Author

Jasmine Bager

@JasmineBager

Jasmine Bager is an independent journalist who writes about the arts with a focus on Saudi women. She is based in Manhattan and the Middle East.

Newest Americans: stories of immigrants who help make the country great

Newest Americans: stories of immigrants who help make the country great

When Mexican director Guillermo del Toro won his best directing Oscar recently for “Shape of Water,” he said: “I am an immigrant. The greatest thing our art does is to…
April 3, 2018
As Saudi Arabia modernizes, an expat child of its "Little America" creates a time capsule

As Saudi Arabia modernizes, an expat child of its “Little America” creates a time capsule

It isn’t often that you open a book and leap into your childhood. A wave of nostalgia washed over me as I flipped through New York-based photographer Ayesha Malik’s book,…
January 23, 2018
Poetry finds a (calming) home in the hurly-burly of 21st century New York

Poetry finds a (calming) home in the hurly-burly of 21st century New York

Just a stone’s throw away from the high-finance hustle of the World Trade Center in NYC, I came across a simple blue-and-white sign on a glass door that read: The…
December 7, 2017
5(ish) Questions: "Bodega Stories" creator talks about her love for the corner store

5(ish) Questions: “Bodega Stories” creator talks about her love for the corner store

One of my earliest childhood memories was having cash in my hand and roaming a baqala, or a corner store, in my Middle Eastern hometown. I remember the South Asian…
October 12, 2017
New York’s "Subway Therapist" and his collage of a city's hopes and fears

New York’s “Subway Therapist” and his collage of a city’s hopes and fears

The 14th Street subway station was hot and noisy with gossip and foot traffic, with a lingering scent of something musty I couldn’t immediately identify. I could hear mediocre performers…
October 5, 2017
5(ish) Questions: Iran’s "Blogfather" talks algorithms, hyperlinks and the lost art of communication

5(ish) Questions: Iran’s “Blogfather” talks algorithms, hyperlinks and the lost art of communication

Six years is a long time to be away from cyberspace—especially when you’re known as the Blogfather.At one point, 20,000 visitors came to Iranian blogger Hossein Derakhshan’s site every day.…
April 6, 2017
A Saudi feminist's spoken-word performance finds its power in protest

A Saudi feminist’s spoken-word performance finds its power in protest

Waad Janbi, a Saudi feminist and aspiring filmmaker, has long fought against misogyny using her hands–furiously typing on her smartphone or laptop. But last month, for the first time, she…
February 16, 2017
Dying along with Whitney Houston at the Future of Storytelling Festival

Dying along with Whitney Houston at the Future of Storytelling Festival

In a gutted museum in East Harlem last weekend, I plunged into arctic waters, went on an African safari, flew like a bird and even experienced the last few minutes of a celebrity’s life.New Yorkers…
October 13, 2016
The badass women of the Qur’an: “An Emancipatory Reading”

The badass women of the Qur’an: “An Emancipatory Reading”

Want an end-of-summer beach read that’ll turn heads faster than a Burkini ban? Consider Asma Lamrabet’s book, Women in the Qur’an: An Emancipatory Reading, which has just been translated into English…
September 12, 2016
How Saudi Millennials are using social media to revive an ancient literary tradition

How Saudi Millennials are using social media to revive an ancient literary tradition

Saudis are bringing an ancient literary festival into the 21st century with social media such as Instagram.History is happening in Saudi Arabia right now — but I’m not referring to…
August 18, 2016