Reading Modern Literature

Join us as we continue our journey into MENA (Middle Eastern and North African) literature by discussing the first half of Khoury's epic novel about the Palestinian experience! For this meeting, we will discuss Part I of the novel, entitled "The Galilee Hospital".

Publisher's description:

"New York Times Notable Book of the Year

'An imposingly rich and realistic novel, a genuine masterwork' that vividly captures the Palestinian experience following the creation of the Israeli state (New York Times Book Review)

After Palestine is torn apart in 1948, two men remain alone in a deserted makeshift hospital in the Shatila camp on the outskirts of Beirut—entering a vast world of displacement, fear, and tenuous hope.
Khalil holds vigil at the bedside of his patient and spiritual father, a storied leader of the Palestinian resistance who has slipped into a coma. As Khalil attempts to revive Yunes, he begins a story, which branches into many: stories of the people expelled from their villages in Galilee; of the massacres that followed; of the extraordinary inner strength of those who survived; and of love. Khalil—like Elias Khoury—is a truth collector, trying to make sense of the fragments and various versions of stories that have been told to him. His voice is intimate and direct, his memories are vivid, his humanity radiates from every page. Khalil lets his mind wander through time, from village to village, from one astonishing soul to another, and takes us with him.

Gate of the Sun is a Palestinian Odyssey and the first magnum opus of the Palestinian saga. Beautifully weaving together haunting stories of survival and loss, love and devastation, memory and dream, Khoury humanizes the complex Palestinian struggle as he brings to life the story of an entire people."

If you don't have a physical copy of the book, you can find a copy of it here:

Join us as we continue our journey into MENA (Middle Eastern and North African) literature by discussing the first half of Khoury's epic novel about the Palestinian experience! For this meeting, we will discuss Part II of the novel, entitled "Nahilah's Death".

If you don't have a physical copy of the book, you can find a copy of it here:

Join us as we continue our journey through MENA literature by discussing Haddad's novel of queer life in the Arab world!

Publisher's description:

"A debut novel that tells the story of Rasa, a young gay man coming of age in the Middle East

Set over the course of twenty-four hours, Guapa follows Rasa, a gay man living in an unnamed Arab country, as he tries to carve out a life for himself in the midst of political and social upheaval. Rasa spends his days translating for Western journalists and pining for the nights when he can sneak his lover, Taymour, into his room. One night Rasa's grandmother — the woman who raised him — catches them in bed together. The following day Rasa is consumed by the search for his best friend Maj, a fiery activist and drag queen star of the underground bar, Guapa, who has been arrested by the police. Ashamed to go home and face his grandmother, and reeling from the potential loss of the three most important people in his life, Rasa roams the city’s slums and prisons, the lavish weddings of the country’s elite, and the bars where outcasts and intellectuals drink to a long-lost revolution. Each new encounter leads him closer to confronting his own identity, as he revisits his childhood and probes the secrets that haunt his family. As Rasa confronts the simultaneous collapse of political hope and his closest personal relationships, he is forced to discover the roots of his alienation and try to re-emerge into a society that may never accept him."

If you don't have a physical copy of the book, you can find a copy of it here:

Join us as we continue our journey through MENA literature by discussing Ismailov's provocative novel about art and AI technology!

Publisher's description:

"A multilayered exploration of poetry, authorship, and digital intelligence by “a writer of immense poetic power” (The Guardian)

Finalist, 2025 National Book Award, Translated Literature • A World Literature Today Notable Translation of 2025

“Many paths cross in Ismailov’s beautiful new work―poetry, history and the infinite imagination. Every path winding into another. Every path worth taking.”―Patti Smith

In the late 1980s, French poet and psychologist Jon‑Perse finds himself in possession of one of the most promising inventions of the century: a computer. Enchanted by snippets of Persian poetry he learns from his Uzbek translation partner, Abdulhamid Ismail, Jon-Perse builds a computer program capable of both analyzing and generating literature. But beyond the text on his screen there are entire worlds―of history, philosophy, and maybe even of love―in the stories and people he and AI conjure.

Hamid Ismailov brings together his work as a poet, translator, and student of literature of both East and West to craft a postmodern ode to poetry across centuries and continents. Crossing the poètes maudits with beloved Sufi classics, blending absurdist dreams with the life of the famed Persian poet Hafez, moving from careful mathematical calculations to lyrical narratives, Ismailov invents an ingenious transnational poetics of love and longing for the digital age. Situated at the crossroads of a multilingual world and mediated by the unreliable sensibilities of digital intelligence, this book is a dazzling celebration of how poetry resonates across time and space."

If you don't have a physical copy of the book, you can find a copy of it here: