- Ziyād ʿAbd Allāh (1975-, Syria) – Barr Dubay (‘Dubai bar’, 2008). This novel reflects on the changes that the city of Dubai went through in its process towards modernization and the effect this has on its inhabitants, especially migrant workers. The novel follows several characters and sheds light on their living and work conditions (reference). An example is Yūsuf, who faced many difficulties in his career as he climbed up from being a restaurant guard, to taking clients’ orders. The novel is a panorama of the multicultural and cosmopolitan city of Dubai and its different socio-economic levels (also in M: Movement: (E) migration, Refugees and Return: (E)Migration: Non-Arab Migrants in Arab countries).
- Rīm al-Kamālī (1972-, UAE) – Yawmiyāt Rūz (‘Rose’s diaries’, 2021) centers an intelligent young woman, Rūz, who is unable to pursue her education after she became an orphan and moves to her cousin’s house (reference). She starts to create her own world in her diary, where she writes her observations of the world around her, the world of Dubai in the late 1960s. The novel reflects on the changes in Dubai’s society as it modernizes.
- Ḥāmid al-Nāẓīr (1975-, Sudan) – Farīj al-Murar (‘Freij Murar’, 2014). Named after a market district in Dubai, this novel portrays the lives of several Ethiopian women who came to Dubai in search for a better life. While many first turn to housework, they soon leave the harshness of this work for that of the cafes and restaurants on the lively Freij Murur square in Dubai. The novel shows the illegal underworld of the city, as well as the difficult conditions of the guestworkers, their reasons for migrating, their difficult journey from Ethiopia, and the questions of identity that their living in the UAE posses (reference) (also in M: Movement: (E) Migration, Refugees and Return: (E)Migration: Non-Arab Migrants in Arab countries).
Refrences:
- Nājiḥ Ḥassan. 2008. “Riwāyah ‘Barr Dubay’… al-Baḥth ʿamā Warāʾ al-Thawrah.” www.alrai.com, 23 December 2008, https://alrai.com/article/312225.html (last accessed 12 February 2023)
- Kātiyah al-Ṭawīl. 2021. “Baṭalah Rīm al-Kamālī Tastayqaẓ Yawman fa-Tajid Ḥayātaha Maqlūbah.” www.independentarabia.com 1 September 2021 https://www.independentarabia.com/node/255301/ثقافة/بطلة-ريم-الكمالي-تستيقظ-يوماً-فتجد-حياتها-مقلوبة (last accessed 12 February 2023)
- Fāyiz ʿAlām. 2016. “Murājiʿah li-Riwāyah ‘Farīj al-Murar’”, www.raseef22.net, 27 May 2016 https://raseef22.net/article/10689-book-review-hamed-al-nather (last accessed 22 July 2021)