Click here to subscribe FREE to Ray Hanania's Columns
Lisle Journal publishes essays from Middle East writers
Fifth Wednesday Journal, a twice yearly publication, released its latest issue which focuses on the experiences and writings of authors whose origins trace to the Middle East and North Africa.
The Journal features the submissions of 33 authors and photographers and is now available for purchase.
Issue # 21 is a Special Immigrant Issue features a beautiful interview with Susan Muaddi Darraj, author of The Inheritance of Exile; essays by Mira Baz, Ray Hanania, and others; poetry by Hedy Habra, Khaled Mattawa, Nadia Ibrashi, Leila Chatti, and Ibtisam Barakat; fiction by Pauline Kaldas, Alireza Taheri Araghi, Elmaz Abinader, and Susan Muaddi Darraj.
“Our contributors express the deepest human desires in their work,” explains Publisher and Editor Vern Miller.
“They tell us of a transnational future, if we but listen. A future in which we understand the earth is here for all of us regardless of our religion, our ethnicity, our race, our heritage. These are but details; they can never describe our full identity as humans.”
Cover of Issue 21 of Fifth Wednesday Journal which focuses on writings from Middle East origin writers. Photo courtesy of Fifth Wednesday JournalMiller adds, “This is of Fifth Wednesday Journal showcases the literary voices of some of our best writers in America, some of the best voices of people who came to American from the so-called MENA (Middle East and North Africa) countries. We are honored that they shared their stories, their dreams, their inspirations, and their talent with us — with you, good reader.”
The cover of the book features a photo of a used book library in Syria taken in 2006. The essays are compelling an offer personal experiences
Writers and their contributions include:
Cover Photograph by Lauren Mulcahy, Used Book Library, Syria (2006)
Mira Baz, How Do You Pack Your Life in a Suitcase?
Ibtisam Barakat, Pain in Three Languages; Popcorn; Singing in Key; Self-Understanding; Rough
David Kherdian, Melkon
Naomi Shihab Nye, You Are Your Own State Department
Hedy Habra, The House in Aleppo that I Would Never Get to See; What Every Blossom Hides; Or Did You Ever Know We Were on the Same Wavelength?; Nothing Comes Out of Nothing; I Came to be Known as the Damascene Rose
Elmaz Abinader, Fourth of July
Lena Zaghmouri, The Psyche of a Palestinian American Writer
Samuel Hazo, Let Live; Poetry in Passing; Lawrence of Wales
Silva Zanoyan Merjanian, Groong; Multilingual
Abdul Sattar Jawad, Baghdad When Religion Not an Issue; A Dirge for the River Tigris
Alireza Taheri Araghi, Agha
Susan Azar Porterfield, Jackie’s Mom Takes Us at Age 13 to See Elvira Madigan; A House Gets to Call Itself House
Lauren Camp, Learning Cursive
Monique Zamir, The Night Reads the Wind’s Book
Hazem Fahmy, Before Baba Comes With Me, He Asks If I’ll Ever Write a Love Poem Again
Dunya Mikhail, Black and White
Robert Manaster, Crystal Lake, 5th Month
Sara Ahmed, The Making of an Aggregated American
Impression and Photography
Richard Cahan, Introduction to the Photographic Story
Ali Eminov, Great Mosque of Samarra in Iraq
Ilyas A. Abukar, In a Mosque in Mogadishu, Somalia
Morten, Mosaic at the National Museum of Syria, Damascus
Albert Gonzáles Farran, Qur’an Class in al-Fasher, Sudan
Rod Waddington, On the Streets of Sana’a, Yemen
Michel Duijvestijn, Arch of Septimius Severus, Khoms, Libya
Marco Fieber, Bazaar of Kashan, Iran
NASA National GoddardSpace Flight Center, Middle East, View from Above (2013)
Susan Muaddi Darraj, Ride Along
TAKING THE FIFTH, Daniel Libman
Nadia Ibrashi, Diego Rivera Paints a Mural of My Life; The Sweetness of Honey; Bird Song
Leila Chatti, Learning Again to Hunger; This Morning I Went to the Ocean to Feel
Yahia Lababidi, Notes on Compassion, Suffering, and Transformation
Maya Wahrman, five a.m. on a Jerusalem balcony
Khaled Mattawa, Lampedusa-Agadiz Suite
Mandana Zandian, Aleppo, An Eye Full of Earth, An Eye Full of Ocean
Pauline Kaldas, A Good Marriage
Philip Metres, The Bullet Dream, Veteran, Father, [for Hebron Means “Friend”]
Ray Hanania, Growing Up Arab in America
Deema K. Shehabi, You Are Of It, More or Less Forever, Eminent Domain
Hayan Charara, Michigan; Afterlife
BOOK REVIEW Adrienne Unger, Looking Both Ways
Fifth Wednesday Journal is a nonprofit, independent literary journal published twice a year in print. Their mission is to bring the finest fiction, poetry, essays, photography, interviews, and book reviews into your everyday life. They’re defining literature. In real context.
Issue 21: Fall 2017
Editors: Vern Miller & Hedy Habra
You can get more information on Fifth Wednesday Journal from their website online at is www.fifthwednesdayjournal.com.
You can order a subscription to Fifth Wednesday Journal, which is celebrating its 10th Year, by clicking this link.
You can order individual issues, including the latest issue # 21 by clicking this link.
Subscriptions are only $20 per year, or $37 for two years, and $54 for three years (6 issues plus a t-shirt). Single issues are only $11.
Contact Fifth Wednesday Journal by mail at P.O. Box 4033, Lisle, Illinois 60532-9033
Click here to subscribe FREE to Ray Hanania's Columns
His award winning columns can be found at www.HANANIA.COM Subscribe FREE today
Hanania also writes about Middle East issues for the Arab News, and The Arab Daily News criticizing government policies in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Hanania was named "Best Ethnic American Columnist" by the New America Media in November 2007, and is the 2009 recipient of the SPJ National Sigma Delta Chi Award for column writing.
Email Ray Hanania at [email protected].
Follow RayHanania at Twitter
- Paul Vallas Blasts Chicago Teachers Union, Questions Billionaire Influence in Mayoral Race During “Two Guys on Politics” Podcast - October 17, 2026
- Leving Rescued Dad’s Daughter from Reported Violent Home and Gave Her Hope - October 15, 2026
- Maria Pappas shares emotional stories of family, faith and perseverance during Romanian Heritage Center book signing - October 10, 2026
