The Program on Arab Reform and Democracy (ARD) at CDDRL, in partnership with the Arab Studies Institute, is pleased to announce the release of the fourth episode of Mofeed-19, a 19-minute video podcast that discusses research efforts pertaining to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Arab world. The podcast is part of the Mofeed-19 Project, an initiative that builds foundational resources for understanding how the politics and societies of the Arab world have adapted in light of the pandemic. Mofeed-19 is supported in part by the Open Society Foundation.

Cohosted by ARD Scholars Amr Hamzawy and Hesham Sallam, the fourth episode, which was conducted in the Arabic language, features the award-winning Jordanian-Palestinian novelist Ibrahim Nasrallah. Nasrallah discussed the impact of COVID-19 on literary production in the Arab world, and reexamined the themes of dystopia, isolation, and individualism in his previous novels in light of the pandemic. 

Watch the fourth episode below, and follow the podcast on Spotify: