Two Blankets, Three Sheets is a deeply personal and often humorous account of life in a Dutch asylum reception centre. The novel draws on the author’s own experience: after arriving in the Netherlands as an asylum seeker, Rodaan Al Galidi was not granted access to formal language courses and therefore taught himself Dutch while waiting…
Rukhsana Ahmad This anthology brings together the work of several feminist Urdu poets who challenged the socio-religious restrictions in Pakistan during the 1970s and 80s. The title is taken from a poem by Kishwar Naheed, which acts as a manifesto of defiance against the “virtuous woman” archetype imposed by state-sponsored moral policing. The collection showcases…
Saif ur Rehman Raja’s Hijra is a powerful autobiographical novel that explores the complex intersection of migration, cultural displacement, and queer identity. Written from the perspective of an author who lived this reality, the book transforms a deeply painful personal journey into a dynamic act of self-definition, reclaiming agency over a life constantly labeled by…
Stevan Tontić’s Sarajevo Manuscript (Handschrift Aus Sarajevo), written after he fled the Bosnian War, offers a haunting reflection on the disintegration of a shared Yugoslav identity and the profound effects of exile. His poetry and essays convey the sorrow, confusion, and moral struggle of witnessing one’s homeland being destroyed while striving to remain true to…
[ʿUṣfūr min al-Šarq] Tawfiq al-Hakim A Bird of the East is a semi-autobiographical work between the spiritual heritage of the Orient and the materialism of the West. The novel follows Muhsin, a young Egyptian student living in Paris, whose life is surrounded by his passions for classical music and Russian literature. When he falls for…
[Mawsim al-hiǧra ilā al-šamāl] 1966 Originally written in Arabic and published in 1966, Season of the Migration to the North is a landmark of post-colonial literature. Set in a small village on the banks of the Nile in Sudan, this story follows an unnamed narrator who returns to his birthplace after years of studying in…
In this deeply moving and meaningful film, director Mira Nair explores the layered meaning of identity through the life of Gogol Ganguli, a first-generation immigrant navigating the space between inherited tradition and personal self-definition. Named after the Russian writer Nikolai Gogol, his name becomes both a burden and a bridge ,linking him to a past…
The Swimmers tells the powerful true story of two Syrian sisters, Yusra and Sara Mardini, whose lives are transformed by war and displacement. Growing up in Damascus, the sisters are talented competitive swimmers trained by their father, who dreams of seeing them reach the Olympic Games.When the Syrian civil war destroys their home and disrupts…
W. E. B. Du Bois In this collection of essays, W. E. B. Du Bois captures the interior life of Black Americans in the early 20th century. He introduces the core concept of “double consciousness”, a consciousness of one’s self, but which falls short of a true self-consciousness, a persistent one. This work is a…
[Qindīl Umm Hāšim] First published in 1944, the Saint’s Lamp is a masterful novella that captures the core struggles of the modernising Arab world. The story follows the young protagonist Ismail, an Egyptian doctor who returns to his traditional neighbourhood in Cairo after studying ophthalmology in Europe for several years. Upon his arrival, he is…
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