Daraja Press

11/07/2024

Written with urgency out of a war-time Beirut, this poetry collection registers the griefs and the heroism of the Lebanese, under siege yet again. Sabbagh lends his lyrical voice here, to give a voice to the voiceless, trying to find some harmonic sense out of catastrophe. This book will compel readers, both Lebanese and those with any kind of human heart. While much of the work was written swiftly, on impulse, and almost like, as one of the poem’s title’s has it, a ‘War Diary,’ in verse, this work aims nonetheless to last in its significance and resonance at a time when the world as a whole (let alone Lebanon herself) has become so unpredictable, so fickle and so perilous. Night Settles Upon The City aims to be a worthwhile addition to the contemporary literature of war and, more specifically, to the literary representations of the modern Lebanese reality and experience.

10/31/2024

Tariq Mehmood discussed his new Novel, The Second Coming, https://darajapress.com/publication/the-second-coming.
In the remnants of a fractured UK, England is on the brink of collapse where far-right militias rise to power. As Islamophobia and English nationalism ignite brutal violence, 19-year-old Marah Sultana is thrust into a fight for survival. Hunted by forces seeking control, she carries a secret powerful enough to change the course of the war—and the future of the world. In a world in which America’s reign as a superpower has crumbled, its mercenaries now rule in its shadow,
In The Second Coming, Tariq Mehmood delivers a searing, unflinching narrative that mirrors his own lifelong struggle for justice. This novel is not just fiction—it’s a reflection of real-world battles. Mehmood’s powerful storytelling compels readers to confront uncomfortable truths while offering a gripping, emotional journey of resistance and survival.

10/30/2024

Spoon and Shrapnel uniquely combines poetry and recipes to explore the experience of surviving the Iran-Iraq War through a child’s eyes. As a survivor herself, Sheema Kalbasi brings forth raw memories of fear, loss, and resilience through verse, while accompanying these poignant moments with simple, nourishing recipes that sustained her family amidst scarcity and danger. Each poem is paired with a recipe, alternating between the emotional depth of poetry and the practical art of cooking traditions that offered hope during wartime. The poems deliver vivid, emotional insights into life during the conflict, while the recipes—crafted with scarce ingredients—represent moments of comfort and survival. Together, they form a narrative tapestry where food and poetry intertwine, reflecting how one family, and an entire culture, persevered. Kalbasi’s work goes beyond her personal experience to present a universal story of resilience, illustrating how, even in the harshest conditions, humanity finds strength in the simple rituals of cooking, eating, and storytelling. Spoon and Shrapnel is a tribute to both physical and emotional survival, offering readers a rare glimpse into everyday life during war.

10/28/2024

Bongoman’s ill-tempered mother-in-law arrives for a visit. Bongoman is far from thrilled as he doesn’t see eye-to-eye with the old lady. She never has a kind word for him, calling him a good-for-nothing bum. The tranquillity of the Bongoman household is turned upside down as the old lady imposes her uncompromising will, harassing Bongoman at every given opportunity, especially his evening forays to the neighbourhood pub. With no peace of mind, Bongoman pushes back and devises a series of tricks to force her out of his house. None of the tricks works out, and Bongoman finds life unbearable in his own house. He reports an assault against him by his mother-in-law to the police but finds himself in jail as the perpetrator of the assault Bongoman storms out of his house in protest after a brief interlude in jail, taking up residence in the local park, where he has to contend with some unsavoury night-time characters for rights to the more comfortable sleeping spaces and has to fight to assert his position in the pecking order. How will Bongoman rid himself of this terrible relative? Does he have any more tricks up his sleeve?

10/28/2024

Bongoman bumps into his perpetually broke friend, Rastafasta, driving a flashy car. Rastafasta discloses the secret to his new-found wealth; he is involved in the gold trade. There is a thriving gold business in the mines of Ikolomani, a bustling little town about 350 km from the city. Bongoman embarks on an epic journey to this Eldorado, with dreams of making big money. Halfway through the journey, the bus breaks down and impatient to get to his destination, he disembarks and continues the journey on foot. He jogs through hills and valleys, hour after hour and finally, thirsty and exhausted he finds himself in a dingy bar where he ingests a potent alcoholic brew unknowingly. Shaken but unfazed he continues his journey which is cut short after a gang of robbers posing as passengers hijack the passenger van he is travelling in. After a decisive reckoning with Bongoman, the robbers find themselves behind bars as Bongoman walks away with a hefty bounty derived from their capture. This windfall quickly evaporates after the crafty van driver spikes his drink. He finally arrives at the gold mines of Ikolomani and to his utter dismay, finds that all is not a bed of roses...

10/28/2024

Bongoman lands a job as a reporter and his first assignment for the News Daily is to cover the ongoing war in Somalia between the Transitional Government of Somalia and militant groups in the war-torn country. Bongoman boards a plane to Jowar but due to bad weather the plane is forced to land in Mogadishu, the last place Bongoman wanted to find himself in. The lawless nature of the battle-scarred city catches up with him soon enough. He finds himself at the wrong end of a gun at every turn. He meets an old friend who has a penchant for attracting trouble. To his shock, he learns that she’s running guns for one of the main warlords in the city. He tries to extricate himself from her company but the situation escalates and they both end up in the hands of a regional warlord, who sees in them handsome ransom rewards. An old friend helps Bongoman and his companions escape from their dingy dungeon but they have to contend with a terrorist armed with an RPG. Bongoman has been shot at, blown up, kidnapped and buried in a landslide. It’s time to go back home... but will it be that easy?

