AIAW Events Archive - 2009

Thursday, November 12, 12pm-2pm and 7pm-9pm

'MIXED' -- A 2-Part Event

Daytime One-Woman Show produced by Maya Lilly, featuring Christina Moses

Evening Talk and Panel Discussion on mixed-race identity by Manijeh Nasrabadi

MIXED: One-Woman Show, 12pm-2pm
This play by Maya Lilly and Christina Moses has been described as "the first truly multi-cultural portrayal of Americans ever".

Date: Thursday, November 12, 2009
Time: 12pm - 2pm
Where: Margaret Williams Theatre in Hepburn Hall (Map) on the main campus of New Jersey City University.
Refreshments served at 2pm in theatre lobby
Talk & Student Panel Discussion on mixed race identity with Manijeh Nasrabadi - 7pm-9pm
Presenter/Moderator: Manijeh Nasrabadi
Date: Thursday, November 12, 2009
Time: 7pm - 9pm
Where: Gilligan Student Union Building 129 (Map) on the main campus of New Jersey City University.
Refreshments will be served
Contact person:

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Sidney Poitier joins author Angella Nazarian for her book release at Beverly Hills Civic Center

Beverly Hills, CA – Oscar winning actor Sidney Poitier will be appearing with Life As a Visitor author Angella Nazarian at the Beverly Hills Civic Center on Sunday, October 18, 2009 - 3pm. The theme of the event centers around the subject of Ms. Nazarian’s recently released book – a look at the universal journey we face in finding our sense of ‘home’ in our community and within ourselves.

Forced to flee to the United States after the violent Iranian Revolution of 1979 at age eleven, author Angella Nazarian’s Life as a Visitor chronicles her difficult and triumphant journey from Iran to Beverly Hills, CA. Incorporating both prose and poetry, Nazarian creates a mosaic of thoughts, emotions and locations that allows readers an intimate and inside look at what life is like for an immigrant caught between two cultures. Life As A Visitor inspires readers to reflect upon the influences which shape us – and the importance of “Realizing that home is not a place but a state of mind, and belonging is not merely a feeling, but also an action.”

Mr. Poitier, who will be introducing Ms. Nazarian, spent his childhood years in Cat Island, Bahamas, before moving to the United States at 15 to live with his older brother in Miami. Mr. Poitier was the first African American actor to win an Academy Award. He has been awarded the Screen Actors Guild’s highest honor, the Life Achievement Award, for outstanding career and humanitarian accomplishments and was recently given the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama.

Books may be purchased at the event and Ms. Nazarian will be available for signing after the program.

Life As a Visitor is featured in Assouline Magazine
Will feature in Town & Country Magazine's December issue.

Event Details:

Date: Sunday, October 18, 2009
Time: 3pm
Where: Beverly Hills Civic Center Plaza, adjacent to the Beverly Hills Public Library, 444 N. Rexford Dr., Beverly Hills, CA 90210
Free parking is available in the municipal lot adjacent to the Library
Reservations: Please call 310-288-2220
Additional information: www.AngellaNazarian.com

Saturday October 3, 2009 - 8pm
Voice Music from 10 Composers - with Esther Kamkar

On October 3 the San Francisco Community Music Center's Irregular Resolutions will perform the concert Voice music from 10 composers.

Two of the featured performances will be by Ed Dierauf, composer of Hummingbird Conditions and The Message - a collaboration with Esther Kamkar who will read her poems, accompanied by Soprano Lisa Prosek and Pianist Patti Deuter.

Hummingbird Conditions for soprano & piano (Ed Dierauf)
The Message for soprano & piano (Ed Dierauf)
Date: Saturday October 3, 2009
Time: 8pm
Where: San Francisco Community Music Center 544 Capp St, San Francisco, CA 94110-2586 (415) 647-6015 Directions
Admission: $5 for seniors and students, $10 for everyone else.

Friday, September 18, 2009

Poetry Reading with Persis Karim - Persian Arts Festival's Shab-Sher (Bowery Poetry Club, NY)
When: Friday, September 18, 2009
Time: 6:00 pm-7:30 pm
Where: Bowery Poetry Club, 308 Bowery, Manhattan (2nd Ave/F Train)
California-based poet and editor, Persis Karim, will read a selection of her poetry for the Persian Arts Festival's Shab-e Sher reading at Bowery Poetry Club.
More info: www.persianartsfestival.org

Esther Kamkar - Poetry Reading

Live Poets Society Television Show

Esther Kamkar has been invited to read together with Charlotte Muse and Terry Adams of Waverley Writers, for the recording of the Live Poets TV Show at the Palo Alto Media Center.

