Jordan Elgrably

Message from our editors 💬

The Markaz Review has featured nearly 200 writers from Southwest Asia and North Africa (SWANA) this year—and over 1,000 voices since our founding. Help us keep publishing bold, independent work.​

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The Friend of the Fallen: James Baldwin in Istanbul James Baldwin's Turkish exile, a lesser-told chapter in his life, offered safety, privacy, and most importantly, a creative rebirth.

Little-known history about one of my favorite writers (among the dozens I've interviewed):
themarkaz.org/the-friend-o...

America is a Banana Republic El Presidente Donald Trump is the gringo version of brutal and corrupt dictators foisted on Latin American countries by their oligarchs and Yankee imperialists.

Under Trump, the United States is becoming a Banana Republic. We should insure that Trump and his flunkies are arrested and prosecuted, as soon as possible. open.substack.com/pub/chrished...

On Wednesday, ICE GOONS arrested a mother in the school drop-off line at Inzunza Camarina Elementary in Chula Vista, leaving her two children in the car.

🖋️ “Silence is Not the Way” gathers Arab writers refusing complicity — confronting genocide and affirming that literature must not remain neutral. @jordanelgrably.bsky.social
🔗 bit.ly/silence-is-no...

“Silence is Not the Way”—Arab Writers Against Israel’s Genocide When one poet declines to participate on the international stage in Edinburgh, supporters of Palestinian human rights are in a quandary.

🖋️ “Silence is Not the Way” gathers Arab writers refusing complicity — confronting genocide and affirming that literature must not remain neutral. @jordanelgrably.bsky.social

🔗 bit.ly/silence-is-n...

Ziad Rahbani: The Making of a Lebanese Jazz Legend A look at Ziad Rahbani's life and legacy, and the man who first introduced him to the jazz sound that transformed Lebanon's musical landscape.

Great #ziadrahbani hommage in @markaz-review.bsky.social‬
by Diran Mardirian from the great #ChicoRecords shop in Beirut, founded by his dad who also set up the #Zida label w/ Ziad in the '70s!
themarkaz.org/ziad-rahbani...

Framing Heritage Destruction as a Human Rights Violation The way in which assaults on cultural and religious sites are presented to the public is critical to linking these attacks to atrocity crimes, a new book argues.

Huge congrats to my friend Mischa Geracoulis on her new book and the review in #Hyperallergic !
hyperallergic.com/1021592/fram...

Former Afghan interpreter for U.S. military detained by ICE after routine immigration appointment Zia’s arrest is the latest case of federal authorities detaining immigrants with legal status during immigration check-ins. Lawmakers call the detainment of those who helped U.S. troops at war a betra...

The man's arrest is the latest case of federal authorities detaining immigrants with legal status during immigration check-ins. Lawmakers call the detainment of those who helped U.S. troops at war a betrayal. [via @wbur.org]

Mass starvation stalks Gaza as deaths from hunger rise Aid agencies warned for months that Israel’s harsh limits on food aid would bring acute malnutrition and widespread suffering to Gaza’s 2.1 million people.

ARE YOU NOT SICK TO DEATH OF OUR GOVERNMENTS' INACTION WHEN PEOPLE ARE STARVING IN GAZA? WHAT DO WE HAVE TO DO, TAKE UP ARMS? BOMB ISRAEL TO MAKE THEM STOP THIS CRUEL WAR CRIME?

www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...

Opinion | I’m a Genocide Scholar. I Know It When I See It.

The NYT should have published this a year ago. It came out today, but better late than never. How will the west react?
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/15/o...

Why is The New York Times so afraid of Zohran Mamdani? The liberal establishment's war on the New York City mayoral candidate reflects panic over a growing left challenge to Zionist orthodoxy and the mainstreaming of Palestine solidarity

Things might not be so far gone for US democracy if #HamidDabashi is right about the trend that would elect #ZohranMamdani
www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/why-...

UK arrests 83-year-old priest for backing Palestine Action and opposing Gaza genocide Outrage after retired priest arrested for supporting Palestine Action amid UK crackdown on pro-Palestine activism

SOMETHING IS DEEPLY WRONG when the UK/US/EU talk about human rights EXCEPT FOR PALESTINIANS. This is wrong.
www.middleeasteye.net/news/uk-arre...

In Nasser Rabah’s Poetry, تقول القصيدة كلمتها Nasser Rabah and other poets of Gaza are still writing — still sending their poems to us, because Palestine is literature.

