The Lede

Ahmed El Shamsy is an associate professor of Islamic thought at the University of Chicago. As part of a new series from New Lines Magazine big ideas from history, El Shamsy joins culture editor Lydia Wilson to talk about how the Middle East changed in the age of printing. They discuss how the “European book drain” induced the Arab world’s adoption of the printing press, why printing enabled a revival of Islamic classical tradition, and how that revival led to the creation of the modern Middle East. Produced by Joshua Martin

Acoustic ecologist Gordon Hempton has circled the globe three times in pursuit of the Earth’s rarest sounds. His sound portraits record quickly vanishing natural soundscapes. In this episode he joins New Lines Magazine's Rasha Elass to talk about the quiet he found during the pandemic, when human noise pollution subsided, and what that brief but profound period of respite can teach us about our world. Produced by Joshua Martin

Author and historian Haris Durrani speaks to New Lines Magazine's Faisal Al Yafai about representation and religion in the classic sci-fi novel “Dune” and its recent film adaptation. They discuss how the book’s Islamic themes are ignored or missed by non-Muslim audiences, why Hollywood fails at representing the Middle East on screen and how a new generation of Muslim authors is changing science fiction. Produced by Joshua Martin

Pakistani writer and novelist Fatima Bhutto speaks to New Lines Magazine's Faisal Al Yafai for this podcast about what we mean when we talk about political fiction — and how the stories we are most attracted to reflect not just the world we live in but what we think that world should be. They discuss why she decided to be a writer, rather than a politician like her aunt Benazir Bhutto, why the CIA has a department for script writers and why people increasingly identify more with stories from outside the West like “Squid Game” than with “Friends.” Produced by Joshua Martin. Photo courtesy of Allegra Donn.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has shattered the precarious geopolitical balance in Eastern Europe. Yet the ripple effects from the conflict extend far beyond that region. In this podcast presented by New Lines Magazine's Faisal Al Yafai, Lydia Wilson reports from Amman where she speaks to freelance journalist Suha Ma’ayeh and international relations expert Amer Al Sabaileh about the impact the war is having on the Middle East. They discuss how the public have reacted, why the war is such a threat to the region’s food security, and why many Arab governments have been reluctant to condemn Russia — despite pressure from the U.S. Produced by Joshua Martin

The Arab world has a rich literary heritage and a vibrant contemporary literary scene which has attracted many English speaking readers – Arabic is one of the top-ten most translated languages for American audiences. But the process of translation is complex and often politically fraught. In this podcast, Reem Bassiouney, sociolinguistics professor and award-winning author of Sons of the People: The Mamluk Trilogy, and M Lynx Qualey, editor of ArabLit.org, join New Lines Magazine's Lydia Wilson and Faisal Al Yafai to discuss the many challenges of translating Arabic literature.They talk about why a translation is never finished, the power that translators have as a bridge between cultures, and what it means to be a ‘victim’ of translation.

As Ukraine braces for a fourth week of war, Syria marks 11 years of brutal fighting. The same Russian bombs pounding Kharkiv have been continually used against Syrian cities like Idlib and Aleppo since Vladimir Putin intervened in 2015. In this podcast, Anand Gopal, award-winning journalist and author of “No Good Men Among the Living: America, the Taliban, and the War through Afghan Eyes,” joins New Lines Magazine's Faisal Al Yafai to discuss Russia’s wars. They talk about how the intervention in Syria may be a blueprint for the war in Ukraine, why the anti-war movement has struggled to adapt to a multipolar world and why Ukraine will not be Russia’s Afghanistan. Produced by Joshua Martin

Eight years before the recent Russian invasion, a popular uprising in Kyiv overthrew the old Moscow-backed government in favor of moving toward the European Union — an act for which Russia has been punishing Ukraine ever since. It is those events that inspired Kalani Pickhart’s recent novel, “I Will Die in a Foreign Land.” Hailed as one of the best books of 2021, it has found renewed relevance in the aftermath of the invasion. In this podcast, she joins New Lines Magazine's Lydia Wilson to discuss what first drew her to the story, the relationship between fiction and journalism, and how the long history of Russian aggression against Ukraine led to the current crisis. (Produced by Joshua Martin)

In the new age of counter-insurgency, civil conflict and proxy wars, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine stands out as a rare modern example of so-called ‘“conventional’” warfare fought between the armed forces of two nation-states. In this podcast, New Lines Magazine's Lydia Wilson talks to Mary Kaldor, author of the pioneering 1999 book ‘“New and Old Wars,”’, to discuss what Russia’s goals are, why the invasion is a departure from their usual strategy — and whether Putin has miscalculated. Produced by Joshua Martin

The war in Afghanistan may be over, but a humanitarian crisis threatens to be even deadlier than the 20 years of fighting. In a follow-up to our podcast episode from September, New Lines Magazine's Faisal Al Yafai talks to Fazelminallah Qazizai, Pashtana Durrani and Emran Feroz to explore how the country’s situation has changed over six months of Taliban rule. They discuss how U.S. sanctions have left Afghans without money or food, how the Taliban govern and what will happen to their regime if the crisis continues into the spring. (Produced by Joshua Martin)