The studio recording date has been set for September 22 and the program is scheduled for broadcast sometime after this. The regular host of the Live Poets Show has also invited Esther to host her own one-time show and to invite her own guests. This event is scheduled for sometime in October. We'll keep you posted.

September 17, 2009 Time: 6.30 to 8.30 pm

30 Years of Iranian American Literature - Reflections and Prospects

For the past 30 years, Iranian American writers have explored what it means to be connected to two countries that have been at odds but whose narratives directly inform one another.

The poetry, short stories, novels and memoirs that have emerged from this often contradictory experience form a diverse and growing body of multi-ethnic American literature that has given voice and identity to Iranian-America.

Join novelist Nahid Rachlin, editor and poet Persis Karim, poet Roger Sedarat, creative nonfiction writer Manijeh Nasrabadi, writer and translator Kamran Rastegar and moderator Desiree Navab for a discussion of the major trends and innovations within Iranian American literature, as well as the challenges inherent in writing and publishing about a culture that has often been stigmatized and stereotyped in the US media.

MIDDLE EAST & MIDDLE EASTERN AMERICAN CENTER
The Graduate Center City University of New York, 365 Fifth Avenue, at 34th Str. New York, NY 10016-4309
MEMEAC@gc.cuny.edu

Date: Thursday, September 17, 2009
Time: 6.30 to 8.30 pm
Place: The Graduate Center, Segal Theater, 365 Fifth Avenue (at 34th St.), New York
Panel Members: Nahid Rachlin, Persis Karim, Roger Sedarat, Manijeh Nasrabadi, Kamran Rastegar
Moderator: Aphrodite Desirée Navab
For more information see: web.gc.cuny.edu and here

Monday, July 29, 2009

Rough Cut Readings - at Tapas Bar, NYC
Featuring Manijeh Nasrabadi, Renee Schaller, Ana Jomoica, Shawn Folk.
Date: Monday, July 29, 2009
Time: 8:00 pm
Place: Tapas Bar, 33 Crosby Street (between Broom and Grand), NYC

Sunday, July26, 2009, 2pm - 4.30pm

Raising our voices for Iran

An afternoon of readings and music

The Association of Iranian American Writers and Intersection for the Arts present an afternoon of reading and music for the people of Iran.

With an election report by journalist Reese Erlich and special musical guest Aleph Null.

With works by:

Anita Amirrezvani
Ari Siletz
Jasmin Darznik
Nazy Kaviani
Farnoosh Seifoddini
Persis Karim
Siamak Vossoughi
Tissa Hami
Beatrice Motamedi
Mahru Elahi
Roia Ferrazares
Kavian Ravandoust
Aidin Massoudi
Shirindokht Nourmanesh
Parissa Ebrahimzadeh

Date: Sunday, July 26 2009
Time: 2:00 pm to 4:30pm
Place: Intersection for the Arts, 446 Valencia Street, San Francisco
$10 donation • proceeds to Amnesty International USA
For more information, contact:
Persis Karim, persisk@yahoo.com
Beatrice Motamedi, bymotamedi@gmail.com
Intersection Ph: 415-626-2787

Saturday, July 11, 2009 - 2pm - 5pm
LITERATURES OF RESISTANCE
An Afternoon In Solidarity With The Iranian People
At The Bowery Poetry Club

WITH
Rana Farhan
Luis Francia
Aphrodite Desiree Navab
D. Nurske
Amir Parsa
Said Sayrafiezadeh
Roger Sedarat
Dalia Sofer
Niloufar Talebi
Eleanor Wilner
The Tehran-Dakar Brothers

See: persianartsfestival.org for an up-to-date list

Join us as these and other artists of conscience bear witness, in poetry and music, to the struggle for democracy in Iran.
Date: Saturday, July 11, 2009
Time: 2:00 pm to 5:00pm
Place: The Bowery Poetry Club, 308 Bowery (Btwn Houston & Bleecker)
Take the F Train to 2nd Avenue or the 6 train to Bleecker
Live stream: www.bowerypoetry.com
Info: manijeh_nasrabadi@yahoo.com

This event is sponsored by:
Association of Iranian American Writers
Persian Arts Festival
The Translation Project
ArteEast
The Bowery Poetry Club

