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Join NOW!The Syrian-born musician has issued a statement committing himself to helping those fleeing the current crisis in the country, dedicating all of his shows in the immediate future to the cause of the refugees’ safe travels: Began in March 2013 at SXSW with a little help from many friends, all future Omar Souleyman shows dedicate […]
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Zoe and I got an email the other day from Stephen Dau, a writer and expat who’s been living in Belgium the last ten years or so. He wanted to draw our attention to his current project, a series of reports from the refugee camp that has sprung up, seemingly overnight, in a park in […]
...moreCost of the rubber raft meant to transport the Kurdi family from Turkey to Greece = $4450 Number of Kurdi family members to survive trip = 1 Age of Aylan Kurdi, the youngest family member drowned at sea = 3 years Age of his drowned brother, Ghalib = 5 years Syrian refugees drowned or missing at sea seeking safer […]
...moreFor the Guardian, author Gillian Cross explains how fiction might help people to better understand and empathize with the experience of Syrian refugees: It might seem frivolous to be talking about stories at a time like this. Shouldn’t we be concentrating on the real world? Isn’t fiction soft and sentimental compared with the terrible news we […]
...moreDiane came and hugged me and said, ‘Father, please pray for me that I don’t become bitter. I don’t want to hate.’ For the New Yorker, Lawrence Wright provides a detailed and heart-wrenching account of the people who came together to try to save James Foley and four other American hostages in Syria.
...moreIn the wake of the destruction of precious cultural artifacts during the unrest in Iran and Syria, a quiet memoir from the queen of mystery, Agatha Christie, remembers the landscape and archeological legacy. The autobiographical Come, Tell Me How You Live never technically went out of print, but HarperCollins will re-release the book in time […]
...moreThe Islamic State of Iraq in Syria, known better as ISIS, has operated in Syria and Iraq since 2003 as an offshoot of al-Qaeda—at least until al-Qaeda disavowed any connection. The military organization is neither a political party nor religious group, though membership primarily consists of Sunni Muslims, the “orthodox” branch of Islam and the […]
...moreThe debate about political poetry in the United States sometimes has an arid feel to it. Essential, yes. But fatally so? Not very often. But poets caught up in violent political events are brethren. I believe it is essential for fellow poets to honor their struggle. Take the Syrian Civil War that began three years […]
...moreI saw Syria this summer, for the first time since 1976.
...moreMohaned works at a small hotel in Palmyra, a desert town in northeast Syria. On the side, he helps a friend pitch taxi rides to tourists. (Mohaned speaks Arabic and English; his friend speaks only Arabic.) The following is an edited account of our conversation during the three hour taxi journey between Palymra and Damascus.
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