A neighbour, a person living by our side. We may differ in manners and ideas of how things should be done, but we will always stay closely connected.

More than a tool for reflecting what is, language is also a means of producing the real. It also has subversive potential – the ability to speak new kinds of selves, communities and solidarities into being, to resurrect mute narratives and resuscitate those that are running out of breath.

The night has a special kind of intimacy. A slower pace, a sense that time is moving in other directions. Places turn unfamiliar in the dark; people look different, do things differently. The night is a pause from life during the day, but also a world entirely of its own.

What alternative Middle Easts have existed, are existing and, perhaps one day, could exist within and beyond differently imagined borders? ROUTES brings together narratives that will (literally) guide readers down forgotten, hidden and potential paths to erased, obscured and proposed Middle Easts.

From political satire to absurd jokes, from cartoons to stand-up comedy, amidst the political turmoil, humour is taking new forms across the region.