Keynote Speaker: Rashid Khalidi

Mizna is thrilled to announce that renowned Palestinian historian and author Rashid Khalidi will give the keynote address at our 25th Anniversary Gala!

Performance: Body Watani

The Palestinian American dance duo, Leila and Noelle Awadallah.

Guest Speaker: Yahya Ashour

Gazan poet and Mizna fellow

Live Reading: Mizna Writing Collective

A special live reading from members of our local writing collective. Featuring Muna Abdulahi, Nikki Lewis, and more!

Keynote Speaker

Rashid Khalidi is the Edward Said Professor Emeritus of Modern Arab Studies. He received a B.A. from Yale University in 1970, and a D.Phil. from Oxford University in 1974. He has taught at the Lebanese University, the American University of Beirut, and at the University of Chicago. He is a past President of the Middle East Studies Association, served as editor and co-editor of the Journal of Palestine Studies, and was an advisor to the Palestinian delegation to the Madrid and Washington Arab-Israeli peace negotiations from October 1991 until June 1993. He is the author of The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917-2017 [2020]; Brokers of Deceit: How the U.S. has Undermined Peace in the Middle East [2013]; Sowing Crisis: American Dominance and the Cold War in the Middle East [2009]; The Iron Cage: The Story of the Palestinian Struggle for Statehood [2006]; Resurrecting Empire: Western Footprints and America’s Perilous Path in the Middle East [2004]; Palestinian Identity: The Construction of Modern National Consciousness [1997; 2 nd ed. 2010]; Under Siege: PLO Decision-making during the 1982 War [1986; 2 nd ed. 2014]; and British Policy towards Syria and Palestine, 1906-1914 [1980]. He has written over 120 scholarly articles, and is the co-editor of Palestine and the Gulf [1982]; The Origins of Arab Nationalism [1991]; and The Other Jerusalem: Rethinking the History of the Sacred City [2020].

Performers

Body Watani Dance is a space to research, investigate and create performances from an embodied relation with ‘watan’ or the homeland inside our bodies while centering Palestine through a Palestinian diasporic lens. It is the artistic project of two Palestinian American sisters based in Minneapolis, Mni Sota Makoce: Leila and Noelle Awadallah. Beyond creating performances for the stage, they also hold dance workshops across communities that engage participants in movement practices to embody collective folk, grief, and rage rituals.

Guest Speaker

Yahya Ashour | يحيى عاشور is an exiled Gazan poet and awarded author, born on April 22, 1998, based in the US. He is an honorary fellow at the University of Iowa and the author of the e-book “A Gaza of Siege & Genocide” (Mizna, 2024). Ashour’s portfolio also includes poetry collections, children’s books in Arabic, and contributions to global anthologies and journals, including MQR and ArabLit. He has received multiple scholarships and fellowships and has read poetry at over 50 U.S. organizations and universities, including Princeton, Stanford, UPenn, and UCLA. His poetry has been translated into several languages, including Spanish, French, Japanese, and Bengali. Ashour studied Sociology & Psychology and worked as a creative writing mentor.

Muna Abdulahi is a first-generation Somali-American, Black, Muslim, International Spoken Word Poet based in Minneapolis MN. In 2018, Muna ranked 8th in the Women of the World Poetry Slam Competition and is a three-time MN Grand Slam Poetry Champion. Her work has been featured in Poetry Foundation, Button Poetry, and many more. In her work, Muna explores themes of belonging and identity, telling the stories that are erased, silenced, devalued, or buried, the stories that are difficult, the stories that bring together communities, youth, and discussions.

Nikki Lewis is a Lebanese poet and multimedia artist whose artistry combines poetry, collage, painting, film, and make-up artistry to distill themes of fluidity, queerness, and anti-militarism. They currently coordinate meetings for the Mizna Writing Collective and are co-editor of the forthcoming SWANA DYKES issue of the literary journal Sinister Wisdom