People Like Us
BrazenPeople Like Us is a groundbreaking conversation show hosted by award winning journalist Kim Ghattas, bringing people together to connect the dots between today’s Middle East and the world, how it works and why it matters to everyone, wherever they are.
Kim talks to film makers, activists, authors, refugees, politicians, a sexologist, exploring a pressing theme in every episode, from Roe v Wade to impunity in Syria and Ukraine, bringing a fresh, distinctive perspective on current events and cultural trends. Anchored in Kim’s home city of Beirut, the show takes a step back from the headlines to discuss the big questions, uncovering surprising connections and the powerful personal stories of the speakers, doers, movers and shakers from across the region, as well as ordinary people doing extraordinary things.
People Like Us is THE show that makes sense of the Middle East and the world.
Visit peoplelikeuspod.com for more, or follow the show on Instagram and Twitter @peoplelikeuspod.
People Like Us is a Project Brazen production. For more fearless storytelling, search for the Brazen channel on Apple Podcasts or visit brazen.fm, home to all our podcasts, documentaries and newsletters. At Brazen, we show you how the world really works – from geopolitics and corruption to deal-making and organised crime, we’ll take you inside stories from hidden worlds.
Don’t stay in the dark. Subscribe to Brazen+ on Apple Podcasts or at brazen.fm/plus and get exclusive bonus episodes, as well as ad-free listening and early access to new shows. For the latest from Brazen delivered straight to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters at brazen.fm/newsletters.
People Like Us is a groundbreaking conversation show hosted by award winning journalist Kim Ghattas, bringing people together to connect the dots between today’s Middle East and the world, how it works and why it matters to everyone, wherever they are.
Kim talks to film makers, activists, authors, refugees, politicians, a sexologist, exploring a pressing theme in every episode, from Roe v Wade to impunity in Syria and Ukraine, bringing a fresh, distinctive perspective on current events and cultural trends. Anchored in Kim’s home city of Beirut, the show takes a step back from the headlines to discuss the big questions, uncovering surprising connections and the powerful personal stories of the speakers, doers, movers and shakers from across the region, as well as ordinary people doing extraordinary things.
People Like Us is THE show that makes sense of the Middle East and the world.
Visit peoplelikeuspod.com for more, or follow the show on Instagram and Twitter @peoplelikeuspod.
People Like Us is a Project Brazen production. For more fearless storytelling, search for the Brazen channel on Apple Podcasts or visit brazen.fm, home to all our podcasts, documentaries and newsletters. At Brazen, we show you how the world really works – from geopolitics and corruption to deal-making and organised crime, we’ll take you inside stories from hidden worlds.
Don’t stay in the dark. Subscribe to Brazen+ on Apple Podcasts or at brazen.fm/plus and get exclusive bonus episodes, as well as ad-free listening and early access to new shows. For the latest from Brazen delivered straight to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters at brazen.fm/newsletters.
Ep 5 - Narrating the Middle East
Can we understand a culture and a region when we don’t read its authors? And what nuances do we miss when we read them in translation? How are authors and poets from the Middle East reaching new audiences? I speak to poet Zeina Hashem Beck, from Lebanon, living in California, about being an Arab Anglophone poet, how the duality of language shapes her work and the audience she is hoping to reach. Then off to Las Vegas to meet Egyptian novelist in exile, Ahmad Naji who spent time in an Egyptian jail for his sci-fi novel full of sexual innuendos and swear words. In his dark damp cell, he met the unlikeliest fellow readers. Finally, Yasmina Jraissati, founder of the Raya Literary Agency, talks to me about her quest to get the world to read authors from her region.
Follow People like Us on Instagram and Twitter @peoplelikeuspod
For more on our guests…
Ahmed Naji is an Egyptian novelist, former journalist and literary critic living in exile in the U.S. He is the author of Using of Life which landed him in an Egyptian jail and Rotten Evidence: Reading and Writing in Prison about his experience in a prison cell. Ahmed is the recipient of many awards, including the PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award.
Zeina Hashem Beck is a Lebanese poet now based in California, “after a lifetime in Lebanon and a decade in Dubai.” She writes about home, estrangement, language, the body, love, motherhood, and faith. Her latest book of poetry O was published by Penguin Random House this year. Her poetry has appeared in The Atlantic, Poetry Magazine and more.
Yasmina Jraissati is the founder of the Raya Literary agency which she created in 2004 to better represent and promote writers from the region to an international audience. A long time advocate of literature from the region, Yasmina was active in several initiatives to promote books from the Middle East to a worldwide readership.
People Like Us is a Project Brazen production. Subscribe to Brazen+ on Apple Podcasts or at brazen.fm/plus and get ad-free listening across our network and early access to new podcasts.
For more fearless storytelling visit brazen.fm, home to all our podcasts, documentaries and newsletters. At Brazen, we show you how the world really works.