February 17, 2023

Mizna at AWP 2023

by Lamia Abukhadra | in Literary

The 2023 AWP Conference & Bookfair takes place March 8–11, 2023 in Seattle, Washington. Join Mizna for a long weekend of Arab lit! At this year’s conference, Mizna will be hosting an offsite launch of our latest issue, an offsite workshop, and a panel. Learn more about how to attend the AWP 2023 here.

Find Mizna at Book #939

Find Mizna journals and merch for the duration of AWP 2023 at booth #939. We’ll be sharing the booth with our friends at RAWI!

AWP SALE: Subscribe to Mizna during AWP and receive a FREE copy of our newest issue, Mizna: Black SWANA Takeover!

Book Signings at Booth #939

Thursday, 3/9
10:3o–11am: Summer Farah
12–1pm: Philip Metres
1–2:30pm: Aliah Lavonne Tigh
3:30–4:30pm: Naomi Shihab Nye

Friday, 3/10
9:30–10:30am: Margot Douaihy
12pm: Lubna Safi
12:30–1:00pm: Zeina Hashem Beck
2–3pm: Andrea Abi-Karam
3–4pm: Moheb Soliman

Saturday, 3/11
10–11am: Lara Atallah
11am–12pm: Priscilla Wathington
1:30–2:30pm: Aliah Lavonne Tigh
3:30–4:30pm: Safia Elhillo

Mizna Events at AWP

March 9
Black SWANA Lit: Mizna AWP Offsite

Join Mizna in Seattle for a night of Black SWANA literature and music. Coinciding with the national literary conference in Seattle, AWP 2023, Mizna presents an offsite event to launch the Black SWANA Takeover Issue. This reading will feature guest editor Safia Elhillo as well as Romaissaa Benzizoune, Samah Fadil, and Umniya Najaer. Ladin Awad will be MCing the reading and DJing a dance party to follow.

This event takes place at the Northwest Film Forum on March 9, 2023, doors at 7:30pm, reading starts at 8pm.

Space is limited. RSVP REQUIRED

March 10
Writing the Earth with our Whole Bodies: Workshop by Barrak Alzaid

Led by writer Barrak Alzaid, Mizna co-presents an interactive and embodied writing workshop focused on our relationship to the environment, with a special focus on the ecology and geopolitics of the Persian Gulf. Read the full description here.

This event takes place on Friday March 10, 5-6:45 at Pipsqueak, 173 16th Ave, Seattle.

Space is limited to 20 participants. RSVP REQUIRED

March 11
AWP Panel: Collective Black Identity in SWANA

Mizna will present our AWP panel, Black SWANA Lit: Collective Black Identity in SWANA on March 11, 2023 at 1:45pm. This panel will cover the production of the Black SWANA Takeover Issue, featuring guest editor Safia Elhillo, as well as Black SWANA takeover team members Romaissaa Benzizoune and Samah Fadil.

Join us in room 337 at Summit Building, Seattle Convention Center, Level 3. Learn more about how to attend AWP 2023 here.

Panel description: Mizna explores the multivalent realities of the Black Arab / SWANA experience in a special Black SWANA Takeover issue. Led by guest editor Safia Ehlillo, this is an unprecedented coming together of Black thinkers in the project’s visioning, production, and content. This panel will focus on the process: the intentional community building, the challenge of gathering writing about race in a region just coming to terms with its own Blackness, and the Black takeover team that put it all together.

More SWANA AWP 2023 Events

March 10 2023 7:00pm AWP Offsite: Glossing the Margins—A Bi-lingual Arabic-English Poetry Reading

An evening of poetry in which the borders between languages fall away and only poetry remains. Featuring poets Deema Shehabi, Fady Joudah, Lena Khalaf Tuffaha, Lubna Safi, and Zeina Hashem Beck. More info

AWP 2023 SWANA Panels

PANEL DISCUSSION T127:  March 8 at 9am / The Ghazal and Its Homes through Time ft. Deema Shehabi, Shadab Zeest Hashmi, Adeeba Shahid Talukder, Persis Karim, Zeina Hashem Beck

Originally a popular form of love ode in ancient Arabic, the ghazal was embraced by Persian poetics and later found its way into numerous Persianate cultures, most notably Urdu. For two millennia, the ghazal has remained intact in spirit, form, and sensibility, with a few important shifts in formal mechanics as it transitioned from Arabic to Persian. In this panel, five women poets with a background in Arabic, Urdu, and Persian, will discuss the ghazal’s history and read some of their own ghazals.  Event Outline

Terrace Suite I, Summit Building, Seattle Convention Center, Level 4.

PANEL DISCUSSION  T214: March 8 at 1:45pm ….الو مين عالخط Hello, Who’s On the Line? Writing from the Arabic ft. Deema Shehabi, Zeina Hashem Beck, Lubna Safi, Lena Khalaf Tuffaha

Writers in English from the Arabic produce work that is both illuminating and exigent, but what does it mean to be a writer in a language that’s not your “mother tongue”? How does the language of exile or distance truncate creativity and expression? What role does audience play? How do you navigate the space between translation and writing original texts? Four Arab heritage women poets and translators explore the nuances, freedoms, and shortcomings of an English language writing life.  Event Outline

Rooms 335-336, Summit Building, Seattle Convention Center, Level 3.

READING  S164 : March 11 at 12:10pm Celebrating 30 Years of the Radius of Arab American Writers! ft. Glenn Shaheen, Jameelah Lang, Hayan Charara, Carolina Ebeid, George Abraham

The Radius of Arab American Writers has supported and promoted the work of Arab and Southwest Asian / North African writers since 1993. Join us for a tribute by five RAWI members reading their own work and work of other Arab and Southwest Asian / North African writers they love and admire!  Event Outline

Rooms 343-344, Summit Building, Seattle Convention Center, Level 3.

PANEL DISCUSSION  S237: March 11 at 5pm / Arab American Caucus w/ Jameelah Lang, Glenn Shaheen

This will be a town-hall style meeting, creating a much-needed space for SWANA writers to build and connect within AWP. We invite established and emerging writers, editors, students, scholars, and organizers, and aim for the caucus to facilitate networking and exchange on literary endeavors, craft, publishing, poetics, and praxis. Our caucus seeks to empower and center the voices of underrepresented Americans with roots in SWANA cultures and communities.  Event Outline

Rooms 340-342, Summit Building, Seattle Convention Center, Level 3.