Interesting book readings.
presence of educated young Muslims at these book readings will be a good strategy to open dialog and also support these works by authors - contemporary documenational works of current state of Muslims all over the world.
best,
Dushwari
A Series of Book Reading Events
October 23 - November 6, 2007
7:00-8:30 PM
Labyrinth Books 536 West 112th St. (between Broadway & Amsterdam)
Free and open to the public
ArteEast and Labyrinth Books are pleased to present a series of book readings, featuring authors from the Middle East and its Diasporas. Three consecutive Tuesday evenings will be devoted to modern Arab and Iranian Literature readings, each followed by a reception with the reader.
We are proud to host
Tuesday, October 23, 7:00-8:30 pm Sinan Antoon
Iraqi poet, novelist, translator and author of I’jaam: An Iraqi Rhapsody
An intimate glimpse into Saddam Hussein’s oppressive regime is presented in this moving work by Sinan Antoon. In just under one hundred pages, Antoon weaves a compelling narrative about the lives of those beneath Hussein’s iron. Through his young protagonist’s dreams and fantasies in solitary detention, he is able to make familiar and universal the desire to escape cruelty and suffering and ultimately evokes the reader’s pathos with his beautiful, moving language.
Tuesday, October 30, 7:00-8:30 pm Sholeh Wolpe
Poet, writer and translator of Sin: Selected Poems of Forugh Farrokhzad, the most significant female Iranian poet of the twentieth century
A collection of poems by the most significant Iranian poet of the twentieth century newly translated by a poet in her own right, Sin is selected from Forugh Farrokhzad’s all too short yet remarkable career. The politically tinged and sensual subject matter of her poetry pushed the boundaries that surrounded Iranian women in the 1950s and 1960s to the disapproval of society. But her art and its beauty are both extravagant and heartbreaking brought vividly forth in the English language by the sure voice of Sholeh Wolpe.
Tuesday, November 6, 7:00-8:30 pm Ghassan Nasr
Writer, editor and translator of The Journals of Sarab Affan by Jabra Ibrahim Jabra, the last novel by one of the greatest modern Arabic writers
Translated by Ghassan Nasr, this final work of Palestinian author and literary critic Jabra is a tale of two woven perspectives both male and female that until now was the only one never yet translated into English. One is a famed novelist, the other the woman who desires him. Through the switching of perspectives, Jabra manipulates the concept of identity and its fluid characteristics. In the novel which starts as a series of journal entries, love becomes a figment of imagination while the written word becomes necessary for salvation.
This event was funded in part by New York City’s Department of Cultural Affairs.