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| NEWS & REVIEWS |
FEATURED BOOKS |
Available through Pomegranate Gallery/Oded Halahmy Foundation for the Arts
Many of the promotional events for authors are detailed on the archives page
Contact the gallery for ordering and availability
 Dancing in the No-Fly Zone: A Woman's Journey through Iraq Hadani Ditmars 263 pages ISBN: 1566566347 $18 Iraqi teenagers have never known a time without war; the present conflict is the third war the country has been subjected to in 20 years. Furthermore, a report to the United Nations reveals the bitter truth: children were better off under the rule of Saddam Hussein, and one-fourth of Iraqi children under age five are now chronically malnourished. As Canadian journalist Ditmars relates her experiences in Iraq then and in 2003, she reminds us of the consequences of years of sanctions and now of war. On an almost regular basis, parents are forced to sell precious art and family heirlooms to buy medicine for their children, some women are forced to prostitute themselves in order to feed their families, and others are abducted and never heard from again. It seems that women, like children, actually fared better under Saddam. Although artists still create and musicians still perform, these are desperate times for the Iraqi people, and Ditmars portrays their plight with great sensitivity and respect. |
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 Taboo Memories, Diasporic Voices Ella Shohat 406 pages ISBN: 0822337711 $24 Taboo Memories, Diasporic Voices brings together for the first time a selection of trailblazing essays by Ella Shohat, an internationally renowned theorist of postcolonial and cultural studies of Iraqi-Jewish background. Written over the past two decades, these twelve essays—some classic, some less known, some new—trace a powerful intellectual trajectory as Shohat rigorously teases out the consequences of a deep critique of Eurocentric epistemology, whether to rethink feminism through race, nationalism through ethnicity, or colonialism through sexuality. Shohat’s critical method boldly transcends disciplinary and geographical boundaries. She explores such issues as the relations between ethnic studies and area studies, the paradoxical repercussions for audio-visual media of the “graven images” taboo, the allegorization of race through the refiguring of Cleopatra, the allure of imperial popular culture, and the gender politics of medical technologies. She also examines the resistant poetics of exile and displacement; the staging of historical memory through the commemorations of the two 1492s, the anomalies of the “national” in Zionist discourse, the implications of the hyphen in the concept “Arab-Jew,” and the translation of the debates on orientalism and postcolonialism across geographies. Taboo Memories, Diasporic Voices not only illuminates many of the concerns that have animated the study of cultural politics over the past two decades; it also points toward new scholarly possibilities. |
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Flagging Patriotism: Crises of Narcissism and Anti-Americanism  Robert Stam and Ella Shohat 408 pages ISBN: 0415979226 $25 'They hate us because they hate our freedoms,' George Bush keeps telling us. But if you're becoming a little suspicious that Bush doth protest too much, especially as his own administration has done more than any terrorists to take away 'our freedoms,' this is the book for you. A triangulation in the best sense between French and Brazilian and American exceptionalist skews on the United States, this book bores into the conundra of Anti-Americanism and American patriotism. It holds France and Brazil up as a mirror to the self-conceit of American officialdom. Comprehending anti-Americanism while rejecting it as decisively as it rejects American exceptionalism, Flagging Patriotism points toward a new, transnational patriotism. Easily the most thoughtful book on the subject, it packs accessible analysis alongside gut common sense and is excitingly and exquisitely written. Neil Smith, author of The Endgame of Globalization Does patriotic love of one's country have to lead to nationalist narcissism? Or can we imagine a complex, transnational, multi-voiced patriotism? Putting right-wing pseudo-patriots on notice, Stam and Shohat weave past and present voices from Brazil, France, and the United States together into a pathbreaking vision of a vibrant, critical patriotism. Jodi Dean, author of Zizek's Politics |
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 An Iraqi in Paris Samuel Shimon Pages: 252 ISBN: 0-9549666-0-0 $18 Shimon's first novel is a riveting tale of innocence and dreams, misery and humor, in which Arabic and Assyrian languages meet Hollywood and the films of John Ford in the streets of Paris and Iraq. The New York Times Literary Supplement has called An Iraqi in Paris a “forgiving and powerful book” and the Independent described the book as a “… startlingly funny, rude but touching novel-cum-autobiography about days of sex and movies, politics and poverty, on the 1980s Left Bank. It's an Arabic answer to Miller's Tropic of Cancer - occasionally shocking; always witty and humane.” New York: May 25th, 2006, The Pomegranate Gallery hosts a book signing and reading, see archive (WORD DOC) |
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 HOMEWARD Baghdad / Jerusalem / New York Writing by: Oded halahmy, Esther Coher, Marius Kwint, Muchael J.Amy and Donald Kuspit ISBN: 1-81-88204-29-3 ISBN: 1-890206-65-2 Pub. Date: 2004 $20 More art books at odedhalahmy.com |
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 Gate of the SunElias Khoury 550 pages ISBN 0-9763950-2-9 $25 Bab al-Shams is the first magnum opus of the Palestinian saga. Through the passing of the beloved midwife of the Shatila refugee camp in Beirut, the reader enters a world of displacement, fear, and tenuous hope. A realigned 1001 Nights, a makeshift doctor tells stories to his comatose friend in an attempt to keep him alive. His patient, Yunes, is also from Galilee, where he left Nahila, the love of his life. The novel unfolds at his bedside through the storyteller's intimate and haunting flights of memory. Khoury humanizes the complex Palestinian and Israeli struggle for us, shedding light on the turbulent history with love and empathy. Khoury opens up a whole new territory, a place where "us" and "them" are inextricably entwined; he takes us on a vast odyssey of horror and love. Originally published in Beirut in 1998, the novel has been a sensation throughout the Arab world, in Israel, and throughout Europe. Winner of the Prize of Palestine in 1998 and Le Monde Diplomatique's Book of the Year in 2002. |
