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AIAW Latest Events - 2011
A FREE event by the Language & Arts Institute - providing a voice and venue for international artists.
Includes readings and artwork by AIAW members Shirindokht Nourmanesh, Esther Kamkar and others
Literary Performances, Poetry Readings Art ExhibitsGuest Speaker: Azin Izadifar (winner of the 2010 Human Rights Watch Award). Featuring Artists from Portugal, Iran, Korea, Germany, Kenya, Indonesia, Taiwan, Bosnia, Russia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkey, and Japan.
Film Showing of the D.V.A. Production: 'The Chiang Mai Project'.
Where: King Library, 150 E. San Fernando St., San Jose - Rooms 225 & 229 MAP When: December 11, 2011 ~ 2:30 PM – 5:30 PM More info: shirindokht@sbcglobal.net or sherie@pixelsplice.com Donations appreciated Sponsored by the Language & Arts Institute We are looking for Emigrant Fine and Performing Artists for future eventsArab and Iranian American Poets
Featuring Lawrence Joseph, Solmaz Sharif, Roger Sedarat, Nuar Alsadir, Salar Abdoh and Manijeh Nasrabadi — Monday, November 14, 2011, 6:30 - 8:30 pm, Room 9204, CUNY
Roger Sedarat is the author of two poetry collections, Dear Regime: Letters to the Islamic Republic, which won Ohio UP, 2007 Hollis Summers' Prize, and Ghazal Games (Ohio UP, 2011). He teaches poetry and
literary translation at Queens College, CUNY.
As an Iranian American poet, Roger Sedarat fuses Western and Eastern traditions to reinvent the classical Persian form of the ghazal. For its humor as well as its spirituality, the poems in this collection can perhaps best be described as “Wallace Stevens meets Rumi.”
Perhaps most striking is the poet’s use of the ancient ghazal form in the tradition of the classical masters like Hafez and Rumi to politically challenge the Islamic Republic of Iran’s continual crackdown on protesters. Not since the late Agha Shahid Ali has a poet translated the letter as well as the spirit of this form into English, using musicality and inventive rhyme to extend the reach of the ghazal in a new language and tradition.
Solmaz Sharif's work has appeared in Boston Review, jubilat, Diagram, Gulf Coast, and PBS's Tehran Bureau among others. In 2011-2012, she will be Poetry Fellow at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown.
Salar Abdoh teaches English at City College, CUNY, and is the author of The Poet Game and Opium.
Manijeh Nasrabadi is co-director of the Association of Iranian American Writers. She is writing a memoir about her Jewish Zoroastrian Iranian American family and is a PhD student in American Studies at NYU.
Co-Sponsors
Co-sponsored by the Association of Iranian American Writers (AIAW) and the Radius of Arab American Writers Inc (RAWI)
More Info: www.memeac.gc.cuny.edu Event Date: Monday, November 14, 2011 Event Time: 6:30-8:30pm Where: Room 9204, The Graduate Center, CUNY 365 Fifth Avenue, at 34th Street, New York, NY 10016 MAP and Directions
Ezzat Goushegir
in Beijing, China - November 2 to 6
Event: A One Woman Play 'My Name is Inanna'
Director: Xiaoqing Hu
In Chinese idiom, there is a saying "wind, horse and cow are thousand miles
apart". This fringe festival encourages uniquely different theatrical voices
and provides a platform for theatre artists to display. This year's theme is "Understanding of Space". My Name is Inanna will be performed at the Trojan Theatre, Beijing from November 2 thru 6.
The main character Inanna, retrieved from the historical texts, the Sumerian
goddess of love, justice and civilization, is a modern Middle Eastern woman who
is in search of identity, justice and freedom. She leaves her mother country,
where she had been imprisoned under the tyrannical regime for several years
until she flees the country seeking liberty.
After receiving political asylum
in the U.S, dreaming of democracy, she practices the expression of freedom of
speech. But she faces new forms of sexism, racism and false-democratic slogans.
It is a crucial historical moment after the invasion of Iraq, and she is being
arrested for her opposition to war in the Middle Eastern region. Handcuffed
alone in a holding area, she speaks for 55 minutes, reliving her experiences of
politics and incarceration in her native country, as well as those of her newly
adopted country.
