Dark
Light
Clover
In an old room, on a clean wooden floor, I was playing with my doll Susie, waiting for…
Refracted Selves: Mirrors in Literature, Culture, and the Soul
The Mirror as Threshold When I was four years old I stood in front of a…
Making the Miraculous Visible:
Shirin Abedinirad on Mirrors, Landscape, and the Art of Presence For Rowayat’s fourteenth issue, we could imagine no…
Blood, Death and Hope
In Fiqh, Islamic jurisprudence, menopausal women are literally women who have reached the age of “despair.”…
When We Meet & occupier artclass
When We Meet (Ghazal) Which one of us will have crossed the sea when we meet?Will you recognize…
A Distant Grandmother Weeps in the Dark
Sometimes your day begins at three in the morning, to fragments of a dream whose details you can…
Issue 14: Mirrors
We are open for Submissions for Issue #14: Mirrors April 1st to May 15th 2026 Click here to…
Eleven Stars over Andalusia
We have on this earth what makes life worth living. Where should we go after the last frontiers?…
WHALE SONG OVER GAZA CITY: A CONVERSATION WITH ROZY
1. Origins This is Rozy’s story. It’s a story about growing up in Gaza City, about holding…
Echoes Beneath the Water
The scent of chlorine still clings to me as I cross the threshold of my coach’s office, that…
Rowayat 2025 Poetry Contest Shortlist
Our Judge, Sara ElKamel’s Comments on the Finalist: Paul Potts — “i have” I was blown away by…
On Walpole Island
Live in a windowless room long enoughand you will forget how to leave.Life will be splashed out on…
Circle of the Dead
God favors dead women—wives, lovers, concubines, slaves. Bodies, bird-light, a feather or two on the ground.My grandmothers, aunts,…
Issue 13: Forged Kinship
“…kinship is not rooted in the abstract, but in concrete realities—when naming, speaking, and surviving are rights denied…
Cairo: The Letters, Delivered
“These letters in their fictional form are not delivered, but as a book, they are delivered. So as…
Refugee Is Not My Name
The “eco”-blockade and military assault ethnically cleansed Karabakh Have you ever dreamt of becoming a refugee or a…
Make Your Life Count:
Ani Zonneveld’s Memoir is a Rallying Cry for Justice, Joy, and Radical Faith “I follow the Way of…
On the Meaning of Watermelons:
An Exploration of Imagery in Contemporary Palestine In Palestine, the visual realm is…
elephant graveyard
I. elephants are matriarchal creatures traveling in herds of just women. boys leavingwhen they become men, returning years…
What the Road Promised & Others
What the Road Promised Leave.Listen to what the road says,it screeches the name of my people,a throat of…
A Fictional State
Lush plains and endless mountains. I am on my way back to a village left behind centuries ago.…
Zift
The first thing I noticed was that he had no thumbs. He was having trouble putting the…
Our Ladies of Perpetual Solitude
The call came before the sun. Teresa walked over to the stove clutching the old, corded phone to…
Submit to Issue 12: Echoes
We have EXTENDED! Submit now: March 7th- April 8th, 2025, April 21st, 2025. “Write what should not be…
A Room, Languages, and Possibilities: A Conversation with Sara Elkamel
I had the opportunity to interview the award-winning poet Sara Elkamel. Her poetry draws deeply from personal and…
Fleeting Memories
In this memory, I am six, sitting in my elementary school classroom. It’s Valentine’s day and I’ve…
I Carried My Father to Uruk & Others
I Carried My Father to Uruk My father taught me how dates,gathered in enough numbers,left to age and…
The Orange Orchard
The orange trees were the scent of my girlhood. I grew up in the house of loquat, mango,…
A Long Walk From Gaza: An Excerpt
Leave I A body on the cobblestones. Just lying there. I shake him gently to see if he…
A Conversation about “A Long Walk from Gaza”
CN Let’s talk first about the excerpt we have chosen for this special issue of Rowayat, “Connect and…
“All the Women in My Life,”
a conversation with Tarek El-Ariss about his memoir Water on Fire: A Memoir of War I can see…
To Tell The Truth Like Tolstoy
An aspiring writer reflects on lessons from the great Russian novelist I came to Tolstoy when…
“The Women and Memory Forum: An Intellectual Project with an Activist Agenda”
Championing Arab Women’s Voicesــــ A Conversation with Hoda Elsadda For decades, the knowledge produced by Arab women has…
The Demon of the Mirror
The village sage did not trust mirrors. He preferred a stream that ran between two palms and a…
I Have a Farm in Africa
I have a farm in Africa. How ridiculous that sounds, so pompous and unnecessary. Those words bring…
And When You Live in Diaspora
and when you live in diasporayour heart does not ache to be home, rather,it craves the warmth of…
Seeing and Being Seen: A Conversation with Harriet Alida Lye on her latest novel Motherclown
I interviewed Harriet Alida Lye in late May, days before the launch of her latest novel, Motherclown. Harriet…
Heaven’s Gentle Veil
The toxic petals of the Angel’s Trumpetpuffs and balloons against the jumping sun rays,crisscrossing in the windowpane.I swear…
The Lips that Smell of Spirits
Someone will emerge from beyond the dark mountains to the southeast — I wonder who. Every…
Qabil Prays the Janaza & Yusuf Unveiling
Qabil Prays the Janaza A crime has been done:the crow’s talons scratch the ground,and I know that no…
How to be friends with a deaf person
Eye contact.Eye contact.Eye contact.Not LOUD, not slow, not pro-nun-ci-a-tion, butcadence — a rise and a fall, a rhythm.Then…
You Died
You diedbut there is no gaping hole.No wilderness of sad streets, no wailingmourners dirging down desolate roads. The…