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Arab Stories and Voices April 2025 |
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The skin and its girl : a novel
by Sarah Cypher
Faced with a difficult decision, Betty, a young, queer Palestinian American woman finds answers in partially translated notebooks that reveal her late Aunt Nuha's complex life and struggle with her own sexuality, which she hid from the family, along with much more than that.
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Shelf life : chronicles of a Cairo bookseller
by Nadia Wassef
Featuring an eclectic cast of characters, this frank, fresh and very funny memoir chronicles the author's journey founding Diwan, a fiercely independent bookstore, which, over the years, has become a success despite those who said it would never work. 25,000 first printing.
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As long as the lemon trees grow
by Zoulfa Katouh
Volunteering at a hospital Syria, where she witnessed the wounded flooding through the doors, Salama manifests a physical embodiment of her fear in the form of her imagined companion and is torn between her loyalty to her country and her conviction to survive. 50,000 first printing. Simultaneous eBook.
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An unlasting home : a novel
by Mai Al-Nakib
A philosophy professor in Kuwait is accused of blasphemy, a crime punishable by death, and realizes she must reconcile her place in the world in a multigenerational saga spanning from Iraq to India to the United States. 50,000 first printing.
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Conditional citizens : on belonging in America
by Laila Lalami
A Pulitzer Prize finalist recounts her unlikely journey from Moroccan immigrant to U.S. citizen, using it as a starting point for her exploration of the rights, liberties, and protections that are traditionally associated with American citizenship.
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Between two moons : a novel
by Aisha Abdel Gawad
Twin sisters living in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn prepare to celebrate their first summer after graduation high school, but their teenage revelry is disrupted by their older brother's return from prison and an act of violence in the local Arab community.
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The Arabesque table : contemporary recipes from the Arab world
by Reem Kassis
"The Arabesque Table takes inspiration from the traditional food of the Arab world, weaving Reem Kassis's historic research and cultural knowledge with her contemporary interpretations of an ancient, remarkably diverse cuisine. Organized by primary ingredient, the recipes and vivid photographs bring the dishes to life while her narrative offers not only a sense of taste, but a sense of time and place as well"
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Guapa
by Saleem Haddad
In a novel set over the course of 24 hours, Rasa, a gay man living in an unnamed Arab country, is caught in bed with another man by his grandmother, the woman who raised him, and roams the city, trying to carve out a life for himself in the midst of political and social upheaval. Original.
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American radical : inside the world of an undercover Muslim FBI agent
by Tamer Elnoury
A personal account by a Muslim-American FBI agent describes his experiences infiltrating and fighting North American terror cells, tracing his high-risk, undercover efforts to document and build cases against terrorist groups while bringing them down from the inside. Co-written by the best-selling co-author of No Easy Day.
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But you don't look Arab : and other tales of unbelonging
by Hala Gorani
The renowned international news anchor reflects on her experiences as the daughter of Syrian parents raised mainly in France and how it shaped her sense of identity while reporting on Middle East conflicts. 30,000 first printing.
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The arsonists' city
by Hala Alyan
The scattered members of a Middle-Eastern clan unite at an ancestral home in Beirut to change a new patriarch's decision to sell the property, igniting revelations about their family's past in Lebanon, Syria and the United States. 40,000 first printing.
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Yalla, let's eat! : delicious, authentic Arab meals made easy
by Maha Kailani
Simple, modernized recipes for traditional Arabic cuisine. Making your favorite Arab dishes is easier than ever with this contemporary guide to effortless Middle Eastern cooking from Maha Kailani, creator of Make Delicious Happen. These showstopping recipes honor all the vibrant flavors of traditional Arab cuisine but use quick shortcuts and helpful appliances like the Instant Pot and Air Fryer to cut down on prep and cook time. Breeze through incredible yet simplified recipes such as: Flavor Bomb One-Pot Chicken Kabseh; Skillet Beef Shawarma; Dawood Basha (Syrian- Style Kofta Meatballs and Pomegranate Potato Casserole); Quick Palestinian Msakhan Rolls; Traditional Tangy Tabbouleh; Classic Lebanese Fattoush; Cheat Baba Ghanouj; Deconstructed Makdoos on Flatbread; Labneh Toast with Za'atar, Mint and Honey; Blender Orange Olive Oil Bundt Cake; 30-Minute Knafeh Skillet. Thanks to Maha's ingenious methods for cutting down time and effort in the kitchen, you'll spend less time cooking and more time gathered around the table, sharing delicious Arab cuisine with those you love
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Watch us dance
by Leèila Slimani
In 1960s Morocco, biracial siblings—Aicha, who aspires to become a doctor and spends most of her time studying, and Selim, who falls in with the American and European hippies doing drugs and practicing free love—soon find the ideals of their youth colliding with the realities of racism and corruption.
