A deeper look at the life of 'the first Arab Cinderella'

A new book about Egyptian silver-screen actress and singer Leila Mourad uncovers the competing forces that shaped not only her career but also how she was perceived by the public.

Fadi El-Abdallah

Unwitting Ambassadors

[caption id="attachment_55247737" align="alignnone" width="620"] A December 11, 2012 photo shows Egyptian soldiers stand in front of a graffiti on the walls of the Presidential Palace in Cairo. …

Clarissa Pharr

Kabul’s School of Rock

[caption id="attachment_55247696" align="alignnone" width="620"] Afghan music student Salahdeen, 7, rehearses with a guitar at "Kabul School of Rock" in Kabul. (Noorullah Shirzada/AFP/Getty Images)[…

Goos Hofstee

Apathy in Violent Times

[caption id="attachment_55247606" align="alignnone" width="620"] A still from Anima State, Hamad Khan, 2013. [/caption] Hammad Khan is clearly a filmmaker on a mission to deconstruct the very…

Jesse Lawrence

I, the Artist and the Syrian

[caption id="attachment_55247534" align="alignnone" width="620"] Tammam Azzam (Courtesy of the Ayyam Gallery)[/caption] Tammam Azzam doesn’t claim to be a representative of the Syrian people, but…

Tam Hussein

Capturing the Human Story

[caption id="attachment_55247510" align="alignnone" width="650"] Steve McCurryStruggling camels silhouetted against the oil-fire, Al-Ahmadi oil field, Kuwait, 1991© Steve McCurry Courtesy of the…

Amy Assad

The Tunisia that Time Forgot

While the political elite in Tunis are wrangling over the future of the country, there are parts of Tunisia that time has simply forgotten. The current political impasse—and the fact that the state…

Tam Hussein

Poetry Leads the Turkish Republic

[caption id="attachment_55247131" align="alignnone" width="620"] Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan shows a book from the Turkish Anthropology Institutes during an address to the parliament…

Nicholas Birch

This Dance of Freedom

[caption id="attachment_55246885" align="alignnone" width="614"] Salah El Brogy performing Hurriyeh to calligraphy by Soraya Syed (both artists/ Nour Festival)[/caption] You would not expect a…

Tam Hussein

Art and Punishment

[caption id="attachment_55246819" align="alignnone" width="620"] Soudabeh ArdavanPrison Sketches©Soudabeh Ardavan[/caption] The old "suffering artist" cliché takes on a new meaning when it comes to…

Jesse Lawrence