New open-mic space in Dubai offers city a creative outlet for poetry, music, and the arts
The United Arab Emirates literary scene has been blossoming these last few years with new festivals and book fairs, and most recently, a new poetry collective is taking root in Dubai.… Read more »
A $500,000 grant will help NYU Abu Dhabi make books in Arabic available to displaced populations all over the world
An Arabic digital library has received a $500,000 grant for its ongoing efforts to digitize Arabic texts and make their files accessible. Arabic Collections Online began as an academic undertaking at NYU… Read more »
Dubai: a city so dynamic that the government designed a typeface for free expression
It’s not often that I get to think about the political implications of a typeface. In fact, the last time I did was years ago when I tried to dissuade an author… Read more »
“Illiterate” man on trial in UAE for sharing poem on WhatsApp
The poetry-friendly (in specific contexts) United Arab Emirates has jailed and put a man on trial for sharing a poem on WhatsApp. The man’s counsel, however, is claiming that the defendant’s minimal… Read more »
The Institute of Egypt in Cairo gets some of its books back
One casualty of the Arab Spring, the Institute of Egypt in Cairo, which caught fire last December during the protests in Tahrir Square, and which, Egyptian news sources report, the… Read more »