K'naan. – Jeffrey Brown, The News Hour, NPR

Middle East

Journalist Patrick Tyler chooses his “top 10 “eccentric” Middle East books.

I have chosen these volumes because they come at the essential conflict in the region from an obtuse angle, casting surprising light on a situation that often seems all too familiar. – Patrick Tyler, The Guardian