New Lines is a magazine that goes against the spirit of the times. While the stories in many media are gradually becoming shorter, and details are being lost for the sake of ‘readability’, New Lines Magazine focuses on long, often personally tinted reports and essays on complex topics that are not discussed elsewhere. The emphasis is on the Middle East, but the rest of the world is also discussed.
A small selection from the wide range on the website: an article about the debut of AI actress Lili Ziren in China; a historical story about an advanced UN plan from the 1950s to move the inhabitants of Gaza to the Sinai desert; a long report from the West African country of Benin, which is threatened by jihadists; a personal essay by Kuwaiti author Mai Al-Nakib on what James Joyce’s descriptions of Ireland taught her about her homeland and exile.
New Lines Magazine is published and funded by the nonpartisan think tank New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy, which was founded by Iraqi-American businessman Ahmed Alwani. The first edition was published in October 2020. The founder and editor-in-chief is Hassan Hassan, an experienced journalist and academic from Syria whose stories about Islamic State have appeared in major international media.
Hassan had been thinking about the idea for a magazine for some time, but Alwani was skeptical. The plan gained momentum and focus after Hassan wrote a personal essay for The Atlanticin which he described how the Syria of his youth differs from the Syria under Islamic State.
Many readers noted that the personal was much more illuminating than the journalistic work I had previously done, Hassan later wrote about that essay in New Lines. He used that insight as a blueprint for the magazine. The idea of presenting personal stories about complex topics from authors who know the language and culture of the place they write about appealed to Alwani and New Lines was born.