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Life without a recipe : a memoir
by Diana Abu-Jaber
A follow-up to The Language of Baklava continues the story of the author's struggles with cross-cultural values and how they shaped her coming of age and her culinary life, tracing her three marriages, her literary ambitions and her midlife decision to become a parent.
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Ayesha at last
by Uzma Jalaluddin
A modern Muslim adaptation of Pride and Prejudice finds a reluctant teacher who would avoid an arranged marriage setting aside her literary ambitions before falling in love with her perpetually single cousin's infuriatingly conservative fiancé. Original.
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My friends : a novel
by Hisham Matar
Attending the University of Edinburgh, Benghazi transplant Khaled forms a powerful friendship with the author whose short story changed his life, forcing him, as the Arab Spring erupts, to confront agonizing tensions between revolution and safety, family and exile and how to define his own sense of self against those closest to him.
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The other Americans
by Laila Lalami
The suspicious death of a Moroccan immigrant impacts the lives of a diverse cast of characters including his jazz-composer daughter, an undocumented witness and an Iraqi War veteran. By the award-winning author of The Moor's Account.
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The tiny journalist : poems
by Naomi Shihab Nye
"Internationally beloved poet Naomi Shihab Nye places her Palestinian American identity center stage in her latest full-length poetry collection for adults. The collection is inspired by the story of Janna Jihad Ayyad, the 'Youngest Journalist in Palestine,' who at age 7 began capturing videos of anti-occupation protests using her mother's smartphone. Nye draws upon her own family's roots in a West Bank village near Janna's hometown to offer empathy and insight to the young girl's reporting. Long an advocate for peaceful communication across all boundaries, Nye's poems in The Tiny Journalist put a human face on war and the violence that divides us from each other"
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The return : fathers, sons, and the land in between
by Hisham Matar
The award-winning author of Anatomy of a Disappearance describes his journey home to Libya after a 30-year absence due to his family's political exile and his father's kidnapping in Cairo, and his inextinguishable hopes that his father will be found alive.
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What strange paradise
by Omar El Akkad
Looking at the global refugee crisis through the eyes of a child, this dramatic story follows Vänna who comes to the rescue of a 9-year-old Syrian boy who has washed up on the shores of her small island and is determined to do whatever it takes to save him.
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Arabiyya : recipes from the life of an Arab in diaspora
by Reem Assil
A James Beard Award semifinalist and California bakery owner highlights the origins and evolution of her native Arabic food with inspired recipes for flatbreads, dips, snacks and platters including Hazelnut-Praline Baklava Rolls with Milk and Honey and Chile-Onion-Stuffed Falafel. Illustrations.
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These trees, those leaves, this flower, that fruit : poems
by Hayan Charara
"From Hayan Charara comes a candid new collection of poems, one that deconstructs the deceptively simple question of what it means to be good-a good person, a good citizen, a good teacher, a good poet, a good father"
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Against the loveless world : a novel
by Susan Abulhawa
"As Nahr sits, locked away in solitary confinement, she spends her days reflecting on the dramatic events that landed her in prison in a country she barely knows. Born in Kuwait in the 70s to Palestinian refugees, she dreamed of falling in love with the perfect man, raising children, and possibly opening her own beauty salon. Instead, the man she thinks she loves jilts her after a brief marriage, her family teeters on the brink of poverty, she's forced to prostitute herself, and the US invasion of Iraq makes her a refugee, as her parents had been. After trekking through another temporary home in Jordan, she lands in Palestine, where she finally makes a home, falls in love, and her destiny unfolds under Israeli occupation
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Starstruck : a memoir of astrophysics and finding light in the dark
by Sarafina Nance
In this science-packed memoir, an Egyptian-American astrophysicist captures both the wonders of the Universe and traces the earthbound obstacles—sexism, racism, anxiety, self-doubt, cancer diagnoses and recovery—she faced as she pursued her passion and lifelong love of the stars. Illustrations.
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The beauty of your face : a novel
by Sahar Mustafah
Enduring the harrowing minutes of a shooting attack on her school by a radicalized assailant, a school principal and daughter of Palestinian immigrants experiences flashbacks about the bigotry she faced as a child and the disappearance of an older sister.
