We Westerners still see the Arab world as a monolithic block, and as such we see its contemporary literary production, which seems as one, simply because it is all written in the same language. There are instead 22 countries in the Arab League and each has its own history, explains Isabella Camera D’Afflitto. In the Arabian Peninsula (from Saudi Arabia to the Emirates and including Yemen), for example, a new generation of novelists has emerged in recent years, daring to address burning issues, speaking of slavery, taboos, traditions and superstitions, social disruption, individual responsibilities and relationships between men and women.