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Nawal El-Saadawi
Salma Khadra Jayyusi
Marcel Khalife
Rachida Mohammedi
Gary Paul Nabhan
Naomi Shihab Nye
Jack Shaheen
and
Ahdaf Soueif.
Etel Adnan
President, 1996-2005
Barbara Nimri Aziz
Executive Director,
1996-2005, and Founder
Web
Design
Gourad Media Group Logo
Design, Calligraphy
Nihad Dukhan
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AUTHORS’ TABLE |
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Photo: Lorraine Chittock/Saudi Aramco World |
Elmaz Abinader
Elmaz Abinader is a performer, poet and author of the memoir, Children of the Roojme. Her poetry collection In the Country of My Dreams...won the PEN award; and her performance plan Country of Origin won two Drammy Awards. A Goldies discovery winner in literature, Abinader's work is widely anthologized; her plays have been seen in several countries. She teaches at Mills College and is co-founder of the Voices Workshop for Writers of Color.
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Leila Abu-Saba
Leila Abu-Saba is a California writer of Lebanese and Anglo-American descent who spent her formative years shuttling between the States and her father's village in South Lebanon. She is a candidate for the MFA in Creative Writing at Mills College. Previous publications include Tikkun Magazine and the Olive Tree Review.
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Photo: Lorraine Chittock/Saudi Aramco World |
Etel Adnan
Etel Adnan, is a writer and a painter based in Paris and in Sausalito, CA. Among her 10 books of prose and poetry is the novel, Sitt Marie Rose on the civil war in Lebanon, is translated into seven languages and has been taught in 30 colleges across the US. Her poems are widely translated and some have been put to music by famous contemporary composers. Her forthcoming book In the Heart of the Heart of Another Country, is forthcoming from City Lights Books. Adnan has been president of RAWI since 1996.
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Andrea Assaf
Andrea Assaf is the Artistic Director of New WORLD Theater, at the U. Massachusetts, Amherst. She is a writer of poetry and prose, a performer, educator and director who creates original interdisciplinary theater. Before joining New WORLD, Andrea was the Program Associate for Animating Democracy. She has a Masters degree in Performance Studies and a BFA in Acting, both from NYU. She is a member of the Writers Roundtable, Alternate ROOTS, and RAWI.
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Photo: Lorraine Chittock/Saudi Aramco World |
Barbara Nimri Aziz
Barbara Nimri Aziz (PhD U. London), co-founder and Executive Director of
RAWI, is an anthropologist and journalist based in NY. Since 1989,
she has been featuring Arab writers from across the USA and abroad on her
weekly program, Tahrir, broadcast over Pacifica-WBAI, 99.5 fm,
NY. Her writing, based on assignments in the Arab World, have appeared
widely in newspapers, magazines and anthologies. For Aziz’ radio series
see: Arabworld.
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Hayan Charara
Hayan Charara was born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1972. He is the author of two books of poems, The Alchemist’s Diary and The Sadness of Others. His poetry has appeared in numerous publications, including the anthology American Poetry: The Next Generation, and he founded the literary journal Graffiti Rag. He lives and teaches in Austin, Texas.
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Photo: Lorraine Chittock/Saudi Aramco World |
Kathryn Haddad
Kathyrn Haddad is a playwright, essayist, and activist, as well as the Executive Director of Mizna, which publishes the only journal of Arab American literature in the US. Kathryn has received several awards for her writing and work with the Arab American community including an Archibald Bush Leadership Fellowship, two Diverse Visions awards from the Playwright's Center, and awards from the Jerome Foundation and the Minnesota State Arts Board.
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Marian Haddad
Marian Haddad, MFA, based in San Antonio, is a poet, essayist, manuscript consultant and visiting writer. Haddad, is an NEH fellowship recipient and has published in various literary journals/anthologies. Poetry
collections: Saturn Falling Down (Texas Public Radio, 2003) and Somewhere between Mexico and a River Called Home (Pecan Grove Press, 2004). Her work has been featured on WSRADIO (internet) and The Hallmark Channel. Haddad’s works in progress include two collections of poetry, one collection of essays, and childrens' books.
