MSI Press Blog

  Excerpt from  Syrian Folktales   by Muna Imady      A Brief Overview of Syria   The Syrian Arab Republic occupies an area of 185,000 square km. and has a population of more than 18 million.  It borders Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan and Palestine to the south and Lebanon and the Mediterranean to the west.   Syria also lies along major trade routes linking Africa, Asia and Europe . Since the dawn of civilization, Syria has been a meeting place and a crossroads, where different people, cultures and world empires met.  Syrian soil has witnessed the oldest civilizations on the globe dating back to the fourth millennium B.C., including Mari, Ebla and Ugarit where one the world’s first alphabets was discovered. Syria ’s chief agricultural products are cotton, wheat, barley, different fruits and vegetables, meat, milk and milk products.  Important industrial products include textiles, fertilizer, petroleum products, cement, glass, processed foods, marble

                    One of the fun things that a publisher (or at least, an acquisitions editor) gets to experience is meeting more than one member of a family -- as authors whose work we publish, In this series of presenting family authors, we take note of the Imady writers, who have written several exciting and award-winning books. Above pictured, left to right, is Elaine Imady, the mother of Muna (daughter) and Omar (son). Elaine's book, Road to Damascus , a memoir of her physical and emotional journey from New York to Syria with her husband, Mohammed, was the first runner-up in the Eric Hoffer Legacy Award competition. Muna, who published two books with MSI Press -- the popular Syrian Folktales and the gut-wrenching Damascus amid the War , passed away suddenly and unexpectedly just as she finished the latter book; may she rest in peace. Omar's MSI Press books are quite different one from another: The Rise and Fall of Muslim Civil Society and When You're Shoved from th

  Today's fortune cookie is associated with Damascus amid the War by Mona Imady . For more posts about this book and its author, click  HERE . For more posts about the Middle East, click HERE                                    This book is on discounted sale at the  MSI Press webstore . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .   Interested in publishing with MSI Press LLC? Check out information on  how to submit a proposal . Interested in receiving a free copy of this or any MSI Press LLC book  in exchange for  reviewing  a current or forthcoming MSI Press LLC book? Contact editor@msipress.com. Want an  author-signed copy  of this book? Purchase the book at 25% discount (use coupon code FF25) and concurrently send a written request to orders@msipress.com.  Want to communicate with one of our authors? You can! Find their contact information on our  Authors' Pages .    

  excerpt from Damascus amid the War (M. Imady) --              Commentary   In Muna Imady’s writing we witness a kind of devolution from poetry that was filled with vivid imagery and striking metaphors to that which was made to carry words of the brutality of war. Stripped of Muna’s imaginative, powerful, evocative language, her poetry becomes savagely direct, honest to the point of shocking readers with its transformation.   The world of Muna’s early poetry has become broken, brutalized, burned, and bombed. With it, Muna’s heart is broken; her imagination has been filled with what is dark and laden with grief. The simplicity of most of the war poems, when compared with those of her pre-war output give readers a stark reminder of the effects of war in ways that the news cannot. War breaks people and it transforms artistry into something it was never meant to be, painting a picture in words of the way the human spirit can be crushed, the way poetry becomes reportage. The poetry that h

  Excerpt from Syrian Folktales by Muna Imady - Note from the Author Kan ya ma kan are magical words that carry me back into my Tete’s little red bedroom forty years ago. I see myself sitting on her bed listening to her stories on a very cold winter night. The lit soba in the corner of the room casts shadows on the walls. The shadows dance and transform themselves into the characters created by Tete. I reach my hands towards them, but they slip away. Tete laughs and takes out a bag of pistachios from under her pillow and fills my little hands with them. Most of the stories I remember Tete telling me were told to me in the evenings. I wonder… was it a matter of convenience, or did Tete believe that darkness was the best time to tell stories? Actually, in the old days, Arabs felt that telling stories in daylight was bad luck. Daytime was naturally for serious and domestic housework, while night was the time for stories of make-believe. In the Euphrates region, people still say: “ Ill

  \ Excerpt from Damascus amid the War Ramadan Ramadan this year passes With no colorful lanterns Lighting up the holy nights in Cairo, No ziker 7 breaking the silence of The sacred Damascene nights. Baghdad stores are closed, Streets of Tripoli are empty, Gaza is under attack, Iraq is in flames. The World takes a nap While the Arabs Argue over who should have won The World Cup matches.                                                             7.20.2014 ***   No water, no electricity, no coffee!   So I decide to wander around the city.   As I pass our neighbor’s door, I hear the wind whistle through the key hole.   The door rattles as if it suddenly woke up from a rosy dream and realized its inhabitants have disappeared forever.                                         Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter                           Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .  

Extracted from photo by M. Katherine Shear, M.D. See original photo with words and blog article at aspire.com .   Whether they die in war, from illness, by suicide, or as a result end-of-life issues, their loss affects relatives, friends, acquaintances, neighbors, and colleagues in  devastating ways. The following books are gentle but helpful treatments of the issues of bereavement and grief. Damascus amid the War by Muna Imady Written by popular author, Muna Imady, whose book, Syrian Folktales, has delighted an uncountable number of readers outside of Syria, Damascus amid the War tells the very human story of the devolution of a society. The book containts 29 pre-war poins, vibrant with imagery of daily life in a robust Damascus. The 100 war poems that follow show the devastating affect on the people who navigate a daily existence after war came. This is a posthumous publication, containing Muna’s very last works and an introduction by her mother, Elaine Imady, author of Road to Dama

If you have read this book and have enjoyed it, please consider leaving a review as a comment on this post (and sharing it as well at whatever sites work for you -- Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Lirbary Thing, your own blog, or any site that seems pertinent). We know you have many choices of books; we appreciate your choosing Muna's book. Unfortunately, since this book has been published posthumously, we cannot put you in touch with Muna, but if you would like to communicate with her mother, sister, or son, all of whom helped with the preparation of this book, send a request to info@msipress.com, and we will make the connection for you. (This book was released in July.)

Released today, Damascus amid the War by Muna Imady, author of Syrian Folktales .    For more information about Muna and her books, click HERE .

First review of Damascus amid the War by Muna Imady has appeared -- on Library Thing ! "touching and poignant" "well worth the read" Read more about Muna Imady and her books HERE .

Colorin' Colorado features Syrian Folktales as a n excellent way to gain better English language skills and learn a lot about Syria in the process. Muna Imady, the author, was a teacher, so Colorin' Colorado, you made a good call! The book is on sale at a big discount on Amazon . Learn more about the book HERE . See posts about Muna Imady and her book HERE .

Daybreak Press has published Kan Ya Ma Kan , a new book Muna Imady. Kan Ya Ma Kan is a labor of love and fidelity to the ancient tradition of oral storytelling in Muna Imady’s beloved Syria.  This collection of stories, recipes, games, songs and wisdom meticulously and fervently collected is a gift of love from Muna.  Muna persevered through illness to ensure that these stories and traditions would be preserved despite the war that has scattered Syria’s peoples like seeds throughout the world. Elaine and Susan birthed Muna’s words into the world  to ensure that present and future generations will hear the stories that Muna learned at the feet of her Tete, and collected from the generous people of Syria.     The stories depict clever, resilient and resourceful characters written in a style that lends itself to read alouds in a classroom or library setting.  The bold illustrations are reminiscent of Ed Emberly’s early wood-cuts.  These stories are not whitewashed or sanitized - true