SELAMLIK
by Khaled Alesmael
Translated by Leri Price
World Editions. 240 pages, $19.99
THE LAST SYRIAN
by Omar Youssef Souleimane
Translated by Ghada Mourad
Seagull Books. 172 pages, $21.
CROOKED TEETH
A Queer Syrian Refugee Memoir
by Danny Ramadan
Viking. 304 pages, $26.95
THREE NEW BOOKS, two novels and a memoir, help reveal the struggles and victories of LGBT Syrians. For all the beauty of the country, Syria is a land of horrific oppression, where gay men in particular, fearing exposure from the police and informers, must find secret places for sexual encounters or social interaction. They remind us of the promise of the Arab Spring and the crackdown and refugee crisis that followed, which affected so many people’s lives.
Charles Green, a frequent contributor to these pages, is a writer based in Annapolis, Maryland.
