Events

Event details

Join us in launching the print edition of I Want Sky, a collection of writing honoring Sarah Hegazy’s one irreplaceable life, and the lives of all LGBTQ+ Arabs and people of the SWANA region and its diaspora.

In celebration of the launch of this collection, Wael Morcos who designed the print and digital versions of this collection will give a brief talk about the design process; AMA, Nusaiba Imady, and guest-editor Mariam Bazeed will give live readings of their work; + we’ll play pre-recorded videos of I Want Sky authors reading their pieces!

This event takes place IN PERSON on Sunday, November 7, 2021 at 6pm at Open Book, 1011 S Washington Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55415.

Those unable to attend in person can watch a livestream of the event on Mizna’s Facebook page. Add the livestream to your calendar here.

RSVP REQUIRED

PRE-ORDER I WANT SKY

COVID-19 SAFETY PROTOCOL

This event is limited to 50 attendees. In order to attend, you must reserve a ticket ahead of time.

At the door, you will be required to show proof of a completed COVID-19 vaccination regimen to enter. The COVID-19 vaccination card must show a completed regimen that concluded at least 14 days before the date of the event and match the ticket holder’s ID.

Attendees are required to wear masks at all times. Should you forget a mask, we will have a few extras at the door. No food or drink will be allowed in the event space.

Failure to meet these safety guidelines may result in denial of entry to the event.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

AMA [she/her/hers] is an Iraqi-American writer and physician living in Northern California. She is Co-Founder of the Coffee and Script Collaborative, an online literary community of Arab writers. Her work has been previously published in Mizna.

Mariam Bazeed is an Egyptian immigrant, writer, performance artist, stage actor, and cook living in Brooklyn. Mariam is currently at work on a book-length erasure of The Arab Mind, written by the accomplished racist Raphael Patai; The Sunshine School Songbook, a solo cabaret sponsored by late-stage capitalism and the algorithms of Gulf Labor dystopias; and on the second draft of their so-faggy-it’s-in-the-title! play, faggy faafi Cairo boy. Their play, Kilo Batra: In Death More Radiant, written with Kamelya Omayma Youssef, will be staged in December 2021 at the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.

Nusaiba Imady [she/her/hers] is a Syrian writer and performer based in Minnesota. She is a doctoral student at the University of Minnesota, researching Arabic Literature, Joy, and Madness. She is currently working on a translation of May Ziyada’s The Newspapers, in her continued effort to bring justice to the history of Arab women writers. She is a full-time nanny to her niblings and has replaced most of her blood with coffee and tea.

Wael Morcos is a graphic designer and type designer from Beirut, Lebanon. Upon receiving his BA in Graphic Design from Notre Dame University (Lebanon), he spent three years developing identities and Arabic-Latin bilingual typefaces, in addition to working in print and exhibition design. Wael received his MFA from RISD in 2013, after which he moved to New York and worked with several studios in the city before founding Morcos Key. Wael has been featured in Print Magazine’s 15 under 30, was named a Young Gun by the Art Directors Club and an Ascender by the Type Directors Club.

ABOUT I WANT SKY

Mizna, in partnership with Asian American Writers Workshops’ The Margins present I Want Sky. The notebook, guest-edited by Mariam Bazeed, features contributions from AMA, Amir Ferdjani, Banah el Ghadbanah, donial salem harhooor, Eman Desouky, Gamal El Sawah, Ghinwa Jawhari, Janine Mogannam, Kamelya Omayma Youssef, Layla Zbinden, ‘mad, Mejdulene B. Shomali, Mish Ismy, Nada Almosa, Niki Asfar, Nour Kamel, Nusaiba Imady, Qais Kamran, Shiyam Galyon, and Walid Daou. This special collaboration was designed by Morcos Key with illustrations by Haitham Haddad of Studio Mnjnk. Read the digital edition here.