Born in 2026, and as a response to the on-going genocides happening around the globe, particularly in Lebanon and Palestine, Al Qesas is a public archive that collects and preserves stories of locals from the SWANA region and the global south. 

People residing in SWANA are especially encouraged to submit their stories. Al Qesas is particularly interested in stories that capture authentic local histories, lived experiences, and memories that are often forgotten, overlooked, or excluded from official records.

Stories should be submitted to alqesas.org@gmail.com. Submissions are added to a backlog and published after being edited by Al Qesas founder Hind Akil Haidar or a selected volunteer editor. Submission is free and will remain free.

Stories may be submitted in Arabic or English. Please ensure that submissions are cleaned, proofread, and properly formatted before submission. AI submissions are not permitted in any circustances.

All themes are welcome. Feminist, queer, land-related, food, love, migration, displacement, and everyday-life stories are particularly encouraged. The story of a village, a family recipe, a childhood memory, a political event, or a taxi driver who would not stop talking all have a place in this archive.

Authors retain ownership of their work. By submitting a story to Al Qesas, authors grant Al Qesas the non-exclusive right to edit, archive, publish, and preserve their work as part of the Al Qesas collection.

Any use, reproduction, adaptation, translation, publication, distribution, or republication of material published on alqesas.org by third parties requires prior written approval from both the author and Al Qesas. This applies to all published texts, photographs, audio recordings, videos, and other content hosted on the archive. Please refer to the copyright notice below for additional information.

Al Qesas is an independent project owned and operated by Hind Akil Haidar. The archive is currently funded entirely through personal contributions by its founder and does not receive support from any government, political party, corporation, or institution.

Should Al Qesas receive funding in the future, all financial support will be publicly disclosed on this website. Any funding accepted by Al Qesas will be unconditional and will not grant donors editorial control, influence over content, ownership rights, or decision-making authority regarding the archive, its contributors, or its publications.

Al Qesas is committed to maintaining its editorial independence and preserving the integrity of the stories entrusted to it.