Rayyan Al-Shawaf is a writer and book critic based in Beirut and Brummana, Lebanon. His book reviews have appeared in several North American daily and weekly newspapers, including Boston Globe, Chicago Reader, Chicago Sun-Times, Christian Science Monitor, (Toronto) Globe and Mail, Miami Herald, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, New York Press, San Antonio Express-News, San Francisco Chronicle, St. Petersburg Times (now Tampa Bay Times), Tennessean, and Washington City Paper. Longer reviews and essays have been published in magazines such as the Barnes & Noble Review, Bookforum, Books & Culture, Brooklyn Rail, Daily Beast, Paste, and Truthdig. He has recently begun circulating his fiction, with short stories appearing in literary journals The Vehicle and Clarion, and is currently at work on a novel.
CONTRIBUTOR ARTICLES
Between IS and God: What Must Be Understood
A top scholar of the Islamic State gets inside the story of the movement, but not enough inside its theology, says our reviewer....
The History of Popularity
Rayyan Al-Shawaf on David Hajdu's "Love for Sale: Pop Music in America."...
Is Islamist-Secularist a Contradiction in Terms?
How oxymoronic is “Islamic-Secularist”? Owen says plenty, but that some hybrid is inevitable....
A Chaotic Chronicle
Rayyan Al-Shawaf reviews Jessica Valenti’s memoir “Sex Object”....
Upbringing Is All
Daphne Merkin: “For people who have never had a childhood, being a grown-up isn’t where the glamour is.”...
Are There Universal Human Rights or Not?
Yes, Muslim women DO need saving, sometimes, says our critic....
