Beyond Memory

Pauline Kaldas is the author of Looking Both Ways, The Time between Places, Letters from Cairo, and the Egyptian Compass, and she is the coeditor of Dinarzad's Children: An Anthology of Contemporary Arab American Fiction. She is professor of English and creative writing at Hollins University.  Khaled Mattawa is the author of the poetry collection Tocqueville and coeditor of Dinarzad's Children: An Anthology of Contemporary Arab American Fiction. A MacArthur Fellow and a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, he is professor of English and creative writing at the University of Michigan, where he edits the Michigan Quarterly Review.

• Elmaz Abinader | Pain ManagementGeorge Abraham | in which you do not ask the state of israel to commit suicideNabeel Abraham | On the Road with Bob: Peddling in the Early SixtiesRabih Alameddine | Comforting Myths: Notes from a PurveyorHayan Charara | Going PlacesSafia Elhillo | at the intersectionJoseph Geha | Where I’m From—OriginallyHadil Ghoneim | Baba and the PontiacLayla Azmi Goushey | Profile of a Citizen: Generations Then and NowTariq Al Haydar | Machine LanguageRanda Jarrar | BiblioclastFady Joudah | Your Name Is on the List and Other VignettesJoe Kadi | The Saving Grace of a Favorite CousinMohja Kahf | I Cannot Go to SyriaPauline Kaldas | From Looking Both Ways: Walking Home, To Walk Cautiously in the World, A Sense of DirectionLaila Lalami | So to SpeakLisa Suhair Majaj | Journeys to JerusalemKhaled Mattawa | Repatriation: A Libya MemoirIman Mersal | The Displaced VoicePhilip Metres | The Paperless “Palestinian” and the Russian P’licemanSusan Muaddi Darraj | Bint Al-Halal: Mosaic of an Arab American GirlhoodNaomi Shihab Nye | One VillageSteven Salaita | Why I Was FiredMathew Shenoda | Christopher Columbus Was A Damn Blasted Liar: On the Narrative of Discovery in Global LiteratureKamelya Omayma Youssef | Frayed Towel Made Holy: Prayer [Rug] for This Nonbeliever

Pauline Kaldas and Khaled Mattawa collaborate again to put together a wonderful anthology of creative nonfiction by Arab American authors. The depth and breadth of this anthology speak for the multiple facets of the Arab diaspora in the US, reflecting on the challenges of occupying multiple political and cultural landscapes and reconnecting the disconnection between US hegemonic policies in the Middle East and domestic US racial politics. The authors in this anthology, such as Rabih Alameddine, Iman Mersal, Elmaz Abinader, Matthew Shenoda, Mohja Kahf, and Joe Kadi, to name only a few, offer a thick description for the most intricate and intimate moments in their lives as children and as adults growing up in different countries, feeling estranged in both home country and host country." - Dalia Gomaa