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 The Last Jews in Baghdad; Remembering a Lost Homeland Nissim Rejwan 6 x 9 in., 268 pp. ISBN 0-292-70293-0 Once upon a time, Baghdad was home to a flourishing Jewish community. More than a third of the city's people were Jews, and Jewish customs and holidays helped set the pattern of Baghdad's cultural and commercial life. On the city's streets and in the bazaars, Jews, Muslims, and Christians-all native-born Iraqis-intermingled, speaking virtually the same colloquial Arabic and sharing a common sense of national identity. And then, almost overnight it seemed, the state of Israel was born, and lines were drawn between Jews and Arabs. Over the next couple of years, nearly the entire Jewish population of Baghdad fled their Iraqi homeland, never to return. (read more) |
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Book Doctor Esther Cohen Hardcover, 304pp ISBN: 1582433232 Pub. Date: January 2005 Publisher: Counterpoint Press Barnes & Noble Sales Rank: 107,209 A nutty Queens tax lawyer-cum-fledging author puts himself in the hands of an emotionally conflicted book doctor in this talky, wistful novel by Cohen (No Charge for Looking). For Harbinger Singh, still in love with his ex-wife, Carla, writing a novel about his recent divorce is delicious revenge. For Arlette Rosen, ensconced in a chilly three-year relationship, doctoring other people's stories is a welcome distraction. Arlette's boyfriend, Jake, is "in film," wears only black and prefers to observe life rather than get too involved with it. Harbinger, in contrast, is playful, childlike and passionate. As Arlette tries to shape his unwieldy, sexy, autobiographical material into readable form, she finds herself being sucked into his novel as a fictional persona. At the same time, she recognizes that she wants to be in love with Jake, not merely find him adequate. Harbinger, too, is transformed by his work with Arlette, and Carla is shocked to discover that he is no longer the "dull, brown-suited fool [she] married and divorced." Cohen's novel is a gentle treatment of fragile relationships, humorously punctuated by the weird queries Arlette receives from struggling writers ("Dear Arlette, I'm writing to ask you for inspiration. Is it possible to send?"). Fluent, funny and true, it will particularly appeal to writers and those who must suffer them. (read more) |
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The Lost World of the Egyptian Jews |
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 The Fire Stays in Red Poems by Ronny Someck Translated from Hebrew by Moshe Dor and Barbara Goldberg Format: Cloth ISBN: 0-29917900-1 Pub. Date: May, 2002 $30 "My mother dreams in Arabic, I dream in Hebrew," Ronny Someck has said, "but sometimes, inside the Hebrew, I hear the sound track of a singer like Fairuz conducting a duet with Frank Sinatra or Elvis." Someck, who was born in Baghdad in 1951, came to Israel as an infant; he now lives in Ramat Gan with his wife Liora and daughter Shirlee. Someck's poems embrace the Hebrew of street gangs, Arab workers and the marginalized struggling to survive. His work can be erotic, comic and tragic — he is wide-eyed at the wonders of a tear and a tattoo, a snapshot, a bra and a scarecrow. To read his poetry is to ride a runaway horse. (read more) |
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 Secret Territory Miriam Halahmy Paperback, 224pp. ISBN: 0754400646 Pub. Date: 1999 $20 For a signed copy of this book send check or money order to: Oded Halahmy Foundation for the Arts 141 Price St. 5th Floor New York, NY 10012 A journey to the Promised Land - a circular journey, across generations, charting the dreams and aspirations of father and daughter. Feeling she should have been born in the homeland, Eve travels to Israel in search of an identity, unaware that her quest will painfully expose her family's hidden history. Her father Jack's story is of London in the forties - a time of idealism, political terrorism and conflicting values. In their separate ways, both confront the discord between collective ideals and personal needs; both must make their choices and live with them. This is their story - an honest and evocative account of what it means and feels to be Jewish in the modern world. (read more) |
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 Trumpet in the Wadi Sami Michael Hardcover ISBN: 0-7432-4496-6 Pub. Date: 2002 Simon and Schuster Michael's internationally acclaimed novel is a major achievement, illuminating the vast range of interlocking relationships between Jews and Arabs, Muslims and Christians, men and woman. A Trumpet in the Wadi is an honest, witty, and ultimately hearbreaking story - one that draws on the conflicts in the Middle East, but one whose insighs into love and family can cross all cultural and political boundaries. (read more) |
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 Cutting Pomegranates Miriam Halahmy Paperback ISBN: 0-9540452-2-9 Pub. Date: 2003 By David Paul $20 For a signed copy of this book send check or money order to: Oded Halahmy Foundation for the Arts 141 Price St. 5th Floor NY, NY 10012 Miriam Halahmy is without compare when it comes to creating bignette of her world - her family life, friends, work and travels - finely textured emotional and physical landscapes. Drawing on her Jewish roots, she brings a generous heart and searching spirit to her place in that world. She has a passion for pomegranates which she shares with her brother-in-law Oded Halahmy, whose dynamic pieces illustrate several poems. The pomegranate is an ancients and universal symbol of beauty, love and marriage, fertility and renewal. Miriam's poetry is as rich and abundant in its imagery as the pomegranate itself. It is full of hope and vibrant expectation but always tinged with a bittersweet sense of the real. (read more) |
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