A woman’s writing, and routine, are disrupted when she meets a man on a bicycle.
The signorina Maddalena Rubí has a passion for poetry.
She writes a little after dinner each night, before go…
Fiction
Each Saturday evening, they would meet, braiding and unbraiding their hair in a synchronized rhythm. But then one night, everything changed. On Saturday nights, they braided. They all wore t…
Jerusalem is ultimately a city of eternal strangers. The connection to the city is not a connection to place, but rather a connection to time. Here, on the watershed of the winds, between re…
Why would a girl of fourteen choose a minor key? Let Chopin carry you away, just as he does Nina, who brings the revolution to the keys of a prewar Steinway. “Nina, you’re next,” they whisp…
Photo by Shahin Khalaji on Unsplash Narrated by a chorus of male voices, this story recounts the details of an incident that occurred in a company of only male employees, triggered by the entry o…
Rimini, Italy / Photo by Letizia Agosta / Unsplash Find a spot near some water and let yourself be transported to the Italian seaside in this story of two teens who meet on the beach and form a q…
Photo © by Yousef Khanfar In her debut novel, You Exist Too Much, newly released in paperback, Zaina Arafat’s narrator portrays the fantasies and desires of a young woman caught between…
Sliman Mansour, The Village Awakens – Sahwit Al Kareh / Courtesy of the artist Author’s note: Over the last two decades, whenever I have returned to Palestine, there has been considerable change.…
Manal Deeb / Courtesy of the artist A trip to the doctor leaves an unnecessary burden on a young girl. I inherited the dark skin of the slim body I inhabit from my mother. Together with worr…
Dana Barqawi, Woman Digging Thorns out of Field / Courtesy of the Artist In the following voyage of self-discovery and reflection on humanity—excerpted from a forthcoming book—the author…
Hiba Yassine / Courtesy of the artist In the following parable, a young boy discovers that he is a king. 1 I never thought I’d become a king at the age of thirteen. It was a…
Reem Khader, and she prevails / Courtesy of the artist (Everything here is reported by the young man who found the bottle.) This small light-emitting machine is currently still deco…
Manal Deeb / Courtesy of the artist A salt swing, and its story, connects a young woman to her grandmother—and more. The salt that lay on Grandmother’s lips, and the grief of the story in th…
Asma Ghanem / Courtesy of the artist A girl, “seduced by the city of Haifa,” loses her braid in a barbershop. My mom and I crossed the road from the bus station to the only barbershop in the…
Nadine Toukan, Al Aqsa / Courtesy of the artist When a mysterious teacher and his eighth-grade students disappear, the subject of transformation appears along the investigative trail.…
Sliman Mansour, Rituals Under Occupation / Courtesy of the Artist Respect the gods, Achilles, and show mercy towards me. –King Priam, Book XXIV, The Iliad When they wheel…
“Anatomy of the mouth” by liverpoolhls is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 In the dentist’s chair with mouth wide open, a patient contemplates her tongue’s relationships to B6 or B7, how shade 2 benef…
Photo by Joseph Rushmore In the following story, the narrator imagines what role her family might have played in a race massacre—and the generations of silence that followed. May 20,…
Photo by Serj Tyaglovsky / Unsplash With two weeks of food and the outside world covered in cellophane, apartment dwellers under a stay-at-home order get to know their neighbors as things grow in…
Photo by Olga Serjantu / Unsplash Whatever happened in the neighborhood, ‘Ubayd was said to be behind it. Disappearing water pumps and gas cylinders, broken streetlights, and fires in the farmers’ ma…
Photo by Myrtle Schilling / Unsplash I’ve seen it more than once: the raised axe swings and chops into the last remnant; Lying still in the dirt is the moving, glowing crown. – Rahel,…
Meytar Moran, The Stage, from the Black Magic series (2014–2015), meytarmoran.com In a field near the Gaza Strip, a missile strike, visions, and onlookers searching for an explanation.…
Painted Cats by sjrankin is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0 Hoping battles knowing in this three-act seduction (spoiler alert: there’s a cat in the story). 1. Try to seduce someone. How…
“We Don't Care Broken Window Theory” by Zak MC is licensed under CC by SA 2.0 Old Acquaintance Having met by chance, they hugged. “Long time no see!” the men chorused. They caught up, exchanged telep…
“I love you" by @Doug88888 / flickr People believe, Marie thinks, even when there’s no proof. You believe because you imagine. But is imagination enough to live by? Die. This is wha…
