Events

Event details

Mizna teams up with Poetry Asylum & Moon Palace Books to present a reading from Dubai-based poet Zeina Hashem Beck (Louder Than Hearts, Bauhan Publishing). Zeina will be accompanied by an exciting lineup of local artists including acclaimed poet and playwright Ifrah Mansour, award-winning playwright Willie Nour, poet, rapper, and comedian Nader Helmy, and film curator and poet Valerie Deus.

PLEASE NOTE: Due to illness, Zeina Hashem Beck is unable to attend tonight’s reading. But, the show must go on! We are excited to team up with Poetry Asylum and Moon Palace Books to present a lineup of local readers including acclaimed poet and playwright Ifrah Mansour, award-winning playwright Willie Nour, poet, rapper, and comedian Nader Helmy, and film curator and poet Valérie Déus. Each reader will perform their own work and read Zeina’s poetry in her absence.

ABOUT ZEINA HASHEM BECK
Zeina Hashem Beck is a Lebanese poet whose second full-length collection, Louder than Hearts, won the 2016 May Sarton New Hampshire Poetry Prize. She’s also the author of two chapbooks, 3arabi Song, winner of the 2016 Rattle Chapbook Prize, and There Was and How Much There Was, a smith|doortop Laureate’s Choice, selected by Carol Ann Duffy. Her first book, To Live in Autumn, won the 2013 Backwaters Prize. Her work won Best of the Net, was included in Bettering American Poetry, was nominated for the Pushcart, and has appeared in Mizna, Ploughshares, Poetry, the Academy of American Poets, and World Literature Today, among others. Her poem, “Maqam,” won Poetry Magazine’s 2017 Frederick Bock Prize. She lives in Dubai, where she has founded the poetry collective PUNCH. zeinahashembeck.com

ABOUT THE READERS
Ifrah Mansour is a Somali, refugee, muslim, multimedia artist and an educator based in Minnesota. Her artwork explores trauma through the eyes of children to uncover the resiliencies of blacks, muslims, and refugees. She interweaves poetry, puppetry, films, and installations. She’s been featured in BBC, Vice, Okayafrica, Star Tribune, and City Pages. Her critically-acclaimed play, How to Have Fun in a Civil War premiered at Guthrie Theatre and toured to greater cities in Minnesota. Her first national museum exhibition “Can I touch it” premiered at Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Her visual poem, “I Am a Refugee” is part of PBS’s Short Film Festival. “My Aqal, banned and blessed” premiered at Queens Museum in New York. Learn more.

Willie Nour is a Palestinian American writer and community activist. His work appeared in Mizna, and he has performed his poetry at community functions and local public schools. William Nour is an actor and a student of traditional Arabic drumming. He’s 2018 recipient of a Minnesota State Arts Board grant for his play Turbulence which was part of the New Arab American Theater Works reading series, and he has participated in workshops at the Loft with David Mura and Elmaz Abinader at VONA.

Nader Helmy is a writer, developer, entrepreneur, and musician born in Cairo, currently living in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He enjoys writing poems, songs, screenplays, sketches, jokes, and essays. His primary profession is building innovative technologies in software architecture and design, where he is currently developing a transformative new framework for human-first digital identity and data freedom on the internet. A regular slam poet for several years, his team placed second in the nation at CUPSI 2016. His poetry has been featured in Button Poetry as well as numerous live art exhibitions, projects, and performances and several newsletters and zines.

Valérie Déus is a poet and film curator. Her work has been featured in The Brooklyn Rail, Midway, aforemention productions, the St. Paul Almanac and most recently in The BeZine. Her chapbook, Skull-Filled Sun, is available on Amazon. When she’s not writing, she hosts Project 35, a local low-fi radio show featuring music from all over the diaspora and poetry. She curates Film North’s Cinema Lounge and is the Shorts Programmer for the Provincetown International Film Festival. Photo by Fotos for Barcelona.

ABOUT OUR PARTNERS

Poetry Asylum creates diverse platforms outside privileged spaces to bring poetry to traditionally marginalized communities through open dialogue, innovation, collaboration & advocacy [& in some cases, bring marginalized voices INTO privileged, white spaces]. In recognition of the urgencies of our political moment, Poetry Asylum aims to provide refuge for underrepresented voices by celebrating the expansive field of language & expression in all its forms.

Moon Palace Books is your neighborhood independent bookstore located in south Minneapolis. Selling new and used books since 2012.