Journal Release Party with invited writer Susan Abulhawa
May 22, 7:30 pm

Join Mizna while we celebrate the publication of Volume 10, Issue 1 of our literary journal—the Family Issue. See local writers Rabih Nahas, Layla Dowlatshahi, Kathryn Kysar, Jen March, William Nour, and Teresa Whitman read from their work and join us for a reception. This event is coupled with the visit of Arab American writer, Susan Abulhawa. Cosponsored by the Loft, Dunn Bros Coffee and the University of Minnesota.

7:30 pm
Open Book
1011 Washington Avenue South, Minneapolis.
$5

Susan Abulhawa was born to refugees of the Six Day War of 1967, when her family was disassembled and their land seized. She grew up in several places, including Kuwait, Jordan and occupied East Jerusalem before coming to the United States. She completed graduate studies at the University of South Carolina in biomedical science and established a successful career in medical science.

Frustrated by biased news coverage of the plight of Palestinians, Susan began to write op-eds for newspapers in the U.S. Her essays have appeared in major print media, such as the New York Daily News, Chicago Tribune, Christian Science Monitor, Philadelphia Inquirer, and more.

Susan is a contributing author to two anthologies, Shattered Illusions (Amal Press 2002) and Searching Jenin (Cune Press 2003). She is also the founder of Playgrounds For Palestine, an NGO dedicated to upholding the Right to Play for Palestinian children living under occupation.

The Scar of David , her first novel, is a historic fiction set in the lap of one of the 20th century’s most intractable political conflicts. Through the course of this story, a Palestinian boy grows up as a Jewish Israeli who becomes tangled in a truth he cannot reconcile, and his identity can find no repose but in the temporary anesthetics of alcohol.

A would-be suicide bomber is given a name, a face, and life of a man pushed to incomprehensible limits. An Arab girl of pious and humble beginnings escapes her destiny and lives the “American Dream,” which her soul cannot bear. And a nation of destitute refugees living under the general label of “terrorists” emerges in the context of an unredeemed history.