I wrote about crying while reading a translators’ note.

@citylightsbooks.bsky.social @jordanelgrably.bsky.social

Missiles and Rhetoric — a Tehrani Reflects on the "12-Day War" A writer in Tehran surveys the wreckage after 12 days of missiles, bombs and rhetoric flying between Israel and Iran.

@rezaian.bsky.social
fyi
themarkaz.org/missiles-and...

Public Intellectual, a conversation produced by The Markaz Review Radio Tabbouli · Episode

Tune into 3 Arab public intellectuals, Moustafa & Hisham Bustani, moderated by Lina Mounzer @warghetti.bsky.social :
open.spotify.com/episode/3Jug...

Jawdat Fakreddine Presents Three Poems A major name in Arabic poetry, Jawdat Fakhreddine establishes a revolutionary dialogue between international values and the Arabic tradition.

📖 [POETRY MARKAZ]

Jawdat Fakhreddine’s “Bilād” is a haunting ode to lost homelands and resistance, bridging Arabic literary tradition and today’s struggles.

🔗 Read the piece + 3 translated poems: bit.ly/jawdat-fakred...

#TMRPoetry #ArabicPoetry

@jordanelgrably.bsky.social
We invite you to read today's TMR Weekly stories. Start with our correspondent from Tehran.
themarkaz.org/tmr-weekly/

Missiles and Rhetoric — a Tehrani Reflects on the "12-Day War" A writer in Tehran surveys the wreckage after 12 days of missiles, bombs and rhetoric flying between Israel and Iran.

Curious what life is like today in Tehran?

themarkaz.org/missiles-and...
@warghetti.bsky.social @warren.senate.gov @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social

My colleagues @markaz-review.bsky.social have published a new issue today, entitled MEZZE. Who's hungry? themarkaz.org/category/tmr...

Three of us editors from The Markaz Review gave a creative writing workshop all day Saturday in London in the Shubbak Festival: full house! Query us, editors-at-themarkaz.org

Montpellier's a great city, always hopping. Gotta love the annual book fest Comédie du Livre, but also the #FestivalArabesque and #CINEMED and so much more.

Silicon Valley Killed San Francisco — It’s Over After four months in Spain, I came back to find my favorite US city hollowed out — quiet, expensive, and optimized to death.

What's life like in San Francisco these days? Here's what one former San Franciscan, now ensconced in Valencia, Spain, has to say on the subject: medium.com/city-life/si...

Editors' 2025 Palestinian Lit List May 15, 2025 is the 77th commemoration of the Nakba, the day in 1948 that Palestinians suffered their worst catastrophe up to that time.

Today is the 77th commemoration of the Nabka, the day that #Palestinians know as the catastrophe. The Markaz Review editors have put together this book list. Please share it widely: themarkaz.org/editors-2025...

☀️👀 on X: "Ben Affleck calls out the depraved racist Islamophobia of genocidal Zionists like Bill Maher and Sam Harris, and explains how this dehumanization is used to justify the mass slaughter and rape of Arabs and Muslims, as is happening now with Palestinians https://t.co/WIyE0nCIwH" / X Ben Affleck calls out the depraved racist Islamophobia of genocidal Zionists like Bill Maher and Sam Harris, and explains how this dehumanization is used to justify the mass slaughter and rape of Arabs and Muslims, as is happening now with Palestinians https://t.co/WIyE0nCIwH

I have more respect now for Ben Affleck, although I disagreed with some of the ideology behind his film "Argo"; certainly Sam Harris is a Zionist and an anti-Muslim bigot. x.com/zei_squirrel...

this is absolutely horrifying. every single American should be speaking out against what’s happening in neighborhoods & cities across the country right now

Image featuring 210 journalists who have been killed in Israel’s war on Gaza

On this #WorldPressFreedomDay I’m thinking of the 210+ Palestinian journalists who’ve been killed by Israel in the past year & a half—and how deeply sad it is that, as our western media continues to look away, the number pub’d below (in April) is already out of date💔

Israel committing genocide in Gaza, says EU’s former top diplomat Josep Borrell also criticises EU response to what he calls largest ethnic cleansing operation since second world war

Thank you, Josep Borrell. But why couldn't you say this earlier? Why hasn't the EU put the brakes on arms sales to Israel?
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...

This is FASCISM AT WORK — they have no warrant, they don't give their names, they don't say why they are taking the woman off the street, what they're charging her with. Nada. No habeas corpus = tyranny.