TheCrescentBooks

2026 Oregon Muslims’ Lit Fest & Book Fair ft. Omar El Akkad

Flamur+Vehapi — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 15:39:41 +0000

Join us April 12, 12-5pm, to celebrate local authors, artists, and book lovers!
Featuring guest speaker Omar El Akkad.

Join the Oregon Muslim community for our third annual literature festival and book fair which will feature:

Guest speaker Omar El Akkad will be doing a Q&A and book signing.
Omar El Akkad is an award-winning Oregon author who has written short stories, novels (American War and What Strange Paradise), and a nonfiction memoir/sociopolitical reckoning (One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This). (We will have limited copies available for purchase, so bring your books from home for the signing!)
Books
Calligraphy class
Kids’ crafts
Local authors
Local artists and artisans
Food
Community orgs

Sponsored by The Crescent Institute, Bilal Mosque Association, Islamic Community Center of Hillsboro, and Islamic Society of Greater Portland. A community-powered event!

If you are a local author/artist, local business owner, community organizer, etc., there is still time to sign up as a vendor for the book fair. Please sign up here! This is a free event and there are no fees to be a vendor or to attend.

♦ Connected Reading ♦

One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This
by Omar El Akkad

Order here

American War
by Omar El Akkad

Order here

What Strange Paradise
by Omar El Akkad

Order here

This website participates in the Bookshop.org Affiliate Program & the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, which means we earn a small commission on the books and products you buy using our links. Thank you for supporting our growing independent business!

Join us in our mission to bring diverse voices and untold stories to the world. Your donation will help us publish new and aspiring authors, promote literary diversity, and enrich the reading community.
Donate Today and Be a Part of Islamic Literary History!

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Bookshop.org sale! 15% off using code BSO15

Flamur+Vehapi — Sun, 22 Mar 2026 22:03:29 +0000

Shop now to April 1st from our booklist Crescent Books Publications!

Shop any of our books listed in the curated booklist located here:

bookshop.org/lists/crescent-books-publications

Use code BSO15 to get 15% off!

Thank you for supporting our small, independent publishing company!

As an affiliate with Bookshop.org, we earn commission on sales. And your purchase at Bookshop helps support independent bookstores in your area.

♦ What’s included in the sale? ♦

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2026 Muslim Lit Fest & Book Fair

Flamur+Vehapi — Thu, 29 Jan 2026 03:25:49 +0000

Everyone is welcome to the third ever Oregon Muslims’ Lit Fest & Book Fair!

We are community powered, not corporate sponsored.

This year’s fair will be on April 12 at Bilal Masjid in Beaverton, OR.

Are you a local author, publisher, artist, business owner, community organization? Please sign up here to be a vendor. There are no fees!

The event is free to enter and open to everyone. Join us to celebrate Muslim community members: meet local authors, attend writing and publishing workshops, shop for books, art, and other community offerings.

Questions? Please contact us at crescent.books2020@gmail.com

The Crescent Books team works together with the following organizations to make this event a reality:

The Crescent Institute, Bilal Mosque Association, Islamic Community Center of Hillsboro, Islamic Society of Greater Portland, and Cool Islam.

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Media spotlight: A Breeze from the East

Flamur+Vehapi — Tue, 09 Dec 2025 16:59:56 +0000

Carol Spencer’s interview with Wael Almahdi for Gulf Weekly highlights the importance of human connection in literature.

Read the review here.

The interview plus five-star review discusses Wael’s Mashriqi English style, which involves including Perso-Arabic words and symbolism in English poetry.

His poetry in A Breeze from the East, released October 2025, is a full collection of Mashriqi English. A comprehensive introduction also guides the reader on how they might use this style for themselves.

As quoted in Spencer’s interview, Wael says of his book, “This is a proof of concept. I’ve tried to show that it can be done. You can stick to English but you can also use Arabic, Persian and Turkish influences.”

And what a beautiful proof of concept it is.

