“Iran After the Fire”—a Speculative Ethnography

Weekly

Three stories published every Friday

“The Melancholy of the Mermaid”—fiction

A dystopian satire grounded in the refugee crisis, austerity, bureaucratic collapse, and the slow destruction of a Greek island.

19 JUNE 2026 • By Ersi Sotiropoulos

Searching for Perseus

A writer returns to her homeland — Lebanon — after years abroad, tracing the fault lines between memory and ruin.

19 JUNE 2026 • By Lara Atallah

“The Lens of the North and the Lung of the South”—fiction

This haunting tale explores the Mediterranean as an artistic inspiration, a deceptively hopeful bridge, and a vast cemetery.

19 JUNE 2026 • By Zeinab Ghassan Khaddour

The Meaning of a Party in the Midst of War

A post-graduation party in Beirut, held within striking distance of displaced citizens, reflects a broader discourse — and malaise.

12 JUNE 2026 • By Amal Ghandour

Border as Fiction: A Conversation with Shady Lewis

Lewis, fresh off his win of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, reflects on borders, bureaucracy, and more.

12 JUNE 2026 • By Abdelrahman ElGendy

Everything Repeats: a Memoir Comic

In her latest creation, Malaka Gharib seeks the circle in the pattern when she takes her child on his first trip to Egypt.

12 JUNE 2026 • By Malaka Gharib

Fiction

“Sara”—a short story

A Palestinian writer dissects the exquisite loneliness of losing one's mother tongue.

6 MARCH 2026 • By Majd Aburrub

“Words That Don’t Sink”—a short story

A simple debate over a spoon opens a space in which a group of Syrian migrants reclaim an identity on the brink of erasure.

6 MARCH 2026 • By Zeinab Ghassan Khaddour

Essays

The Souls of War Folk

The civilizational supremacy of the West is under threat, insisted U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in a speech in Munich.

3 APRIL 2026 • By Ayça Çubukçu

“Iran After the Fire”—a Speculative Ethnography

A writer imagines Iran one year in the future, after the bombs have stopped falling, and the resulting political and social landscape.

3 APRIL 2026 • By Shahram Khosravi

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Three new pieces of SWANA literature, criticism and art every Friday-direct.

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