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Did you know that most travel in old Nubia took place by boat along the Nile River? During their journeys, ship captains would entertain passengers by singing songs or reciting poems. In this way, poems traveled from one place to another, often evolving as new verses were added along the way. Over time, some became long, richly layered works, created through a unique form of artistic collaboration. Sadly, many of these poems were lost over time.

Yet the Nubians’ deep love for poetry and literature endured, passed down through generations. Even today, poets and writers continue to keep this rich tradition alive, bringing its spirit of creativity and expression back to life. So much of Nubian literature remains untranslated and largely inaccessible to wider audiences, making it all the more important to recognize, preserve, and celebrate this rich literary tradition.

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Literature allows communities to speak even through silence, their written pieces of fiction articulate their experiences and struggles with displacement more clearly than vocal speech, violence, or loud resistance. By offering a public platform for challenging hegemonic discourses that equate rapid development with modernity, and articulating political demands that regular people may be reluctant to voice in public, the literary sphere can become one of the key battleground for communities’ struggle to become part of the development discourse.

The fiction of Nubian authors like Idris Ali, Muhammad Khalil Qasim, Yahya Mukhtar, and Haggag Hassan Oddoul represents a breadth of material charting the long-term legacy of displacement fifty years after the construction of the Aswan High Dam, a massive dam that spans the Nile in Aswan, Egypt, built between 1960 and 1970.

Read the article here.

If you want to feel as though you’re sitting among Nubians in their own home, just as tourists might when visiting Aswan, these stories invite you into that experience. They’re meant to feel like you’re listening to a folkloric tale by the Nile, not simply reading another book while lying in bed. This book is a nostalgic, sensory-rich portrait of pre-displacement Nubia. It centers on traditional village life, rituals, love, and the sacred relationship between Nubians and the Nile, and draws heavily on Nubian folklore and oral history to recreate the sights, sounds, and scents of a beloved homeland.

Read more here.

"Nomad" by Bedouin Burger, the Paris-based duo comprising Syrian singer Lynn Adib and Lebanese multi-instrumentalist Zeid Hamdan, is a mesmerizing exercise in electronic-oriental minimalism. It feels like a slow, hypnotic journey. The music is stripped down, giving the singer's voice room to float over quiet electronic beats and atmospheric synthesizer tones. Listening to it feels like standing alone in a vast desert at dusk, watching shadows stretch across the sand as a gentle pulse carries you forward.

Listen here.

If you spent the mid-2000s completely unhinged over Grey’s Anatomy, then Full Anesthesia (Beng Kolli) needs to be your next binge. It delivers that exact same chaotic, fast-paced hospital drama high: a fiercely ambitious young doctor defying the odds, a horribly arrogant yet irresistible head surgeon who exists solely to test her sanity, and the kind of wild, jaw-dropping patient plot twists that will make you gasp aloud.

Watch it here.

Consider this your official sign to head straight over to Gyoza! They take the art of pan-fried Asian dumplings seriously, delivering that absolute god-tier contrast of a perfectly seared, crunchy base paired with a tender, juicy, and savory filling inside. Dunk them into their signature chili-soy dipping sauces, pair a batch with a side of steaming noodles or bao, and you've got a flavor combination that makes standard takeout feel boring.

Find out more here.

If your childhood or teenage years were soundtracked by metallic flip phones, iPod Shuffles, and legendary Egyptian pop throwbacks, consider this your official invitation to time-travel straight back to the 2000s! 2000s Flashback: Zabadi Khalat & More is bringing back the ultimate nostalgia trip, blasting all the iconic, high-energy hits, guilty pleasures, and legendary pop culture moments that made the era totally unforgettable.

Find out more here.

A Nepali Muslim man who went viral after defending a mosque from attackers has been brought to Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah, sponsored by Saudi donors in appreciation of his courage. Sheikh Rahemullah, 32, from Rampur in Nepal, was seen in a widely circulated video in late January confronting a crowd attempting to attack a mosque in Nepal’s Rautahat district. Despite having lost one leg and using a crutch, Rahemullah was seen holding a stick as he stood in front of the mosque and confronted the attackers. The footage quickly spread across social media, prompting Saudi activists to launch a campaign to identify the man behind the viral video.

Read more here.