Israel is offering a new narrative, or tagline rather, to replace its long-standing, self-appointed “beacon to the nations” moniker.
13 NOVEMBER 2026 • By Amal Ghandour
Filmmakers Tanaz Eshaghian and Farzad Jafari examine the brutal calculus of justice, revenge, and forgiveness in this documentary.
13 NOVEMBER 2026 • By Alex Demyanenko
Amid the fear-mongering discourse over what artificial intelligence will become, a writer ponders what we already have carried into it.
13 NOVEMBER 2026 • By Sholeh Wolpé
The playwright's latest work, about the impact of Gaza's genocide on one wealthy Egyptian family, recently premiered at the Avignon Festival.
6 NOVEMBER 2026 • By Georgina Van Welie
In the controversial documentary film NAZA, filmmakers grant the soldiers an anonymity that they have rejected on the battlefield.
30 OCTOBER 2026 • By Nicki Kattoura
This unflinching film refuses to look away from the horrors of Gaza, mirroring the urgency of the ongoing catastrophe it seeks to document.
30 OCTOBER 2026 • By Alex Demyanenko
Amid a tense cultural and political climate, a palpable wariness hovered over Istanbul’s art programme this autumn.
30 OCTOBER 2026 • By Naima Morelli
Tunis’ ancient citadel is threatened by climate change and incompetence but could also offer solutions to hotter, wetter conditions.
23 OCTOBER 2026 • By Iason Athanasiadis
Israel's strategy in Lebanon’s south is less a new military design than an "old and improved" version of its national security concept.
23 OCTOBER 2026 • By Amal Ghandour
Even in this most grief-stricken of timelines, humor offers us a way to laugh through (and at) our pain.
By Lina Mounzer
In this outrageous comedy of sex, art, and transactional desire, an Arab man turns Israeli guilt into a thriving business.
By Rabih Alameddine
A Lebanese artist approaches an absurd ever-collapsing world with a pen, paint, and trumpet.
By Nour Annan
A woman returns to post-Assad Syria to discover whether the home she has carried with her still exists.
16 OCTOBER 2026 • By Anas Tareef
In this first-place winner of the Azhar Short Story Prize, a caretaker lives in the shadow of an uncertain return.
16 OCTOBER 2026 • By Natalia Boumatar
Amid the fear-mongering discourse over what artificial intelligence will become, a writer ponders what we already have carried into it.
13 NOVEMBER 2026 • By Sholeh Wolpé
A young Kurdish writer grapples with what it means to exist outside the politics of appeal and visibility.
7 AUGUST 2026 • By Aline Jabbari
Three new pieces of SWANA literature, criticism and art every Friday.