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Reading at Sunny's - Manijeh Nasrabadi
You are invited to come hear some of New York's finest published authors read in a beautiful old waterfront bar. This reading will mark the 7th Anniversary of the Sundays at Sunny’s series!
This event will feature:
Julie Metz's critically acclaimed reimagining of Anna Karenina, set in modern-day Queens...
Manijeh Nasrabadi's beautifully written memoir about growing up with an Iranian communist father and a Jewish American corporate lawyer mother; and...
Irina Reynn's startling true story of a woman who discovered, after her husband’s sudden death, that he had been carrying on affairs with one of their closest friends and a number of other women.
Date: Sunday, June 7, 2009
Time: 3:00 pm
Place: Red Hook, Brooklyn
Website: www.sunnysredhook.com

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Poetry Reading - Katayoon Zandvakili
Katayoon Zandvakili will be reading in NYC at the Persian Arts Festival: Shabeh Sher Persian Poetry Night at The Bowery Poetry Club
Date: Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Time: 6:00 pm
Place: 308 Bowery (Between Houston and Bleecker) F train to 2nd Ave, 6 to Bleecker
Contact: mail@bowerypoetry.com
Ph: 212-614-0505

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Jasmin Darznik - Talk on Iranian Culture

Jasmin Darznik will give a talk: Kill All Your Donkeys!: Ethnicity in Contemporary Iranian American Memoir - about the perils and satisfactions of writing about Iranian culture for an American readership, at the Center for Literary Arts.
Date: April 29, 2009
Time: 3:00 pm.
Place: Center for Literary Arts, Martin Luther King Junior Library at San Jose State University.
This event is free and open to the public.

Saturday, April 25 and Sunday April 26, 2009

Homa Pourasgari - New Book Promotion
Mystery suspense - The Dawn of Saudi: In Search for Freedom - at the LA Times Festival of Books at UCLA

Date: Sat, April 25 and Sun April 26, 2009
Time: Sat 10am-6pm, Sun 10am-5pm. Author Book Signing: Sat, April 25, 1-3pm
Place: UCLA, booth number 656, under the banner of "Linbrook Press" in Dickson Court North, in Zone F of the Event map.
For more directions see the event map at the LA Times Festival of Books

Meet author Homa Pourasgari who will be promoting her new and upcoming book - The Dawn of Saudi: In Search for Freedom at the LA Times Festival of Books at UCLA. It is a mystery suspense about the oppression of women and the human rights abuse in Saudi Arabia.
Note: If you are planning to be there, please stop by my booth and say hi.
For more information: Contact Homa via her website: www.homapourasgari.com

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Iranian-American Writers in Dialogue
Gustav E. von Grunebaum Center for Near Eastern Studies, UCLA

Date: Saturday, April 18, 2009
Time: 10:00 am
Place: UCLA Faculty Center, Sequoia Room
Sponsored by the Farhang Foundation In conjunction with Dr. Samuel M. Jordan Center for Persian Studies and Culture, UC Irvine and the Association of Iranian American Writers (AIAW)
Schedule:
10 am -- Introductory Remarks:
Nasrin Rahimieh, Director, Samuel M. Jordan Center for Persian Studies and Culture, UCI
Persis Karim, Founder and Co-Director of Association of Iranian American Writers, San Jose State University
10:30 am -- Nahid Rachlin in dialogue with Leila Pazargadi (UCLA). Response by Nasrin Rahimieh (UCI)
12-2 pm -- Lunch Break
2-3 pm -- Farnoosh Moshiri in dialogue with Amy DePaul (UCI). Response by Persis Karim (San Jose State)
3-4 pm -- Salar Abdoh in dialogue with Elham Gheytanchi (Santa Monica College). Response by Ali Meghdadi (UCI)
4- 4:15 pm -- Break
4:15-5:15 pm -- Persis Karim in dialogue with Amy Tahani-Bidemeshki (UCLA). Response by Soheila Kian (UCI)

Friday, April 17, 7pm – 9pm

Asian American Writers' Workshop: New Stories from Iranians in America. An Association of Iranian American Writers (AIAW) Literary Reading.