Where: Trojan Theatre, Bejing, China MAP
When: November 2 to 6, 2011
>>> Ezaat Goushegir's Website
Zohreh Gharehmani on KPBS LunchHour Event
Friday, June 17, 2011
12:00 - 1:30PM, Shiley Studio A KPBS' Maureen Cavanaugh will interview
Zoreh "Zoe" Ghahremani, author of Sky of Red Poppies
Sit in on this exclusive interview to learn more about the author and the novel which begins with an unusual friendship between two young women coming of age in a politically divided 1960's Iran under rule of the Shah. As the story unfolds, the history and culture of their homeland takes on a life of its own.
This is a Brown Bag Event so bring your own lunch to KPBS Shiley Studio A - MAP
>> More details, RSVP, directions and parking
Scroll down the page that opens to sign up for this event.
Sunday June 5, 5PM to 7PM
2011 National Queer Arts Festival
OUT OF NECESSITY
During the Winter and Spring of 2011, we've paired some of the finest emerging Bay Area poets with luminaries who span four decades of literary legacy to bring you Out of Necessity.
Testing how artistic relationships support and sustain poets as they write as a means of political re-imagination and reclamation, Out of Necessity features award-winning and emerging ...poets: REGIE CABICO, CHERYL CLARKE, ACHY OBEJAS,
VANESSA HUANG,
SUZANNE DEL MAZO,
NAJVA SOL
Join us for a multi-media performance of these six writers' work, including video clips of queer poets from across the country talking about who's influenced their writing, and a discussion with Cabico, Clarke and Obejas about how mentorship influences their writing and commitment to producing work that speaks to communal stories and histories.
During June 4-5th, Regie Cabico and Achy Obejas will be hosting writing workshops. Stay tuned for more information!
Out of Necessity is co-curated & co-produced by COLE KRAWITZ and ARISE WHITE.
Co-sponsors include: Factory Hollow Press — Mouthfeel Press — Poets & Writers, Inc. through a grant it has received from The James Irvine Foundation — Queer Cultural Center's Creating Queer Community Grant —
Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, Inc — VIDA: Women in Literary Arts
Date: Sunday June 5 2011
Time: 5:00PM to 7:00PM
Place: Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts, 2868 Mission Street, (near 24th Street) MAP
Tickets: $12 - $20 sliding scale Buy online: brownpapertickets.com
More info: www.queerculturalcenter.org and Facebook
The Exiled Lit Cafe is part of Exiled Writers Ink, a London organization that gives writers in exile a platform to expose their work to a wider audience, via seminars, workshops, conferences, interactive performances, schools and festivals.
Where: Exiled Lit Cafe (The Poetry Place), 22 Betterton Street, London WC2 - MAPWhen: Monday 6 June, 7:30PM
Details: First half - theme or person, then coffee!
Second half - open mic session
Cost: £4 or £2 for members.
Further info: visit Exiled Writers Ink website
Zahra Noorbakhsh: All Atheists Are Muslim
"Noorbakhsh's show seeks to skewer stereotypes as much as it elicits laughs from them." - The San Francisco Chronicle
"Funny, moving, and, above all, universal."
- The Daily Californian: Theatre Review
"Zahra Noorbakhsh spins a delightful story... [that] reminds us that with a little humor and a lot of food anything is possible."
- SF Theater Blog
You may be more Muslim than you think. Written and performed by Zahra Noorbakhsh - Directed by W. Kamau Bell
For bookings, venues, times, dates, discount code and Early Bird Special please visit here
EVENT: "Discovery"/ Boston Review Poetry Contest Winners Reading
Formerly called the Discovery/The Nation poetry contest, the Joan Leiman Jacobson Poetry Prizes are, for the fourth year, presented
by Boston Review poetry
editor Timothy Donnelly.
