Rusted Radishes: Beirut Literary and Art Journal (RR) | فم: مجلة بيروت الأدبية والفنية is a bilingual journal based in Beirut. Since 2012, RR has published previously unpublished works by emerging and established writers and artists in its annual themed issue and webzine to both nurture new talent and highlight contemporary literature and art from the Arab & SWANA region and diaspora. RR gives particular attention to contemporary themes in the major literary genres as well as underrepresented writing and artistic genres such as photo essays, art reviews, comics, translations, and hybrid forms. The journal is edited by writers and artists from Beirut and the diaspora as well as interns from the American University of Beirut.
RR’s editorial vision values the role of editors in the writing and publishing process, a role that is almost absent in Arab literary and critical publishing. RR’s editors include university professors in literature and creative writing, who work closely and intensively with writers to hone their craft and publish contemporary literature that pushes boundaries of form and content
RR has also published several special issues and a short film in collaboration with various organizations. These include “Shame” | العار و الحياء (Megaphone News, 2023); “Ethnographic Diaries” | مدوّنات إثنوغرافيّة (Arab Council for Social Sciences, 2022); “Question Your Teaspoons” (The Oxford Network for Armenian Genocide Research and International Armenian Literary Alliance, 2022); “The Barjeel Mudun Prize” | جائزة بارجيل مدن and “The Barjeel Poetry Prize” (Barjeel Art Foundation, 2022, 2020); Not Much Longer Now [film] (UK Youthful Cities Programme, 2021); and “Letters and Liminality” (Oxford University MSt in Creative Writing Internship Programme, 2021).
RR is an independent and largely volunteer project that has received funding from the American University of Beirut, Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC), Carnegie Foundation, UK Coventry City of Culture, the Sawaf Center for Arab Comics Studies, and the Andrew Mellon Foundation.