Three artists whose names became entwined with places

Vincent van Gogh painted sunflowers and starry nights from Arles, Paul Gauguin painted landscapes and Polynesian women from Tahiti, while in Tangier, Henri Matisse enhanced his palette.

Ismail Ghazaly

The Prose Master

[caption id="attachment_55240209" align="alignnone" width="620"] Elias Khoury[/caption] Elias Khoury’s latest novel to be published in English, White Masks, is actually a work from 1981, written in…

Nicholas Blincoe

Fun, Fearless Filmmakers

[caption id="attachment_55240186" align="alignnone" width="620"] Saudi director Haifa Al-Mansour. KARIM SAHIBA/AFP/GETTY IMAGES[/caption]Last year’s Doha Tribeca film festival marked a tipping point…

Rachel Halliburton

Create Feminism, Don't Import It

[caption id="attachment_55240159" align="alignnone" width="620"] Protesters outside the Tunisian embassy in Stockholm carry placards showing Amina Tyler. AFP PHOTO/JONATHAN NACKSTRAND[/caption] A…

Youssef Cherif

People by Numbers

[caption id="attachment_55239955" align="alignnone" width="620"] “Floos,” Mona Chalabi, 2013. [/caption]During the ten years since the US-led invasion of Iraq, we have been bombarded by statistics…

Amy Assad

No Refuge in the Law

[caption id="attachment_55239691" align="alignnone" width="620"] Libyan women demonstrate outside the Libyan embassy in London on Libyan Women Pride Day, Thursday March 14, 2013.[/caption] The…

Grace Perriman

Meet Reel Iraq

[caption id="attachment_55239658" align="alignnone" width="620"] Haydar Daffa, Iraqi director of The Dreams of Sparrows.[/caption] Ten years ago the world witnessed massive protests against the US…

Celia Topping

The Arab Arts Season

[caption id="attachment_55239526" align="alignnone" width="620"] A visitor looks at a piece of art called "Children of Iraq" by Lebanese artist Robert Helou at Art Dubai 2012. [/caption]It is a good…

Nicholas Blincoe

A Quiet Town

[caption id="attachment_55239372" align="alignnone" width="620"] Mr Abdo Ahmad Mohammad Obeya. Source: Youssef Nabil/Last of The Dictionary Men, photographic series 2008[/caption]Glancing over the…

Amy Assad

Out of the Ashes

[caption id="attachment_55239227" align="alignnone" width="620"] The town of Hama in Syria. Hama was the scene of the 1982 massacre of up to 30,000 citizens by the armed forces in the face of an…

Malik al-Abdeh