Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Hosam Aboul-Ela @bluehasooma.bsky.social · 1d

it's funny when lit scholars say this issue is not ours

ArabLit & ArabLit Quarterly @arablit.bsky.social · 1d

Two Prize-winning Palestinian Authors Freed from Israeli Prisons

Two award-winning Palestinian authors serving life sentences in Israeli prisons were released on October 13 as part of the exchange for Israeli captives held in Gaza.

Two Prize-winning Palestinian Authors Freed from Israeli Prisons

Two award-winning Palestinian authors serving life sentences in Israeli prisons were released on October 13 as part of the exchange for Israeli captives held in Gaza.

arablit.org

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Hosam Aboul-Ela @bluehasooma.bsky.social · 2d

good question

Hosam Aboul-Ela @bluehasooma.bsky.social · 8d

www.koreatimes.co.kr/photos/darkr...

Gaza's young musicians sing and play in ruins of war - The Korea Times

Palestinian Rifan Al-Qassas, 15, holds an oud as she poses for a portrait at Gaza College, where instructors from the Edward Said National Conserva...

www.koreatimes.co.kr

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ArabLit & ArabLit Quarterly @arablit.bsky.social · 18d

New on BULAQ: The Life & Work of Inji Efflatoun

In this episode of BULAQ, co-hosts Ursula Lindsey and M Lynx Qualey speak to Ahmed Gobba and Avery Gonzales, co-translators of Efflatoun’s 1993 memoir, The Memoir of Inji Efflatoun: From Childhood to Prison.

New on BULAQ: The Life & Work of Inji Efflatoun

In this episode of BULAQ, co-hosts Ursula Lindsey and M Lynx Qualey speak to Ahmed Gobba and Avery Gonzales, co-translators of Efflatoun’s 1993 memoir, The Memoir of Inji Efflatoun: From Childhood to Prison.

arablit.org

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Texas AFT @texasaft.org · 19d

Good news to your end your week ✊ Dr. Thomas Alter is set to be reinstated at Texas State University after an initial court victory.

Statement from @texasaaup.bsky.social President Dr. Brian Evans and Texas AFT President @zephcapo.bsky.social 👇

www.texasaft.org/membership/h...

Judge’s Order Clears Way for Fired Texas State University Professor’s Reinstatement

A Union of Professionals

www.texasaft.org

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ArabLit & ArabLit Quarterly @arablit.bsky.social · 22d

This week, 100% of profits from anything sold on or through ArabLit go to 19-year-old poet Marah Mohamed Al-Khattab, who writes, "In Gaza, dreams are interrupted before they can take shape. Here, we do not grow into adulthood—we are thrown into it by force."

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Dr Eleanor Janega @goingmedieval.bsky.social · 29d

The destruction of the Gaza city mosque is a devastating loss to humanity as a whole. A part of our global medieval heritage destroyed in furtherance to a genocide. I despair.

Andy Khouri @andykhouri.bsky.social · 29d

Built in the 13th century. So that mosque stood for 800 years with every sort of person from every place and every religion in the world passing through Gaza century after century, only for it to be blown up by some shithead loser sitting behind a computer that we probably paid for.

🏳️‍⚧️ Josephine Riesman (Horrifying) @josie.zone · 29d

My rage knows no bounds

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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · Sep 5

This is going to make No Child Left Behind seem like good legislation

Financial Times @financialtimes.com · Sep 5

The heads of Microsoft, OpenAI, Google and Apple gathered at the White House to endorse a plan to help America’s children learn to use artificial intelligence, as the industry rushes to show support and curry favour with the administration on.ft.com/4nexysf

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Huda Fakhreddine @hudafakhreddine.bsky.social · Aug 15

A Palestinian poet insisting on poetry that overcomes the most horrific timelines, Nima Hasan’s voice shames and exposes the politics of necromancy that pass as solidarity, a necromancy that requires a compromised Palestinian voice or a broken Palestinian body to hold up.
lithub.com/old-song-a-p...

“Old Song,” a Poem by Nima Hasan

“Old Song” by Nima Hasan translated by Huda Fakhreddine “I love you” is enough. A longer phrase requires sprawling walls, refugee camps, and a girl with braids long as wheat fields, a candy swirl t…

lithub.com

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Reposted by Hosam Aboul-Ela

ArabLit & ArabLit Quarterly @arablit.bsky.social · Aug 14

Translation as Knowledge Production

In this "BETWEEN TWO ARABIC TRANSLATORS" conversation, Yasmeen Hanoosh and Samah Selim discuss authorship and adaptations in translated texts, Samah's "Turjoman" project and the ways in which the field of translation is specific to location, her translation of…

Translation as Knowledge Production

In this "BETWEEN TWO ARABIC TRANSLATORS" conversation, Yasmeen Hanoosh and Samah Selim discuss authorship and adaptations in translated texts, Samah's "Turjoman" project and the ways in which the field of translation is specific to location, her translation of Arwa Salih, and the "small arsenal of knowledge, resilience, and love" Salih's work continues to bring into the world.

arablit.org

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Hosam Aboul-Ela @bluehasooma.bsky.social · Aug 13

posting an interview about Sonallah Ibrahim--an inimitable and soon to be much missed voice--on the occasion of the great writer's passing:
open.spotify.com/episode/0cpx...