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Nathalie Handal
Nathalie Handal has directed and is the author of numerous plays. Her recent poetry book, The Lives of Rain was short listed for The Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize/The Pitt Poetry Series. Handal is Poetry Books Review Editor for Sable (UK) and Associate Artist and Development Executive for the production company, The Kazbah Project. She teaches at Columbia U.
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Wail Hassan
Waïl S. Hassan teaches Comparative and World Literature at the U Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where he is affiliated with the South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Program and the Center for African Studies. He is the author of Tayeb Salih: Ideology and the Craft of Fiction (Syracuse U Press, 2003) and articles on Arabic, English, and French literature and culture, postcolonial theory and the pedagogy of world literature. Hassan co-edited Comparative (Post) Colonialisms, a special issue of Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East. His current project is a book on Anglophone Arab and Arab-American literature.
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Maysa Hayward
Maysa Hayward is Associate Professor of English at Ocean College, NJ, and Head of the Middle Eastern Studies Pilot Program there. Her research is translation theory and on Arabic literature, particularly environmental studies, drama, and, most recently, women's issues.
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Salma Khadra Jayyusi
Salma Khadra Jayyusi, widely known for her poetry, literary criticism, and scholarship, is the author of Trends and Movements in Modern Arabic Poetry, and numerous other articles and studies. She taught at several Arab and American universities before leaving to found and direct PROTA, Project of Translation from Arabic, dedicated to translating the best in Arabic literature, classic and modern, into English. Her newest anthology Modern Arabic Fiction offers a rich and diverse selection of works from more than one hundred and forty prominent Arab writers of
fiction.
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Lawrence Joseph
Lawrence Joseph was born in 1948 in Detroit, Michigan. He is the author of the books of poems Into It; Codes, Precepts, Biases, and Taboos: Poems 1973-1993; Before Our Eyes; Curriculum Vitae; and Shouting at No One. He is also the author of Lawyerland, a book of prose. He lives in New York City and teaches law at St. John's University School of Law.
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Photo: Lorraine Chittock/Saudi Aramco World |
Mohja Kahf
Mohja Kahf was born in Damascus, Syria. She is the author of E-Mails from Scheherazad, and her poems have appeared in many publications, including Exquisite Corpse, Paris Review, and The Poetry of Arab Women. She is associate professor of comparative literature at the University of Arkansas, and a recipient of an Arkansas Arts Council Award for achievement in the literary arts.
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Usama Kahf
Usama Kahf received an M.A. in Communication Studies in May 2005 from California State University, Long Beach, after completing a B.S. in Business Finance from the same institution. He has two conference papers are in press. Kahf is an active member and co-founder of Al-Noor Islamic Entertainment, a 7-year old West Coast Muslim/Arab band. In upcoming semesters he will be teaching communication courses at community colleges, then returning to college for a law degree.
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Rana Kazkaz
Rana Kazkaz has earned a reputation as an actor-writer-producer with a passion for telling stories from the Middle East and Africa, having lived, worked and studied in Syria, Lebanon, Algeria, Russia, France, South Africa and Egypt. She co-founded The Kazbah Project, a production company dedicated to delivering stories of a growing global community. Rana is developing a feature film, Gibran, a screenplay she wrote about Kahlil Gibran, Official Selection Tribeca Film Festival All Access. Rana has an MFA in Acting from Carnegie Mellon
University/Moscow Art Theatre.
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Laila Lalami
Laila Lalami is a Moroccan-American writer based in Portland, Oregon. Her first collection of stories, Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits will be released by Algonquin in October 2005. She is also the proprietor of the popular lit blog Moorishgirl.com
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Photo: Lorraine Chittock/Saudi Aramco World |
Lisa Suhair Majaj |
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Khaled Mattawa
Khaled Mattawa was born in Benghazi, Libya and emigrated to the United States in 1979. He is the author of Zodiac of Echoes and Ismailia Eclipse, and the translator of three volumes of Arabic poetry. He has been awarded an NEA translation grant and a Guggenheim Foundation fellowship. He teaches at the University of Michigan.