The four winners of the 2011 “Discovery”/Boston Review Poetry Contest are: Ansel Elkins, of Greensboro, NC; Angelo Nikolopoulos
of New York, NY; Adam Roberts, of Iowa City, IA; and Solmaz Sharif (above),
of Los Angeles, CA. The three runners-up for 2011 are Xavier Cavazos of Ames, IA; Rebecca Lehmann of Tallahassee, FL; and Megan Williams of Boise, ID.
At their reading on May 9, the winners will be introduced by Timothy Donnelly, Cornelius Eady and D. A. Powell (subject to change).
EVENT: Continuing the exploration of poetic traditions from around the globe,
City Lore and Poets House, in cooperation with the Asia Society, present: ILLUMINATED VERSES
POETRIES OF THE ISLAMIC WORLD - Bridging Cultures: a Day-Long Forum & Celebration
DATE: Saturday, May 7, 2011
TIME: 9:00AM to 10:00PM
PLACE: BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center, 199 Chambers Street, New York, NY 10007-1044 MAP Admission FREE
MORE INFO: www.poetshouse.org, 212.431.7920 • www.citylore.org, 212.529.1955
9AM to 6:15PM - Bridging Cultures Public Forum
A series of panels on themes including the Arabic Golden Age; the
Sufi tradition and lyric poetry in the Middle East and Persia; poetry
and the "theater of violence"; the Urdu tradition from Mughal courts
to modern Pakistan; 20th century literary revivals in North Africa;
poetry and nation building; the relation between early forms of the
blues and the Islamic call to prayer.
Participating Scholars and Poets - including AIAW members
Najwa Adra, Ammiel Alcalay, Kazim Ali, Reza Aslan, Kaveh Bassiri,
Clarissa Burt, Steve Caton, Sylviane Diouf, Syed Akbar Hyder,
Pierre Joris, Persis Karim, Khaled Mattawa, Jawid Mojaddedi,
Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore, Stefania Pandolfo, Frances W. Pritchett,
Michael Sells, Mahwash Shoaib, and Suzanne Stetkevych.
8:00PM to 10:00PM - Verses Illuminated: A Celebratory Reading and Performance
A multi-artist celebration of the poetic forms of the Islamic world
featuring readings by participating poets and performances by
Lebanese poetry duelists, the Iraqi group Safaafir singing songs
from the cafes of Baghdad, vocalist Kiran Ahluwalia performing
classical and contemporary ghazals, Rumi singer Amir Vahab,
and much more.
Funded by the Bridging Cultures Program of the National Endowment for the
Humanities: Because democracy demands wisdom. With additional funding from
the Nathan Cummings Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.
A new play in English by Sepideh Khosrowjah
Darvag Theater Presents:
"It's not about Pomegranates!"
With: Ana Bayat King
and
Richard Reinholdt
Directed by: Hamid Ehya
H.L. Menken once defined love as the triumph of imagination over intelligence. In Sepideh Khosrowjah's latest play "It's not about Pomegranates!", a play replete with both imagination and intelligence, a pair of evenly-matched lovers fight, flirt, reveal innermost secrets, and conceal the most basic human desires.
When Atoosa, an Iranian-American playwright meets Sean, a San Francisco theater company manager, for the first time to discuss Atoosa's play, it becomes immediately apparent that this is not a simple business meeting. Sean's Office becomes an arena in which casual small talk quickly soars into complex philosophical meditations on life, love and being.
The passion of the encounter turns into a full blaze that leaves nothing but ashes and cinder of long-held cultural and gender stereotypes. In the best Hawksian tradition, protagonists who are capable of articulating the most complex ideas about the world become tongue-tied to express the simplest human emotions. As Shakespeare would say: Aye, there's the rub; for the way to human heart is never a straight path and is rarely guarded by rationality.
Visit the Darvag.org website.
Where: The Boxcar Playhouse,
505 Natoma Street (at 6th Street )
San Francisco, CA 94103 - MAP
Date: March 31 - APRIL 10, 2011,
Thursday through Sunday
Time: 8:00 PM - Duration: 90 minutes
More Info: itisnotaboutpomegranates.blogspot.com or call 510-982-6311
Tickets: $20 - To purchase tickets, visit: brownpapertickets.comNOTE: Boxcar is a small theater with a limited number of seats. Advance purchase is highly recommended.
