Interviews

Riyadh al-Turk: In and Out of Syrian Prison

Noted Former Syrian Prisoner Riyadh al-Turk Speaks Out on Life Inside Prison: ‘I stop thinking in prison’

Mohammad Ali Atassi

Riyadh al-Turk has few political parallels as a person, prisoner, and leader. He is a professional politician in the noblest sense of the word. For al-Turk, politics is a means of attaining the most significant degree of justice, human nobility, and freedom. He has dedicated most of his time and effort to politics, only to be repaid with a lengthy prison sentence.

Imene Chaabane Bennani Speaks with Arab-American Poet Lahab Assef al-Jundi

Imene Chaabane Bennani

I thought I would pursue a career in the scientific disciplines and I came to the States to study electrical engineering. However, as I grew older, I began to discover my love for poetry. By age 30, I had started writing what I thought of as “love scribbles.”

Egyptian Playwright Alfred Farag Analyzes Decline of Arab Theater

Dina Amin

From the Euphrates to the Chicago River, ‘My Paintings Are My Home’ for Syrian Artist Etab Hreib

By Al Jadid Staff

The nostalgic paintings of Etab Hreib are deeply imbued with memory – from images of plains, rivers, and valleys, to the blue sea she recalls from her childhood. Etab said in a recent interview with Akram Qatrib, “The colors of the Euphrates have pulsed through my fingers like blood – the Euphrates is in my genes.” After leaving Syria for the U.S., her art has taken new shape, influenced by yearning for home and the tragic loss of her son Mazen at the hands of the Jihadists in Syria.

Interviews

Saad Chraibi: L’amoureur du cinema

Pamela Nice with translation by Kabil Kahlaouy

Saad Chraibi has been working in Moroccan cinema as a director, scenarist and producer since 1978. He is highly respected in Morocco for his courage in addressing social and political issues in his films, such as “Femmes.. et femmes” (1998), dealing with domestic abuse, and “Jawhara (fille de prison)” (2004), on political prisoners in Morocco. His films have been shown internationally at film fesitvals, and Jawhara is to be seen in New York this coming fall.

Beyond Morocco’s Literary Divide: Interview with Leila Abouzeid

Pamela Nice

I spoke with Leila Abouzeid in her apartment in Agdal, a beautiful section of Rabat. She is a diminutive woman, perhaps not even five feet tall, but was colorfully dressed and expressed herself with intensity. She is now working on a collection of short stories, based on a collection published already in Beirut in Arabic, to be published in English by the University of Texas Press under the editing of Elizabeth Warnock Fernea. Abouzeid studied under Fernea at the University of Texas in Austin for two years, and they have continued a close personal and professional relationship since then.

To Leave... And To Return: An Exclusive Interview With ‘The Other Americans’ Author, Immigrant Novelist Laila Lalami

Bobby Gulshan

Farewell Faleh Abdul-Jabar (1946-2018): An Interview with Iraqi Sociologist on Tribalism, Baathism/Pre-Saddam Democracy

By Sabah Zwein

Interviews

Ziad Doueiri: War as Backdrop to Teenage Antics Brings Beirut to American Audiences

Kate Seelye

Q&A with Director and Writer Reine Mitri on Her Banned Film “In this Land Lay Graves of Mine”

Angele Ellis

Angele Ellis, who reviews Reine Mitri’s “In this Land Lay Graves of Mine” in the forthcoming issue of Al Jadid, conducted a Q&A through e-mail with the film’s director. Ms. Mitri responded to questions about her changing attachment to and perceptions of Lebanon after making this personal documentary, the advantages (or disadvantages) of being a female filmmaker, and her artistic influences and inspirations. When asked about the effects of the ban the Lebanese government has imposed on this film, Ms. Mitri replied that censorship would not affect its reception, distribution, or inclusion in international film festivals. Perhaps her answer speaks volumes on how the world views Lebanon’s standards of censorship.

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