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Rachida Mohammedi
Rachida Mohammedi is a poet and translator. Recipient of numerous awards,
Mohammedi authored six books of poetry (in Arabic) and translated 4 poetry
collections from Arabic to French, including a volume of poems by Iraqi
writers. As a journalist and commentator, Mohammedi covered the past war
in her country and in Iraq during the embargo. She is Algerian and
currently resides in Algiers.
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Naomi Shihab Nye
Naomi Shihab Nye, recipient of many awards, is the author of numerous books of poems, including 19 Varieties of Gazelle, Poems of the Middle East, Fuel, Red Suitcase, and Hugging the Jukebox. Among her books for children is the award-winning Sitti’s Secrets. Nye is also the editor of several poetry anthologies, including This Same Sky.
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Micaela Raen
Micaela Raen, Life Member of RAWI, is a third generation storyteller who uses a free verse format to explore multiple themes; such as violent conflict, self-discovery, family and maternal appreciation, female oppression and the creation of peace while attempting to redefine herself as
Palestinian-American. With a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Creative Writing from Chapman University, Micaela has been featured in the The Poetry of Arab Women: A Contemporary Anthology (Ed. Nathalie Handal) and her work reflects a unique perspective on the feminist Arab-American experience.
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Sara Rashad
Sara Rashad is a writer, producer, cinematographer, director and editor living in Cairo and LA. Her film, Tahara, won grants from the American Association of University Women and The Entertainment Industry, Paul Robeson, Roy W. Dean Film and the Caucus Foundations. Sara produced the award winning films Life is Sweet, Through Thick and Thin and Conoy to Bosnia, a documentary shot in Bosnia. Sara earned a BFA in Acting from Cornish College of the Arts and an MFA in Film from USC. She is developing a feature to be shot in Cairo with Studio
Masr.
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Photo: Lorraine Chittock/Saudi Aramco World |
Evelyn Shakir
Evelyn Shakir, the daughter of Lebanese immigrants, has published short stories and personal essays in a number of journals and collections. She is also the author of Bint Arab: Arab and Arab American Women in the United States. She is based in Boston, MA.
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Laila Shereen
Laila Shereen is a poet, performer, activist, and multimedia artist. She is Multimedia and Publications Editor at Georgetown U.’s CCAS. Shereen is a co-founder of the DC Guerrilla Poetry Insurgency. Publications include On Becoming Arab, Give, Human Skin, Awakening (Chapbook, 2001), and Word of Mouth (Chapbook, 2000). Two forthcoming essays are On Becoming Without Language and A Bunch of Feelings, Arab American Women Writers' Anthology (ed. Nathalie Handal).
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Steven Salaita
Steven Salaita is Assistant Professor of Multicultural Literatures at
the University of Terrifying Patriotism: How Anti-Arab Racism Justifies Empire and Inhibits DemocracyWisconsin-Whitewater. His first book, , is forthcoming in September.
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Photo: Lorraine Chittock/Saudi Aramco World |
Patricia Sarrafian Ward
Patricia Sarrafian Ward was born and raised in Beirut , Lebanon and holds an MFA from University of Michigan , where she received several awards including Hopwood Awards in Novel and Short Fiction. Her writing has appeared in a number of journals, most recently a short story in the anthology Dinarzad's Children and a satirical cartoon strip in Mizna. Her novel The Bullet Collection (Graywolf Press 2003) won the GLCA New Writers Award and the Anahid Literary Award. She has also received fellowships from Vermont Studio Center and Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, a Work Study Scholarship at the Bread Loaf Writers Conference, and First Prize in the 2002 RAWI (Radius of Arab American Writers) writing contest. |
Photo: Lorraine Chittock/Saudi Aramco World |
David Williams
David Williams is the author of two poetry collections, Traveling Mercies and Far Sides Of The Only World. His work has appeared in many journals and anthologies, including Dinarzad's Children: Contemporary Arab-American Fiction. He teaches at Wheaton College in Massachusetts.