Readers: Saïd Sayrafiezadeh, Taha Ebrahimi, Javad Mohsenian and Solmaz Sharif

Saïd Sayrafiezadeh's stories and essays have appeared in The Paris Review, Granta, Open City and elsewhere. His memoir, When Skateboards Will Be Free, about growing up communist in the United States, will be published by Dial Press in March 2009.
Taha Ebrahimi's award-winning writing has appeared in Creative Nonfiction, The Seattle Times, RIVET Magazine, Elan Magazine, Whitehot Magazine, "Keep It Real: Everything You Need to Know About Researching and Writing Creative Nonfiction" (Norton, 2008) and is forthcoming in Love and Pomegranates: New Voices Celebrating Iran. She has been in residence at both Hedgebrook and the Millay Colony for the Arts, where she was also on the jury in 2008. She received her M.F.A. from the University of Pittsburgh where she also taught writing for three years. Originally from Seattle, Washington, she currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Javad Mohsenian, M.D. was born and educated in Iran. He is a psychiatrist, poet and writer, in suburban Philadelphia. He wrote a best seller Rahnemaye Kankoor: A guide to college entrance exams, published by Elmi, a major publishing company in Tehran. He has published two novels Persian Moonlight (Moore Publishing 1981) and 9/11 Children (Infinity 2008). He is currently working on a novel about Iran in the early 1950s.
Born in exile, Solmaz Sharif completed degrees in Sociology and Women of Color Writers at U.C. Berkeley. While there, she studied and taught with June Jordan's Poetry for the People. She is currently an MFA candidate in poetry at New York University. Her first published poem, included in A World Between, was written at the age of 13. Since then, her work has appeared in Berkeley Poetry Review and numerous campus publications. Her readings include Bowery Poetry Club, Hunter College, and Pacifica Radio.
Date: Friday, April 17th
Time: 7 PM
Place: 16 W 32 St., Suite 10A: Asian American Writers’ Workshop (Btwn B’way and 5th Ave)
Suggested: $5 donation

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Ezzat Goushegir and audience PLAY: You're Not a Man!

You're Not a Man! is written and directed by Ezzat Goushegir and will also be performed by Ezzat on Saturday March 28, 2009 at 4:30 PM and April 11, 2009 at 4 PM as part of The Epic Players' Exploring the Humanities through Persian Culture in The Copernicus Cultural and Civic Center in Chicago.
My Name is Inanna will also be performed at Left Forum in New York on April 19, 2009.
www.leftforum.org
www.epicplayers.com
www.ezzatgoushegir.blogspot.com
www.ezzatgoushegir.com
Date: Saturday, April 11, 2009
Time: 4 PM
Place: The Copernicus Cultural and Civic Center, 5216 W. Lawrence Ave, Chicago, IL 60630
Box Office: (773)777-8899

Thursday, April 9, 2009 -- 6PM to 8PM

Understanding Afghanistan
A talk on her journey in Afghanistan by Editor Bina Sarkar Ellias. Poetry reading by Zohra Saed, screening of a docu-film by Shireen Pasha and a Q&A with fashion designer Zolaykha Sherzad, and make-up artist Matin Maulawizada.

Gallerie's 23rd issue, Understanding Afghanistan a valuable collective, brings you features and stories of a country beyond the north-west frontier province. A country that has become synonymous with the Taliban. But little is known about its contemporary culture. This issue addresses the socio-political and cultural contexts of Afghanistan while celebrating its contemporary art, music, theatre, photography, cinema, poetry; the Afghan people and their lives.

The issue includes a free CD of exquisite Afghan music and a beautiful docu-DVD of Slowly Slowly Mud and Lotus, a film tracing the interface between imagination and reason in the lives of Afghan artisans.
Date: Thursday, April 9, 2009
Time: 6PM to 8PM
Place: 25 West 43rd Street, 18th Floor -- between 5th & 6th Avenues, Manhattan
Sponsored by: Asian American / Asian Research Institute, CUNY International Gallerie and the Association of Iranian American Writers

April, 2, 2009

Beyond Memoir: Women, Writing and the Making of Iranian Diaspora Identities
Author and Editor, Persis M. Karim, San Jose State University, in Conversation with Jaleh Pirnazar, Professor of Persian, UC Berkeley
Date: April, 2, 2009
Time: 7PM
Place: Diesel Books, 5433 College Ave, Oakland
This progam is part of a year-long series hosted by UC Berkeley's Institute of European Studies which has been awarded a grant from the Social Sciences Research Council to create a public outreach program focused on Gender, Islam and the West during academic year 2008-09. This interdisciplinary program places academics, public intellectuals, activists, artists, and writers in conversation with an informed public to explore the relationship between Islam and Western secularism, particularly as it manifests itself in the lives of women.