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Our women on the ground : essays by Arab women reporting from the Arab world
by Zahra Hankir
19 Arab women journalists speak out about what it's like to report on their changing homelands in this first-of-its-kind essay collection, with a foreword by CNN Chief International Correspondent Christiane Amanpour International media coverage of the Arab world and its many complex, interconnected conflicts is dominated by the work of Western correspondents, many of whom are white and male--meaning we see only one side of the story. But a growing number of intrepid Arab women, whose access to and understanding of their subjects are vastly different than their Western counterparts, are working tirelessly to shape more nuanced narratives about their homelands through their work as reporters and photojournalists. Their voices have rarely been heard on the international stage--until now. In Our Women on the Ground, nineteen of these women tell us, in their own words, about what it's like to report on conflicts that are (quite literally) close to home. From sexual harassment on the streets of Cairo to the impossibility of traveling without a male relative in Yemen, their challenges are unique--as are their advantages, such as being able to speak candidly with other women or gain entry to places that an outsider would never be able to access. Their daring, shocking, and heartfelt stories, told here for the first time, shatter stereotypes about Arab women and provide an urgently needed perspective on a part of the world that is often misunderstood
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Life without a recipe : a memoir
by Diana Abu-Jaber
A follow-up to The Language of Baklava continues the story of the author's struggles with cross-cultural values and how they shaped her coming of age and her culinary life, tracing her three marriages, her literary ambitions and her midlife decision to become a parent.
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A woman is no man : a novel
by Etaf Rum
Three generations of Palestinian-American women in contemporary Brooklyn are torn by individual desire, educational ambitions, a devastating tragedy and the strict mores of traditional Arab culture. A first novel. 50,000 first printing.
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The wrong end of the telescope
by Rabih Alameddine
A novel from the National Book Award and the National Book Critics' Circle Award finalist for An Unnecessary Woman is about an Arab American trans woman's journey among Syrian refugees on Lesbos island.
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Love is an ex-country : a memoir
by Randa Jarrar
A gay, Muslim, overweight, Arab-American woman describes her road trip from California to Connecticut to reclaim her autonomy and explore everything she has survived in life, schooling a rest-stop racist and destroying Confederate flags in the desert along the way.
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Between two moons : a novel
by Aisha Abdel Gawad
Twin sisters living in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn prepare to celebrate their first summer after graduation high school, but their teenage revelry is disrupted by their older brother's return from prison and an act of violence in the local Arab community.
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The fox hunt : a refugee's memoir of coming to America
by Mohammed Al Samawi
The son of middle-class Shiite doctors in Yemen shares his moving story of love, war and hope that describes his harrowing escape from regional fanaticism and civil unrest through a daring plan engineered on social media by a small group of Western interfaith activists. 100,000 first printing.
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Letters to a young Muslim
by Omar Saif Ghobash
"Omar Saif Ghobash was born in 1971 in the United Arab Emirates--the same year the country was founded--to an Arab father and a Russian mother. After a traumatizing experience losing his father to a violent attack in 1977, when he was only six years old,Ghobash began to realize the severe violence that surrounded him in his home country. As he grew older, eventually being appointed as the UAE Ambassador to Russia in 2008, he began to reflect on what it means to be a Muslim, establishing a moral foundation rooted in the belief of the hard grind that is the crux of spiritual and practical living. This book is the result of the personal exploration Ghobash went through in the years after his father's death. The new generation of Muslims is tomorrow's leadership, and yet many are vulnerable to taking the violent shortcut to paradise and ignoring the traditions and foundations of Islam. The burning question, Ghobash argues, is how moderate Muslims will unite and find a voice that is true to Islam while actively and productively engaging in the modern world. Letters to a Young Muslim will explore how Arabs can provide themselves, their children, and their youth with a better chance of prosperity and peace in a globalized world, while attempting to explain thehistory and complications of the modern-day Arab landscape and how the younger generation can solve problems with extremists internally, contributing to overall world peace"
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Girl decoded / : A Scientist's Quest to Reclaim Our Humanity by Bringing Emotional Intelligence to Technology
by Rana El Kaliouby
"In a captivating memoir, an Egyptian American visionary and scientist provides an intimate view of her personal transformation as she follows her calling-to humanize our technology and how we connect with one another. Rana el Kaliouby is a rarity in both the tech world and her native Middle East: a Muslim woman in charge in a field that is still overwhelmingly white and male. Growing up in Egypt and Kuwait, el Kaliouby was raised by a strict father who valued tradition-yet also had high expectations forhis daughters-and a mother who was one of the first female computer programmers in the Middle East. Even before el Kaliouby broke ground as a scientist, she broke the rules of what it meant to be an obedient daughter and, later, an obedient wife to pursue her own daring dream. After earning her PhD at Cambridge, el Kaliouby, now the divorced mother of two, moved to America to pursue her mission to humanize technology before it dehumanizes us. The majority of our communication is conveyed through nonverbal cues: facial expressions, tone of voice, body language. But that communication is lost when we interact with others through our smartphones and devices. The result is an emotion-blind digital universe that impairs the very intelligence and capabilities-including empathy-that distinguish human beings from our machines. To combat our fundamental loss of emotional intelligence online, she cofounded Affectiva, the pioneer in the new field of Emotion AI, allowing our technology to understand humans the way we understand one another. Girl Decoded chronicles el Kaliouby's journey from being a "nice Egyptian girl" to becoming a woman, carving her own path as she revolutionizes technology. But decoding herself-learning to express and act on her own emotions-would prove to be the biggest challenge of all"
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If an Egyptian cannot speak English : a novel
by Noor Naga
An Egyptian American woman visiting her parents' homeland begins a dark romance with an unemployed photographer who is addicted to cocaine and living in a rooftop shack in Cairo in a novel about identity politics. Original. 25,000 first printing.
