Marina Ali

In recent years, desis have dominated the romance genre. With each and every new book, Brown Girl Magazine receives an influx of requests from our readers for us to feature writers. The level and quality of South Asian literary talent continue to be elevated, especially as we fly into a new decade. We recently spoke with Alisha Rai about her new book, “Girl Gone Viral,” as well as her influences and her thoughts on romance writing.
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A self-described "world Bedouin," Wafa' Tarnowska's extensive travels sowed the seeds for her new children's book, Amazing Women of the Middle East. She's lived in in her native Lebanon, Australia, India, Cyprus, Dubai and Canada, and she currently splits her time between Poland and the UK.

Writer Anissa M. Bouziane's heritage in Morocco reflects in her creative output, from her experiences in film to her 2019 novel, Dune Song. We spoke to discuss her influences and her take on "linguistic polyphony," a literary technique that combines the norms, styles and histories of multiple languages to enrich narrative.

This comprehensive work by Syrian Arab author Jamal al-Din Abd al-Rahim al-Jawbari is as inciteful and entertaining in the 21st century as it was when it was first written 800 years ago.

Sophia is another hit in the ever-growing catalog of extraordinary novels by Arab writers.

We generally equate cowardice as running away from a problem. Yet, for Dune Song’s protagonist, Jeehan, escape can be a method of healing.

Aya Dane, the book’s namesake, is a complicated woman. Past trauma haunts her but drives so much of her artwork and success in the Boston art scene.

The Caine Prize honors African writers for exemplary short stories written in English. This anthology comprises every winning story since 2000, the year the prize was created, to 2019.

In this informative volume, Bobrick, a historian, recounts the reign of eighth-century-CE caliph Harun al-Rashid, the beginnings of Baghdad, the seat of power in the Abbasid Caliphate, and the various cultural, gastronomic and technological breakthroughs of the time.

South African artist, musician and photographer Cale Waddacor has compiled more than 200 artistic works-a decade worth of Waddacor photographing street art-from across the continent to produce his second book, which expands upon his first, Graffiti of South Africa.

A veritable textbook on Mughal architecture from the namesake region in Rajasthan, India, Bayana offers detailed maps and diagrams of Bayana's important historical landmarks, some of which survive today.

This book presents a detailed account of the Cairo Street exhibition in the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago. Ormos, a professor of Semitic philology and Arabic, analyzes Cairo Street with a neutral lens, while previous academics solely viewed the exhibit as a reinforcement of imperialist, colonial and racist attitudes toward the East.

Dr. Gitanjali Shahani presents a cerebral exploration of colonial- ism, cultural heritage and racism intersecting with cuisine, detailing how we understand other groups of people through their foods. The book’s fundamental thesis centers on how cuisines can simultaneously fetishize and alienate the people they are meant to represent.

Ahmed Krausen’s Mosques: Islamic Architecture in Europe is a delightful picture book that highlights the best parts of his photographic exhibition of the same name. In addition to the beautiful, exquisite glimpses of mosques across the continent, guest writers discuss the nuances of Arabic and Islamic influences in European society.

In this underrated piece of Arab literature, we follow the lives of Khaled and Mallim, two young men from vastly different Egyptian social classes whose lives are completely changed after a chance encounter and an unnecessary misunderstanding.