Farnoosh Moshiri - Keynote Speaker at Nowruz - Texas A&M University
Well-known Iranian American author Farnoosh Moshiri will speak about the current history of Iran, from the 1953 CIA Coup to the present. She will also read an excerpt from her first novel, At the Wall of the Almighty. Where: Hilton College Station & Conference Center801 University Drive East, College Station, TX 77240 - MAP
When: Saturday, March 26, 2011, 7:00PM - 8:00PM Time: 7:00PM - 8:00PM Contact Info: Phone: (979) 693-7500An Evening of Poetry and Persian Music
An evening to inaugurate and celebrate the establishment of Persian and Iranian Studies at San Jose State University—and to celebrate the coming Persian New Year!
With Bay Area Masters Mahvash Guerami (santour); Hossein Massoudi (vocals) and Pezhham Akhvass.
And Iranian-American poets Esther Kamkar, Shirindokht Nourmanesh, Farnaz Fatemi and Mojdeh Marashi.
Sponsored by the Iranian Studies Program at SJSU, Student Association for Middle Eastern Studies, the Middle Eastern Studies Program and the Association of Iranian American Writers (AIAW). Made possible with a grant from the PARSA Community Foundation.
Where: Engineering Auditorium, San Jose State University - MAP
When: Thursday March 10, 2011, 7.00pm
Free and open to the public
More info: Email Persis Karim
International Women's Day Event and Reading with
Esther Kamkar, Haleh Hatami and Bijan Mottahedeh
In celebration of International Women's Day and Support Women Artists Now Day, Golden Thread Productions presents an evening of poetry and performance.
Zolmat (Darkness) is a collaboration in image and poetry that interprets the official crackdown against protesters in Iran following the contested 2009 presidential elections.
As recently as these past few weeks, voices in Iran seeking to express both their discontent and their dreams have been answered with violence.
Concept and photography by Bijan Mottahedeh.
Poems by Esther Kamkar, Haleh Hatami and Bijan Mottahedeh.
Where: La Pena Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave. Berkeley - MAP
When: Tuesday, March 8, 2011, 7:30pm
Tickets: $10 - For bookings phone 510-849-2568 x20
More info: Golden Thread Productions
Iranian Student Alliance in America presents:
'Sky of Red Poppies': Book Reading and Signing by Author Dr. Zohreh Ghahremani
Zohreh K. Ghahremani writes both in Persian - her native language - and English. Many of her articles and short stories have appeared in US magazines. A long-term immigrant, she draws from her Iranian-American culture and transmits a fresh mixture to her readers. Her work has won several awards, including the 2005 California Stories and first prize at SBWC for best fiction 2004.
Sky of Red Poppies begins with a casual friendship between two schoolgirls coming of age in a politically divided 1960's Iran under rule of the Shah. Roya, the daughter of a prominent family, is envious of the fierce independence of her religious classmate Shireen. But Shireen has secrets of her own. Together, Roya and Shireen contend with becoming the women they want to be, and in doing so, make decisions that will cause their tragic undoing. In the unraveling of family secrets, Roya begins to question how she was raised and how to become the person she wishes to be.
Set against the backdrop of a nation forced to mute its profound identity, Sky of Red Poppies is a novel about culture, politics and the redeeming power of friendships.
EVENT INFO:
Where: English Graduate Lounge, 330 Wheeler Hall. UC Berkeley Campus MAP
When: Monday, Feb 28, 2011
Time: 7:00pm to 9:00pm
Purchase: Sky of Red Poppies on Amazon.com
Dr. Ghahremani's Blog
Facebook Event Page
Further questions may referred to Iranian Student Alliance in America
Check out the Conference, Event Schedule, Featured Presenters and Hotel and Travel at the: Association of Writers and Writing Programs website
Event List featuring AIAW members. More will be added so check back soon.
Page Turners: Asian American Literature in the 21st Century
With V.V. Ganeshananthan, Manijeh Nasrabadi, Amitava Kumar
Join an eclectic group of Asian American Writers in conversation as they come together to discuss the future of the Asian American arts movement in a post multi-cultural world.
