As part of a new series at La Pena cultural center in Berkeley, my neighbor and teacher Elmaz Abinader will read poetry tonight, along with Palestinian-American poet Suheir Hammad: ...La Pena ...Just Announced:Arab Cultural Initiative.
March 1st, 2007: Elmaz Abinader and Suheir Hammad (music by Tony Khalife and Kamal Ghammache-Mansour) 7:30pm $12 @ La Peña Cultural Center
3105 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94705
Elmaz Abinader, an Arab American author, playwright and poet and the winner of the 2002 Goldies Award for Literature. Her poetry collection In the Country of My Dreams... won the 2000 Josephine Miles/ Pen Oakland Award. Elmaz Abinader makes no secret of her concerns as a writer and an activist. Much of her focus comes from growing up Arab-American, from coming from a part of the country that lacks diversity and from developing political and moral values consistent with ideas of compassion, equity and respect for the earth. Now a professor at Mills College, Elmaz's primary concern is giving voice to other writers of color. www.elmazabinader.com
Suheir Hammad, poet, who hails from Brooklyn, has been called "a new voice with an authentic blend of language that's her own, and music that belongs to the streets" (Elmaz Abinader, author of Children of the Roojme). Suheir's appearance on the debut episode of HBO's Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry merited generous media praise. Her work has been published in numerous periodicals, including The Amsterdam News, Essence, STRESS Hip-Hop Magazine and the Middle East Report and in anthologies including New to North America (Burning Bush Press), Listen Up! (Ballantyne), The Space Between Our Footsteps (Simon & Schuster) and 33 Things Every Girl Should Know About Women's History (Crown Publishers). Suheir produced plays include Blood Trinity (NY Hip-Hop Theatre Festival) and ReOrientalism (Center for Cultural Exchange). Suheir's poetry has been featured on the BBC World Service and National Public Radio. She has also appeared at universities and prisons throughout the United States. Suheir's new book of poetry ZaatarDiva, (Cypher Books) is available in bookstores now.
(Suheir Hammad will appear at a Fundraising Event for the Arab Cultural and Community Center, on March 2nd in San Francisco)
In two weeks, don't miss sculptor, ceramicist and political cartoonist Khalil Bendib in the same venue:
March 15th: Khalil Bendib
7:30pm $10 @ La Peña Cultural Center. Reception: 6pm (joined by Iraqi oud player Rahim AlHaj and Lebanese percussionist Souhail Kaspar)
Khalil Bendib, is the janitor – or minesweeper – of political cartoonists in America. Potentially explosive issues avoided by other cartoonists, such as racial injustice, labor and class struggles, Zionism and U.S. imperialism, environmental degradation, the scapegoating of Arabs and Muslims and the complicity of our Orwellian media are all grist to his mill. Where others see sacred cows, Mr. Bendib sees the potential for shish kebab.
Free of the usual Euro-centric, “Judeo-Christian,” corporate narrative, Khalil's cartoons offer a radical, indigenous perspective in a visual medium accessible to all and, as such, are the most systematically blacked out cartoons by the mass media in our country.
The son of survivors of the Algerian war of independence, Khalil Bendib grew up in Morocco and Algeria before coming to California at the age of 20. After an eight-year stint with the Gannett Newspapers at the San Bernardino County Sun, Khalil abruptly weaned himself from the security of a steady paycheck, resigning in disgust over increasing censorship of his work and becoming an independent in 1995.
More about La Pena's Arab Cultural Initiative later... Meanwhile, go see Elmaz and Suheir tonight! Barring childcare crisis, the Dove will be there insh'allah.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot. The Dove will be reading at La Pena on March 21, 2007, at 7 pm, for the book launch of Homelands. More on that later. I should be working on my thesis, not blogging.
