Hi friends,

First, I want to remind you that we are still holding the Midday Writing Group, where we meet on Zoom every weekday at 1 PM (ET) and write for 40 minutes. Here is the sign-up link if you care to join.

I spent the weekend watching videos of prisoners being released from Syrian prisons. In my opinion, regardless of what the future holds for Syria— and it could get ugly very fast— the biggest victory is releasing those innocent people whose only crime was opposing a regime that turned killing and torture into a national sport.

My writing is always political. I used to think there was such a thing as political writing and apolitical writing. But the more I read, the more I realized that the very act of writing is political. We don’t have to write explicitly about politics for our writing to be political. Our characters exist in a context shaped by their background, the time period they’re in, and their relationship to power (what they are allowed or not allowed to do).

Often, some of us avoid politics, shy away from taking a stance on certain issues, or avoid using certain words, out of fear of offending someone or sounding ignorant.

But as we know, a writer’s job is to tell stories that illuminate the realities they care about. You can’t expect to make everyone happy with your stories. You can’t really make everyone happy by doing anything except maybe selling ice cream.

And if you’re afraid of sounding ignorant, it probably just means you haven’t read enough about the topic you’re writing about. You need to know more than what you include in your stories. This applies to both the world around you and the characters within it. Doing this gives you the freedom to choose the angle you want to shine your light from (I struggle with this a lot—I tend to procrastinate by researching more than I should).

Offend people—it's part of your job as a writer, just as much as it is to clarify.

📖 Books I’m reading?

If you are interested in learning more about Syria and the past decade, I highly encourage you to read As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow by Zoulfa Katouh.

I’ve been following Syria’s situation since the Arab Spring and have read more articles than I can remember. I literally know of no other book that does it better, and it has a love story. Who doesn’t enjoy reading love stories in the midst of war? The contradiction is beautifully painful.

🎧 What am I listening to?

💎 New From Me

🔖 Quote I’m pondering

In honor of the Palestinian writer and poet Refaat Alareer.

“IF I MUST DIE”

BY REFAAT ALAREER

If I must die,

you must live

to tell my story

to sell my things

to buy a piece of cloth

and some strings,

(make it white with a long tail)

so that a child, somewhere in Gaza

while looking heaven in the eye

awaiting his dad who left in a blaze—

and bid no one farewell

not even to his flesh

not even to himself—

sees the kite, my kite you made, flying up above

and thinks for a moment an angel is there

bringing back love

If I must die

let it bring hope

let it be a tale

📸 Through My Lens

Please give me feedback on the newsletter by replying to this email. Do you find it worth your time? What do you want more or less of? Or other suggestions?

Thank you for reading!

Mohamed