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Left to Right
Rachida Mohammedi
Barbara Nimri Aziz
Marian Haddad
Maha El Said
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Left to Right
Calligrapher Nihad Dukhan
Novelist Emma Farry |
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Left to Right
Calligrapher Nihad Dukhan
Novelist Emma Farry
Novelist Kathryn Abdul Baki |
Kathryn Abdul-Baki
Kathryn Abdul-Baki, is a Palestinian American. Born in Washington, she grew up in Kuwait, Iran, Lebanon, and Jerusalem. She completed her B.A. in journalism at George Washington U. and her M.A. in creative writing at George Mason U. Abdul-Baki has published a book of short stories, Fields of Fig and Olive, and two novels, Tower of Dreams and Ghost Songs. Her latest novel, Sands of Zulaika, is due out this year.
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Left to Right
Poet, Performer, Teacher Fawzia Afzal Khan
Novelist Sherif Hetata |
Fawzia Afzal Khan
Fawzia Afzal Khan, Professor of English at Montclair State U. (NJ), is a scholar/critic, poet, memoirist and playwright. Trained in Indo-Pakistani Classical Vocal Music, she performs with her band, Neither East Nor West Ensemble. Khan’s most recent scholarly book is A Critical Stage: the Role of Secular Alternative Theatre in Pakistan (Seagull Books, 2005). She is also editor of the groundbreaking anthology, Shattering the Stereotypes: Muslim Women Speak Out (Interlink Books, 2005)
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Poet, Novelist David Williams (center)
with participants |
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Mansour Ajami holds B. A., M. A., and Ph.D. degrees in Arabic literature, Islamics, and Western philosophy from the American University of Beirut and Columbia University . He taught Arabic language, literature, and culture at many universities in the U.S. and abroad, and is currently an Arabist reviser/translator at the United Nations. Among his literary and critical works are The Neckveins of Winter, The Alchemy of Glory, and various articles in scholarly venues. He is an anthologized poet in Arabic and in English. Dr. Ajami is also a singer and composer of Arabic music.
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Leila Buck is Education Director for Nibras Theater Collective.
Her one-woman show, ISite, has been performed all over the world and will be
published this Spring. Leila teaches drama for education with Creative Arts
Team in the New York public schools and has lead workshops at Miami Dade
University's Florida Literacy Conference and Drama for Cross-Cultural Education at the
Society for Intercultural Education, Training and Research in France.
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Amani Elkassabani, born in Alexandria, Egypt, is an author and a teacher. Her short fiction has appeared in “Mizna” and in Shattering the Stereotypes: Muslim Women Speak Out. She won a QALAM Award for short fiction in 2000 and first prize in RAWI”s 2004 RAWI Creative Prose Contest. Elkassabani taught at U. Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR and currently teaches Advanced Composition and Literature at Thomas S. Wootton High School in Rockville, MD. She is at work on a collection of short stories.
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Mona Eltahawy is a New York-based journalist and commentator. She writes a weekly column for Asharq al-Awsat and is a frequent contributor to opinion pages in the US and abroad, mostly The Washington Post and The International Herald Tribune. Eltahawy was born in Egypt; Her reporting has taken her to Palestine, Israel, Libya, Syria and China. As Reuters correspondent, from 1993 - 1999 and she covered the Middle East for The Guardian.
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John Fiscella (director) is a community artist and teacher. Most recently he directed Anna Bella Eema, a spoken and sung narrative by Lisa D’Amour, with music by Chris Sidorfsky, at Philadelphia Fringe Festival. He has taught independently and at schools including Marlboro College, Boston U., U. Mass - Amherst, U. Maryland, collaborating with students on a series of pieces on deciphering languages of violence. He is of Lebanese and Sicilian heritage.
