PHONE: (313) 593-5518
DATE: Jan. 10, 2003
Campus will host Arab American authors
DEARBORN---Five nationally known writers will give readings and meet with
faculty and students at the University of Michigan-Dearborn this winter
term as a part of the campus's first Arab American Writers Series. The
series includes Arab, Arab American and Chaldean poets, short-story writers,
novelists and an essayist who are interested in developmental, technical
and research writing, poetry and short stories. The Arab American Writer
Series is sponsored by the Center for Arab American Studies.
"Dean Paul Wong and Professor Ron Stockton have been very supportive and have played a key role in the starting of the series to enrich the academic and cultural experience of the students on campus," said Moulouk Berry, visiting assistant professor of Arabic language and literature.
All of the programs, which are free and open to the public, will take
place from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. in Room 1030, CASL Building.
The programs in the series are:
- Ray Hanania, media and communication consultant and senior executive for a national public relations firm in Chicago, will speak at 4 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 23. Hanania is a writer, author, humorist and stand-up comedian. Hanania has had his columns and writings published in newspapers around the country and has performed at numerous comedy clubs including Zanies, Chicago's premier comedy club.
- Natalie Handal will be speaking on Thursday, Feb. 20. Handal is the author of the poetry book, The Never Field, the poetry CD, Traveling Rooms, and the editor of The Poetry of Arab Women: A Contemporary Anthology, an Academy of American Poets bestseller and winner of the Pen Oakland/Josephine Miles award. Handal has had her work featured in numerous magazines, literary journals and anthologies.
- Anan Ameri and Deborah Alkamano will be presenting on Tuesday, March 11. Ameri is the cultural arts director for ACCESS, the Arab Community Center for Economics and Social Services, located in Dearborn. Ameri has published several articles, personal essays, and most recently, Arab Americans in Metro Detroit: A Pictorial History. Alkamano is an instructor at Henry Ford Community College, where she teaches developmental, technical and research writing. Alkamano has published short stories in the Indian Review, Kenyon Review, and Michigan Quarterly Review.
- Lisa Suhair Majaj will be speaking on Tuesday, April 15. Majaj has had her poetry, essays, scholarly articles and book reviews published in a variety of journals and anthologies. Majaj also has read her poetry and presented papers at conferences across the United States and the Middle East.
UM-Dearborn's Center for Arab American Studies focuses on people from the Arab world who live in this country. The center's main goals include: to educate the community; to form a hub for research; to encourage dialogue on Arab American issues; and to preserve the records and histories of the Arab American community. This center is the largest and first organization of its kind in the nation.
For additional information, contact Moulouk Berry at (313) 593-5209 or
email mberry@umd.umich.edu.
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