First you begin with a recipe, that’s how all short stories begin. The ingredients vary and so does the taste. His main ingredient is sorrow. He would like to warn her, but her persistent eyes and hospitable smile override his attempts. The 91-year old Karim sits hunched over his seat, basking under the Basque sun,… Continue reading في بلاد الباسك – in the Basqueland
Category: prose
How does art reclaim public space in Haifa?
In his Poetics of Space, the French philosopher Gaston Bachelard writes that “we must describe what we imagine before what we know” (25). In a similar way, imagining public space through art and literature is one way of changing, reclaiming and owning the reality of that space. Since the “spatial turn” in the… Continue reading How does art reclaim public space in Haifa?
Chaos and Love
Descending the train demands more effort than usual. It’s 11am on a Sunday morning in Haifa central bus station. She gets off and looks for some shade to wait for the next train to Tel Aviv. She drags her carry-on bag filled with clean clothes, containers of Dwali, Maqlobi and other veggies and fruits that… Continue reading Chaos and Love
From the mountain top
When the world was created, there was no light. So God weaved light and water like the weft and the warp. The air became like a knitted soft fabric that we could softly and comfortably wear. Then we made our own clothes out of gluey leaves, frozen drops of snow and sand. We built a… Continue reading From the mountain top
أحمد ناجي: عبده السكندري وبورخيس السويسري
Originally posted on тнє ѕυℓтαη'ѕ ѕєαℓ:
خبزت أمى الكيكة وزينتها بالكريمة البيضاء والفواكه. أخرجتها من الثلاجة وسارت وسط أنظار وحماس الجميع حتى وضعتها على طاولة الطعام، ثم بدأت في غرس شموع عيد الميلاد الصغيرة فيها. أوشكنا على إطفاء النور وإشعال الشموع، اللحظة المثيرة التي من أجلها تسارعت دقات قلبي، لأني أحصل حينها على اهتمام وحب الجميع، قطعها رنين…
On writing in English
How it all began Sitting in a local café in the old market of Nazareth, I poured down my rambling thoughts in an attempt to organize them into a structure, to understand them and to reflect upon them. As a Palestinian living in Israel, I am confronted with many contradictions in my daily life. Just… Continue reading On writing in English
Three stories of a novel return
Story I: That night, different from any other night, the stairs up the Hadar seemed endless. She usually climbed the stairs with quite ease and tranquility, listening to the birds chirping in the oak trees and observing the unique details that Haifa has to offer. She rarely took the bus, especially after an hour train… Continue reading Three stories of a novel return
Walk down Lower Hadar
In a parallel line she walked along Ben Gurion Avenue (it was called Carmel St before the Nakba of Palestinians and the establishment of the state of Israel) and in parallel she thought about her duties: her grandmother is in the hospital and she should visit her. And in parallel society she lived, when she… Continue reading Walk down Lower Hadar
glimpses of mind’s contemplations
Encountering the sublime at the turn of the corner, I am left without words. As cliche as it sounds, but when i walked down the street to my house and glimpsed the early blossoms of the almond tree, they were pink and white in the center, I was taken to a halt. How can i… Continue reading glimpses of mind’s contemplations
on Hope
It was a cold Tuesday. It was that kind of Tuesday when things are in one state then you go to school and when you come back things are different: I wake up, drag myself out of bed, I can hear the clamor of plates and closing cupboards in the kitchen in addition to the… Continue reading on Hope
AICHA BINT YUSIF 