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Edvige Giunta is an associate professor of English at New Jersey City University. Her publications include Writing with an Accent: Contemporary Italian American Women Authors and the anhology, The Milk of Almonds: Italian American Women Writers on Food and Culture.
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Dima Hilal is a poet and writer, born in Beirut and raised in California, where she studied at UC Berkeley. Her work has appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, Mizna, Orion, Aramco, The Poetry of Arab Women and Scheherezade’s Legacy. She has been featured at the World Stage, Autry Museum, LA County Museum of Art, and the Alexandria Library. Hilal currently resides in Dana Point where she is working on a poetry collection.
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Heather M. Hoyt is currently writing her doctoral dissertation on Arab
American women writers and teaches a special topics class on Arab and
Arab American literature by women at Arizona State University.
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Annemarie Jacir, a writer, director and producer, was named one of Filmmaker magazine's "25 New Faces of Independent Cinema". She obtained an MFA in Film from Columbia University, has taught at Columbia, Barnard College, and Birzeit University and is a founder of the Dreams of a Nation cinema project. Her film, "like twenty impossibles" premiered in Cannes, was a Student
Academy Awards Finalist, and won numerous International awards. Jacir lives in Palestine and NY and is developing a feature, Salt of this Sea, selected for the Sundance Lab.
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Layla Al-Melah is an associate professor of English, currently visiting scholar in the
Comparative Literature Program at U. North Carolina-Chapel Hill. She is at present researching Arab-American literature and working on an anthology of Arab-Anglophone writings. Al-Maleh has taught at several Arab universities and also worked as a free lance translator and
interpreter for many years.
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Michelle Allegra Murad is a senior at U. Maryland, studying theater and performance. She is of Syrian and Italian heritage. Most of her family is from Utica, NY, and Paterson, NJ. After school she plans to move to New York City to pursue acting work.
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Ibrahim Quraishi is a conceptual artist, writer and the artistic director of Compagnie Faim de Siecle based in New York and Paris. As a graduate at Columbia University (1995), Quraishi studied with Edward Said. He has over the last five years created numerous site-specific installations and performances in festivals and galleries throughout Europe, Asia and USA.
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Kym Ragusa is a filmmaker and writer. Her videos include fuori/outside and Passing. Her creative nonfiction has appeared in journals and anthologies. Her book, The Skin Between Us: A Memoir of Two Harlems, will be published by W.W. Norton.
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Louis Reyes Rivera, poet/essayist known as The Janitor of History, has studied the craft of writing, and taught for 30 years. Recipient of 20 awards, he has assisted in the publication of scores of books and is viewed as a vital bridge between African and Latino American communities. Rivera teaches Creative Writing, African-American Culture and History, Caribbean History and Nuyorican Literature. In addition to his work with NWU, he collaborates with Jazz bands. He also hosts PERSPECTIVE on Pacifica-WBAI Radio, NY.
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Betty Shamieh's play “ROAR” premiered off-Broadway, was a New York Times Critics Pick for 4 weeks, and was published by Broadways Play Publishers. A graduate of Harvard U. and the Yale School of Drama, Shamieh is a recipient of a Radcliffe Institute Fellowship, New Dramatists Van Lier Award, Sundance Theatre Lab residency, Rockefeller Bellagio residency, and is currently serving on the playwriting advisory board for the NY Foundations for the Arts.
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Pamela K. Taylor, Publications Officer of Islamic Writers Alliance writes
in a variety of genres. She has worked as a journalist, and has published
fiction, poetry, reviews, and op-ed pieces in the Muslim and mainstream
presses. She is the Publications Officer of the Islamic Writers Alliance
and editor of Many Voices, One Faith, the first IWA anthology.
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To join RAWI:
Visit us, or write RAWI, PO Box 5023, Madison, WI, 53705 |
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