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The thirty names of night : a novel
by Zeyn Joukhadar
Follows three generations of Syrian Americans who are linked by a mysterious species of bird and the truths they carry close to their hearts. By the author of The Map of Salt and Stars. 40,000 first printing.
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They called me a lioness : a Palestinian girl's fight for freedom
by Ahed Tamimi
Seen by some as a freedom-fighting hero and by others as a naive agitator, a Palestinian activist recounts her well-publicized interactions with Israeli solders and her unwavering commitment to family—and her fearless command of her own voice despite threats, intimidation and even incarceration.
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Behind you is the sea : a novel
by Susan Muaddi Darraj
A new novel that gives voice to the diverse residents of a Palestinian American community in Baltimore—from young activists in conflict with their traditional parents to the poor who clean for the rich—shows lives which intersect across divides of class, generation and religion.
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Power born of dreams : my story is Palestine
by Mohammad Sabaaneh
"A bird perches on the cell window and offers a deal: 'You bring the pencil, and I will bring the stories,' stories of family, of community, of Gaza, of the West Bank, of Jerusalem, of Palestine. The two collect threads of memory and intergenerational trauma from ongoing settler-colonialism. Helping us to see that the prison is much larger than a building, far wider than a cell; it stretches through towns and villages, past military checkpoints and borders. But hope and solidarity can stretch farther, deeper, once strength is drawn of stories and power is born of dreams. Translating headlines into authentic lived experiences, these stories come to life in the striking linocut artwork of Mohammad Sabaaneh, helping us to see Palestinians not as political symbols, but as people" -- Amazon.com
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Daring to drive : a Saudi woman's awakening
by Manal Sharif
An intimate memoir by a devout Saudi Arabian woman who became the unexpected leader of a movement to support women's rights to drive describes how fundamentalism influenced her radical religious beliefs until her education, a job and legal contradictions changed her perspectives and made her an accidental activist.
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These impossible things
by Salma El-Wardany
Each navigating love, sex and the one night that changes it all, three Muslim best friends, Malak, Kees and Jenna, as their lives begin to take different paths, must find a way back to each other as they reconcile faith, family and tradition. 50,000 first printing.
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This is how you lose the time war
by Amal El-Mohtar
Two time-traveling agents from warring futures, working their way through the past, begin to exchange letters—and soon fall in love. 50,000 first printing.
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Chronicle of a last summer : a novel of Egypt
by Yasmine El Rashidi
A woman in Cairo reflects on three pivotal summers of her life, including when she was a 6-year-old unable to ask questions, an idealistic college student in the volatile Mubarak period and an adult in the aftermath of Mubarak's overthrow. Reading-group guide available.
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Forest of noise : poems
by Mosab Abu Toha
"Barely thirty years old, Mosab Abu Toha was already a well-known poet when the current siege of Gaza began. After the Israeli army bombed and destroyed his house, pulverizing a library he had painstakingly built for community use, he and his family fledfor their safety. Not for the first time in their lives. Somehow, amid the chaos, Abu Toha kept writing poems. These are those poems. Uncannily clear, direct, and beautifully tuned, they form one of the most astonishing works of art wrested from wartime...Moving between glimpses of life in relative peacetime and absurdist poems about surviving in a barely liveable occupation, Forest of Noise invites a wide audience into an experience that defies the imagination--even as it is watched live"
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Pierce County Library System
3005 112th St. E, Tacoma, Washington 98446
253-548-3300mypcls.org |
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