As we adjust to the warming weather and count down to the beginning of Ramadan, there is a fresh new selection of literature to turn to.
Journalists Saba Imtiaz and Tooba Masood take transport readers to 1970’s Karachi, as they explore a true crime, while Mohammed El-Kurd explores the plight of Palestinians in the global world order.
Here is a selection of some of our recommendations:
‘The Dream Hotel’: Laila Lalami
Pulitzer Prize and National Book finalist Laila Lalami has leaned on her experiences to write five novels with Moroccan American characters.
Lalami breaks into the dystopian science-fiction genre with a novel about a near-future America that uses algorithms and technology to surveil dreams. Upon arriving at the airport, Sara is detained because data from her dreams report that she will commit a crime in the future. Forced to stay in a retention facility, she finds other women who must also work to prove their innocence for dreaming.
In today’s swiftly- evolving algorithm-driven world, this dystopia doesn’t seem very distant. The themes of censorship, propaganda, and surveillance in the likes of ‘The Hunger Games’ and ‘Divergent’ that I grew up reading feel a lot less like fiction and more like a cautionary tale. Under the lens of the War on Terror and surveillance technology that has disproportionately impacted marginalized communities, Lalami challenges readers to consider what privacy means and if it is possible at all.
The Dream Hotel is expected March 4.
‘None of us voted for you’: KLF audience challenge Karachi mayor Murtaza Wahab
‘Society Girl: A Tale of Sex, Lies, and Scandal’: Saba Imtiaz, Tooba Masood
In Pakistan’s first true-crime podcast, ‘Notes on a Scandal’, journalists Saba Imtiaz and Tooba Masood took listeners into the scene of Karachi in 1970 and the infamous cold case of poet and former high-ranking government officer Mustafa Zaidi. At the time, the murder mystery enthralled the local media and the world, and over 50 years later, Imtiaz and Masood’s investigation of the events and socio-political landscape captivated a global audience.
Society Girl is the amalgamation of years of investigation and research Imtiaz and Masood did to break down Zaidi’s case. The book is a crossover of Pakistan’s history, investigative journalism and a commentary on the scandals of Karachi’s elite and the country’s politics. This reads to me like ‘Gossip Girl’ meets investigative journalism with a backdrop of the 70s. They’ve got my attention.
Society Girl was published October 2, 2024.
‘Perfect Victims and the Politics of Appeal’: Mohammed El-Kurd
In 2021, poet, author, journalist and activist Mohammed El-Kurd amassed hundreds of thousands of followers across social media channels for his global campaign to document and raise awareness for Israel’s displacement of Palestinians from the occupied West Bank.
That same year, he released his debut collection of poetry titled Rifqa, a reflection of his own family’s dispossession from Sheikh Jarrah and the reality of Israel’s violent settler colonialism.
El-Kurd and his writing are truly a gift to the younger generations, carrying the light of the legendary writer and politician Ghassan Kanafani. He is a revolutionary writer who dares to remind us that change and liberation are active, not passive. ‘Perfect Victims’ asks readers to reframe their understanding of the perfect victim and why Palestinians must continue to prove their humanity.
Perfect Victims was publushed February 11, 2025.
‘Dream Count’: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
It has been over a decade since award-winning Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie graced her international readership with a new novel. Luckily, the release of Dream Count is finally slated for this year.
This contemporary featuring Chiamaka, a Nigerian travel writer, takes place during the COVID pandemic when she wrestles with her past experiences and people in her life. The narrative covers sensitive subjects including depression, sexual assault, among other things.
Adichie’s team shared on a Facebook post that this book is “quintessentially African at heart.” Some of her other famous books Americanah and We Should All Be Feminists redefine gender equity, race, and identity through Nigerian characters. She does not go unnoticed for her authenticity in introducing readers to multi-dimensional characters with identities and experiences that might not be familiar to them.
Dream Count is expected to release March 4.
‘Katabasis’: R.F. Kuang
Award-winning author R.F. Kuang of the ‘Poppy War’ trilogy, ‘Babel’, and ‘Yellowface’ has taken a turn back to the fantasy genre to produce a book with roots in ancient Greek: a hero’s descent into the underworld. This dark-academia story follows two rivals who must travel to hell together to save their professor’s soul after he dies in a magical freak accident.
Kuang has an unassuming writing style that took me by surprise when I read Yellowface and met her at a book signing in 2024. Unlike anything I had ever read, her satire meets psychological thriller steps into the thoughts of a white woman who loses her mind.
The storytelling forces the reader to question the ethics of writing narratives that aren’t your own. I am so curious to see what creativity Kuang has whipped up this time.
Katabasis is expected to be released August 26.
Comments