Date: Friday, February 4 Time:
10:30 AM to 11:45 AM Place: Omni Shoreham Hotel, West Lobby (Map) AWP EVENT: Friday, February 4, 2011Crossing Genres, Boundaries, and Cultures: A Reading of Iranian American Writers
With Manijeh Nasrabadi, Porochista Khakpour, Saïd Sayrafiezadeh, Ezzat Goushegir, Roger Sedarat
The literary tradition of the United States thrives upon the convergence of disparate cultures. The rising popularity of Iranian American writing especially exemplifies both the successful strategies and the difficulties of turning one's experience of two very different backgrounds into literature.
Date: Friday, February 4 Time:
4:30 PM to 5:45 PM Place: Thurgood Marshall South RoomMarriott Wardman Park, Mezzanine Level (Map) AWP EVENT: Thursday, February 3, 2011
Writing Human Rights: A Reading by Writers of the Iranian Diaspora
AWP reading by members of the Association of Iranian American Writers (AIAW)
With Jasmin Darznik, Persis Karim, Anita Amirrezvani, Sharon May
Award-winning poets, novelists, and memoirists share work on the themes of freedom of expression, political persecution, torture and exile, reflecting on how their writing has been shaped by both recent events in Iran and the politics of Middle Eastern identity in post-9/11 America.
Date: Thursday, February 3 Time: 10:30 AM to 11:45 AM Place: Mezzanine Level, Marriott. Scheduled Room: Hardin
Come see comedian Zahra Noorbakhsh's new show: 'All Atheists Are Muslim: You may be more Muslim than you think'
Writer, performer and comedian Zahra Noorbakhsh recently debuted her piece to sold out audiences. AIAW members, use the discount code "AIAW" for half-price tickets.
What people are saying about 'All Atheists are Muslim'...
"Funny, moving, and, above all, universal." -- CBS.com Culture Shot
"Zahra Noorbakhsh spins a delightful story... [that] reminds us that with a little humor and a lot of food anything is possible." -- SF Theater Blog
"Zahra Noorbakhsh is freaking hilarious!" -- The Daily Californian NEXT SHOW INFO:
Where: Stage Werx Theatre, 533 Powell Street, SF, CA (MAP)
When: Thursday, Feb 3, 10, 17, 28
Time: 8pm to 9.30pm
Tickets: General admission $20.
Half-price tickets $10 with discount code "AIAW". >>> Muslims get in 2 for 1.
For bookings go to www.brownpaperticket.com
Jasmin Darznik - 'The Good Daughter: A Memoir of My Mother's Hidden Life'
Reading, Q&A, Book Signing - 7.30pm to 9pm at Great Neck Library, NY
Out now from Grand Central Publishing and available from Amazon,
Borders, Barnes and Noble and other booksellers
The Great Neck Library is excited to present Jasmin Darznik as part of our winter literary series. Dr. Darznik was born in Tehran to an Iranian mother and European father and immigrated to the United States during the Islamic Revolution.
Her soon-to-be released book, The Good Daughter: A Memoir of My Mother's Hidden Life will be available for sale at our February 7th program. Read an excerpt from Jasmin's book Here
This
is a moving memoir of an Iranian-American woman's discovery of her mother's secret past. The author will take us on an emotional journey through Iran, both before and after the Revolution, while revealing the story behind her mother's hidden history of abuse, neglect and the daughter she was forced to abandon in order to escape from her previous life.
Jasmin Darznik is a professor of creative writing and literature at Washington and Lee Universities and a visiting professor at the University of Virginia. Her essays, short stories and book reviews have been featured in the New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle and other publications.
Date: Monday, Feb 7 2011
Time: 7:30 PM to 9:00 PM EST
Location: Great Neck Library, 159 Bayview Avenue, Great Neck, NY 11023 map
Contact Info: Elly Weisenberg, Publicity Manager, Grand Central Publishing
237 Park Ave, New York, NY 10017 - Ph: 212-364-1570, Fx: 212-364-0941
Email: Elly.weisenberg@hbgusa.com
Follow us at www.twitter.com/GrandCentralPub