10/28/2024

Bongoman wins the lottery and believes this is the answer to all his financial woes. He plans to get into the transport industry by purchasing a ‘matatu’ (passenger van). He seeks a vehicle dealer to assist him import a van but a few days later, Bongoman learns that the ship importing his vehicle has been hijacked by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Kenya. With nowhere to turn to for help, Bongoman decides to take matters into his hands. He must travel to Somalia and get back his vehicle! As he embarks on his mission, he unearths the allies of the hijackers who lay a trap for him. He finds himself stranded in the middle of the Indian Ocean where he has to battle sharks, thirst and exposure. He overcomes these obstacles but falls into the hands of the hijackers, who consequently imprison him. Bongoman worms his way into the hearts of his captors after preparing a delicious meal for them and even accept his offer to join them as cook and soldier. The pirate boss orders him to accompany them to hijack another ship and after the attack goes awry, Bongoman miraculously manages to escape capture by an international anti-piracy force. Will Bongoman get back his vehicle? Will his transport business become a reality?

10/28/2024

Bongoman’s old friend, ‘Prof’, invents a potion that gives that gives someone superhuman strength when ingested, but his assistant, seeking personal benefit, steals a few vials for sale to some shadowy underworld boss. After the gang boss kidnaps the professor’s assistant to get hold of the magic potion’s formula, the professor seeks Bongoman’s assistance to get back his assistant from the crook’s clutches. One of the gang boss’s minions has taken the stolen magic potion and now possesses prodigious strength, wreaking havoc in the neighborhood and imposing a siege on the population. Bongoman must employ all his wits to outsmart his new nemesis. Bongoman finds himself in a full-scale war with an organized criminal gang. He must fight for the soul of his cherished neighborhood. The helpless police also appeal for his assistance in taking down the gang of cutthroats threatening the peace and turning Eastlands into a battleground. This is going to be a bare-knuckle brawl where no prisoners will be taken.

10/28/2024

There have been a series of mysterious disappearances within Bongoman’s tranquil Eastlands Estate in Nairobi’s urban sprawl. The missing persons reappear days later with no recollection of where they have been and with altered personalities. In the course of his investigations, Bongoman bumps into an alien being who is also looking for him to enlist his services to help in fighting another alien race, building a force to annihilate humankind and take over the earth. Bongoman’s scepticism about the existence of aliens is tested as he finds himself forming an alliance of convenience with a star-hopper from a race that can move through dimensions and journey across space at will. Bongoman and his alien partner find themselves in a desperate race against time as they take on an aggressive race of aliens with seemingly invincible powers as they seek to undo what has been done and rid the world of this super race of invaders. In the war to save the world, the duo has to deal with aliens who have taken over the ‘essence’ of human beings and have mingled with the population. Bongoman must single them out and expel the alien within to save the poor souls.

10/23/2024

Important report on Hindu American Foundation

The Hindu American Foundation has been influential for 20 years, masquerading as an advocacy group for minority rights, but is better understood as a key actor in a global Hindu supremacist movement and an emerging player in the U.S. Far Right.

10/20/2024

10/19/2024

New novel from darajapress.com! Morocco, 1359. How can idealistic scholar Zakaria deal with the intrigues of working for the Sultan? Joining a heroic quest to help retake the throne of Andalusia seems like the answer, but it also involves him in complications. Out now!

10/10/2024

The Daraja Press Fall 2024 catalogue is available. Download it at www.darajapress.com!

10/06/2024

Written with urgency out of a war-time Beirut, this poetry collection registers the griefs and the heroism of the Lebanese, under siege yet again. Sabbagh lends his lyrical voice here, to give a voice to the voiceless, trying to find some harmonic sense out of catastrophe. This book will compel readers, both Lebanese and those with any kind of human heart. While much of the work was written swiftly, on impulse, and almost like, as one of the poem’s title’s has it, a ‘War Diary,’ in verse, this work aims nonetheless to last in its significance and resonance at a time when the world as a whole (let alone Lebanon herself) has become so unpredictable, so fickle and so perilous. Night Settles Upon The City aims to be a worthwhile addition to the contemporary literature of war and, more specifically, to the literary representations of the modern Lebanese reality and experience.

09/17/2024

The book is a literary project with extra-literary objectives and implications. The texts combine various original writing styles to provoke the reader's creative imagination and make auratic social space attainable. For realizing its main goal, through its creative aesthetics, the book debases normalized forms of social violence, exclusionism, and tribalism. While the book is inspired by a philosophical theory that emphasizes the significance of negativity in the face of unspoken social rules of exclusionism, it is meant to be universally relatable by an average reader regardless of her perceived and proclaimed identities. The philosophy I am referring to is postnihilism, which is theorized in a book published by Bloomsbury Academic in 2022 and listed above. “Auratic space” is a concept advanced in my other works, including a book published by the State University of New York Press in 2019 and one published by De Gruyter in 2024 (both are listed above). If more information is needed, I would be happy to submit a more detailed response in a separate document.