Find this book on our website’s Main Collection page and at the link in the section below.

♦ Connected Reading ♦

A Breeze from the East: Poems in Mashriqi English

by Wael Almahdi

Order here

The Conference of the Birds

Translated by Afkham Darbandi & Dick Davis

Order here

The Flame of Love: Rumi’s 100 Most Passionate Poems

Translated by Muhammad Ali Mojaradi

Order here

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Kosovo Chronology review by Anglo-Albanian Association

Flamur+Vehapi — Sun, 02 Nov 2025 22:46:52 +0000

Antonia Young’s thorough review of Kosovo: A Brief Chronology is in Issue 28 (Spring 2025) of the Anglo-Albanian Gazette / Gazeta Anglo-Shqiptare (edited by John Watkins).

Read the review here.

Young, an Honorary Research Fellow in South East European Studies at the University of Bradford, has written extensively on Albania and Kosovo.

Young’s review closes with a very kind appraisal of Flamur Vehapi’s extensively researched book: “This is a work of extraordinary importance for anyone wishing to understand or research Kosovo’s complicated history and current situation.”

Find this book on our website’s Main Collection page and at the link in the section below.

♦ Connected Reading ♦

Kosovo: A Brief Chronology

by Flamur Vehapi

Order here

The Balkans, 1804-2012: Nationalism, War and the Great Powers

by Misha Glenny

Order here

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France in Islamic History: la Grande Mosquée de Paris

Flamur+Vehapi — Sun, 02 Nov 2025 22:00:40 +0000

Built in 1922-1926, the Grand Mosque was the first mosque in France’s metropolitan area. Its 33-meter (108-ft) tall minaret stands as a pillar of community in the historical 5th arrondissement of Paris.

During the German occupation (1940-44), the Mosque became a shelter for Jewish families and children, as well as resistance fighters.

Starting in the 1980s, the Mosque addressed the need for more places of worship and burial space to better serve France’s growing Muslim populations. This also involved the creation of the Al-Ghazali Institute in 1993 for imam training and a halal certification service in 1994.

Today the Grand Mosque’s full complex in Paris includes a prayer hall, garden, hammam (for women), restaurant, and tea room, while its Al-Ghazali Institute has locations in Martigues and Marseille.

Sources:
https://www.la-mosquee.com/
https://www.mosqueedeparis.net/

Photo credit:
Zairon, shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.

♦ Connected Reading ♦

The Grand Mosque of Paris: A Story of How Muslims Rescued Jews During the Holocaust
by Karen Gray Ruelle & Deborah Durland Desaix

Order here

An Imam In Paris: Al-Tahtawi’s Visit To France 1826-1831

by Rifa’a Rafi’ al-Tahtawi,
Translated & Introduced by Daniel L. Newman

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Our LaunchGood Fundraiser

Flamur+Vehapi — Sun, 02 Nov 2025 20:47:18 +0000

We know we don’t have the budget of the big publishing houses, but we know we can always count on book lovers like you for support, so thank you!

Find our fundraiser at the link here.
Or navigate to LaunchGood.com and search for “Crescent Books.”

By supporting our new publishing house, you invest in spreading authentic Islamic knowledge. Your contributions will cover:

New publications
Book translations
Proofreading, design and layout
Website maintenance
Advertising
General operational costs

Join us in enlightening minds and hearts with stories from the Muslim World!

Our mission is to offer authors an exemplary publishing experience, characterized by a genuine partnership and advanced promotional strategies to connect with a wide audience. For our readers, we strive to create transformative reading experiences that open new doors, transport them to different worlds, and potentially transform their perspectives on our dynamic world.

We are dedicated to publishing authors who bring unique insights and authoritative voices to their work. We focus on books that delve into faith, culture and history—works that enlighten, inspire, provoke thought, and entertain.

See our full list of publications on our Shop All page.

For questions, contact us or LaunchGood (we have been verified for authenticity by their team’s rigorous standards).

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