I’m Natasha Burge, a writer and an American in Arabia.

The Undercurrent is where I write about culture, politics, books, faith, and place. Here you’ll find dispatches from a desert-dwelling rogue academic with a PhD and a heterodox perspective. Beneath it all, I’m always tracing the outlines of the sacred in a disenchanted age. You can read more about the goals of The Undercurrent here.

My first book, Drifts, is a lyrical memoir that explores autism, transcultural identity, and the culture of the Arabian Gulf through a psychogeographic journey of place and self. Drifts was a finalist for the Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing. My second book, The Way Out, is a metaphysical mystery set in an Arabian Gulf souq that intertwines time, trauma, and liminality. The Way Out was a finalist for the Dzanc Prize for Fiction.

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