The Immigrants: a collection of short stories (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798284941218)

Sherif Meleka opens this twelve-story collection with A Fateful Invitation, which I view as a kind of prelude to the next story, Migrants. Its protagonist is Adel Mazloum-a name that binds together the ideals of justice (Adel) and the bitter reality of injustice (Mazloum). He dreams of justice but lives its absence. One day, Adel-long burdened by an oppressive, unjust world-receives a letter from the American consul. It says: "You, specifically, have been selected to travel to America for treatment." The irony? Adel is not ill. Yet, despite his confusion, he goes to meet the consul.
The story Migrants begins with calm understatement:
"He pressed the elevator button for the twenty-second floor. The doors slid shut silently, gently sealing out the noise of the vast lobby, gradually disconnecting him from the familiar world."
I will leave this story here to turn briefly to another: Electronic Letters, which I believe offers a literary rendering of the exchange between two Egyptian friends-one, a Coptic émigré; the other, a Muslim who remained in Cairo. Meleka opens the story in a tone that borders on confessional, as though lifting a page from a personal memoir. The conversations are lucid, honest, and quietly profound, filled with questions, empathy, and the tangle of emotions that bind homeland, diaspora, and those who straddle both.
Finally, I must say this: I chose to speak about these three stories-A Fateful Invitation, Migrants, and Electronic Letters-not because they stand alone in their merit, but because they explore the central theme of migration, which is among the many rich themes in this remarkable debut collection by the doctor-poet Sherif Meleka.
Perhaps the time has come to pay greater attention to the Egyptian and Arab literature being created by émigré writers-or, if you prefer, by immigrants scattered across the globe. Their growing numbers and professional success have begun to influence not only the diasporic communities but also the middle-class fabric of their homelands.

Author: Sherif Meleka
ISBN-13: 9798284941218
Publisher: Independently Published
Language: English
Published: 05/22/2025
Pages: 108
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.34lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.26d