Warda: Diary of a Revolutionary

BULAQ | بولاق · Episode

open.spotify.com

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Hosam Aboul-Ela @bluehasooma.bsky.social · Aug 10

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Christopher Mathias @letsgomathias.bsky.social · Aug 9

Mohamed Salah calls out UEFA for not mentioning Israeli forces killed Al-Obeid as he waited for aid at Gaza distribution center. The "Palestinian Pele" leaves behind a wife & five kids.

His death means Israel has now killed 321 footballers in Gaza (players, coaches, admin, refs etc)

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Dana El Kurd @danaelkurd.bsky.social · Aug 5

So true king

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Hosam Aboul-Ela @bluehasooma.bsky.social · Aug 4

Please consider signing the petition regarding the unjust imprisonment without trial of the prominent intellectual Hany Babu by the Indian government. It could help him with his upcoming bail hearing.
forms.gle/fDsVm3bHdvbg...

Petition to the Chief Justice of India Regarding the Incarceration of Professor Hany Babu

Please fill out this form to sign the petition demanding the immediate release of Professor Hany Babu, who has been imprisoned for the past five years without a trial. Here is the letter: August 03, ...

forms.gle

Reposted by Hosam Aboul-Ela

Dana El Kurd @danaelkurd.bsky.social · Jul 27

As the airdrops begin please do not share videos of people scavenging for food. Its the occupations fault that this is happening first and foremost, but please try to preserve the dignity of the Palestinians in those videos. As a palestinian i am heartbroken enough.

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Andy Hoberek @thathoberekguy.bsky.social · Jul 25

As a faculty member, I would like to say to fellow faculty members that ANNUAL TRAINING VIDEOS THIS YEAR ARE GONNA BE AMAZING.

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Reposted by Hosam Aboul-Ela

Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · Jul 24

Rhetorical questions along the lines of "why hasn't [Israel in Gaza] been more methodical and vastly more deadly" don't fit the current reality of causing mass famine, including firing live ammo to stop people from getting food aid. No national security rationale for that, not even a stretched one.

NYT op-ed by Bret Stephens called "No, Israel is Not Committing Genocide in Gaza," from July 22, 2025. Opening paragraph: "It may seem harsh to say, but there is a glaring dissonance to the charge that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. To wit: If the Israeli government’s intentions and actions are truly genocidal — if it is so malevolent that it is committed to the annihilation of Gazans — why hasn’t it been more methodical and vastly more deadly? Why not, say, hundreds of thousands of deaths, as opposed to the nearly 60,000 that Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatant and civilian deaths, has cited so far in nearly two years of war?"

Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/22/opinion/no-israel-is-not-committing-genocide-in-gaza.html

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Andy Hoberek @thathoberekguy.bsky.social · Jul 24

Reading Walter Rodney and finding his argument that revolutions occur when status quo is holding back economic systems useful—particularly its insistence that this need not be a good or wholly good thing. 1/

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Andy Hoberek @thathoberekguy.bsky.social · Jul 19

Well, well, well… if it isn't the consequences of my own actions.

The Daily Beast @thedailybeast.bsky.social · Jul 18

An American who moved his family to Russia to avoid LGBTQ+ “indoctrination” is being sent to the front lines despite being assured he would serve in a non-combat role.

Dad Moved Fam to Russia to Flee Woke—Now He’s on Front Line

Derek Huffman, 46, joined the military with hopes of becoming a Russian citizen. His wife said he was duped into a combat role.

trib.al

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Natalie J. Ring @historycounts.bsky.social · Jul 18

I was a waitress in Boulder CO.

A woman came in, asked for a quiet back table and a stiff drink immediately. She was meeting an old friend she hadn't seen in ages and was nervous.

When he arrived I went to the table to ask for his drink and it was JAMES TAYLOR.

He wanted club soda and lime.

Bluesky @bsky.app · Jul 17

what's the most random interaction you've ever had with a celebrity?

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Hosam Aboul-Ela @bluehasooma.bsky.social · Jul 18

💯

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Hosam Aboul-Ela @bluehasooma.bsky.social · Jul 18

amidst all the changes in the media and entertainment landscape, history can still repeat itself, this time with colbert as the smothers brothers.

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Rodolfo Del Angel-Romero @infinityfunnies.bsky.social · Jul 4

This clip aged like fine wine.

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Hosam Aboul-Ela @bluehasooma.bsky.social · Jul 14

this btw is literally the film that made zohran mamdani and was completely worth watching even before it became a predictor of the role racial capitalism would play in the backlash against his mayoral campaign.

Ignacio Sanchez Prado @isanchezprado.bsky.social · Jul 13

Mira Nair’s Mississippi Masala, in the 30th anniversary Criterion Blu-Ray, one of the finest films about race in the US, a rare one that portrays the uneasy relation between African Americans and immigrants, even rarer by being set in the South, done with weight and levity and avoiding caricature.

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