Literary Panel Discussion

Celebrated Arab American writers of different generations and national backgrounds discuss their writing process, their relationship with their audiences, and their role as cultural bridge-builders between their fellow American citizens and the people and cultures of their Arab countries of origin. Event Timing: 90 minutes
 
Panel Moderator
Khaled Mattawa (Libya/USA) is Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan, Master of Fine Arts Creative Writing Program, and is the author of three books of poetry, Amorisco (2008), Zodiac of Echoes (2003), and Ismailia Eclipse (1999). He has translated seven volumes of Arabic poetry by Iman Mersal, Joumana, Haddad, Maram al-Massri, Fadhil al-Azzawi, Saadi Youssef, and Hatif Janabi, and co-edited two anthologies of Arab American literature. Mattawa has been awarded the PEN award for literary translation, a Guggenheim fellowship, the Alfred Hodder fellowship from Princeton University, an NEA translation grant, and two Pushcart prizes. His poems have appeared in Poetry, The Kenyon Review, Antioch Review, Best American Poetry, and many other journals. Mattawa was born in Libya and came to the United States in his teens. He is the current President of the Radius of Arab American Writers, Inc. (RAWI).

Panel Speakers
Elmaz Abinader (Lebanon/USA), Lebanese American author, poet, and playwright, has won the 2002 Goldies Award for Literature, a PEN/Josephine Miles award for poetry, and two Drammies (Oregon's Drama Circle) for her performances. Abinader is a co-founder of the Voices of Our Nations Arts Foundation that holds workshops for Writers of Color, and teaches at Mills College.
 
Hayan Charara (Lebanon/USA), born in Detroit, Michigan, is the author of two books of poetry. His poems have appeared in many journals and anthologies, including American Poetry: The Next Generation and Language for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from the Middle East, Asia, and Beyond. He is the recipient of a literature fellowship, for poetry, from the National Endowment for the Arts for 2009.
 
Laila Lalami (Morocco/USA) was born and raised in Morocco. She is the author of the novel Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits. Her work has appeared in the Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, the Nation, the New York Times, and the Washington Post, among others. She was short-listed for the 2006 Caine Prize for African Writing. Lalami is currently Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at the University of California Riverside.
 
Pauline Kaldas (Egypt/USA) is assistant professor of English at Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia. Her works include Dinarzad's Children: An Anthology of Contemporary Arab American Fiction (co-editor, 2004), Letters from Cairo, a travel memoir (Syracuse University Press, 2006), and Egyptian Compass, a collection of poetry (Custom Words, 2006). Her poems, stories, and essays have been published in various journals and anthologies, including Post-Gibran: Anthology of New Arab American Writing, The Poetry of Arab Women, Cultural Activisms, and The Family Track.

Part of ARABESQUE: Arts of the Arab World

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