Saturday March 28, 2009

PLAY: My Name is Inanna by Ezzat Goushegir
Date: Saturday March 28, 2009
Time: 4:30 PM
Place: The Copernicus Cultural and Civic Center, 5216 W. Lawrence Ave, Chicago, IL 60630
Box Office: (773)777-8899
My Name is Inanna is written and directed by Ezzat Goushegir and will also be performed by herself on Saturday March 28, 2009 at 4:30 PM and April 11, 2009 at 4 PM as part of The Epic Players' Exploring the Humanities through Persian Culture in The Copernicus Cultural and Civic Center in Chicago. My Name is Inanna will also be performed at Left Forum in New York on April 19, 2009.
www.leftforum.org
www.epicplayers.com
www.ezzatgoushegir.blogspot.com
www.ezzatgoushegir.com

March 7 to March 12, 2009

Sholeh Wolpé Exhibition & Opening Reception
Seyhoun Gallery presents Sholeh Wolpé's charcoal drawings in celebration of International Women's Day.
Sholeh will also be signing her new books, Rooftops of Tehran and Sin-Selected Poems of Forugh Farrokhzad.
Opening Reception: Saturday March 7, 7pm to 9pm
Gallery Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 12-5pm and by appointment.
Place: Seyhoun Gallery, 9007 Melrose Ave, West Hollywood, CA 90069
Tel: 310.858.59.84.
For more info please visit www.seyhoungallery.com and www.sholehwolpe.com

March 11, 2009

Mutanabbi Anthology Reading
Esther Kamkar and other contributors will read from the Mutanabbi Street Starts Here Anthology (forthcoming 2009, Red Hen Press) to mark the 2nd anniversary of the Mutanabbi Street Bombing, Baghdad, Iraq.
Come and share an evening of poetry and prose written and read by poets and writers from Iraq and the USA.
Date: Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Time: 7.30PM
Place: At the Great Overland Book Company 345 Judah St. San Francisco, CA (on the N Judah Line @ 9th)
Contact: Phone (415) 664-0126 for further information.
Hosted by: The Mutanabbi Street Coalition and Beau Beausoleil

March 4, 8pm

Massud Alemi: Reading and discussion at University of Maryland
Massud Alemi will be reading and discussing his novel, Interruptions, at the University of Maryland, on March 4 at 8:00pm.
Details are forthcoming

March 26, 7pm

Porochista Khakpour Reading in New York
Date: Thursday, March 26, 7pm
Time: 7pm
Place: Asian American Writers' Workshop, 16 West 32nd Street, 10th Floor (between Broadway & 5th Avenue)
Hari Kunzru and Porochista Khakpour will read. Khakpour from her debut novel, Sons and Other Flammable Objects and Kunzru from his latest novel, My Revolutions. Website: www.aaww.org

January 2009 Update!

Book Author interviews coming up on VOA - 15 & 16 January
Zoe Ghahremani, Parissa Ebrahimzadeh and Susanne Pari’s interviews will be on the 16th and 17th of January.
The program is called Today's Woman, aired daily at 6:10-7:00pm Tehran time (9:40-10:30am EASTERN). After they are aired, these interviews will be archived for a week on the Persian News Network’s website at the following link: www.voanews.com

Saturday, January 17

Who We Are: Experiences of Four Iranian-Americans Through Their Novels
Presented by The Washington Friends of ISIS (The International Society for Iranian Studies) in collaboration with Ibex Publishers and Persian Program at Georgetown University presents Who We Are: Experiences of Four Iranian-Americans Through Their Novels.
Date: Saturday, January 17
Time: 2 p.m. - 5 p.m. Program starts promptly at 2:30 pm.
Place: Room 115, Intercultural Center (ICC), Georgetown University, 37th & O Streets NW, Washington, DC 20057.

Authors: Massud Alemi (Interruptions), Parissa Ebrahimzadeh (The Distance Between), Zohreh Ghahremani (Sky of Red Poppies) and Susanne Pari (The Fortune Catcher).

Moderator: Dr. A. Karimi-Hakkak, Founding Director of Roshan Cultural Heritage Institution Center for Persian Studies at The University of Maryland.

This program will be in English, followed by book signing and reception.
For more information: WFriendsofISIS@hotmail.com
Phone: (202) 537-2009 or (410) 799-0485
ISIS is the principal scholarly and professional association devoted to all aspects of Iranian history, culture, and society in the world. Its flagship quarterly journal, Iranian Studies, has been the premier journal in the field for nearly four decades. www.humanities.uci.edu