kelynn's blog

This film, produced by the American Embassy in Beirut and aired a few years ago, features Between the Lines 2008 student Ali Awarke and contains pictures of the BTL 2008 participants. (Arabic audio, no subtitles)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1iO_DSDTfA

This year's Between the Lines (BTL) was our most ambitious yet.

Iraqi-American poet Dunya Mikhail has won the 2010 Arab American Book Award for Diary of a Wave Outside the Sea. Dunya taught at the first Between the Lines session—the one that had to be relocated to Chicago due to the Iowa River flood. Happily, and weather permitting, she will return next month to teach our third group of Between the Lines students at the University of Iowa. Congratulations, Dunya!

Poet Marvin Bell recently stopped by to deliver, among other things, this poster from the early days of the IWP. I especially love how each of the residents got to literally (and literarily) put their stamp on it. It would have been great to get this last year, if only for the 40-year symmetry. What might a 2010 version of this poster look like?

--Kecia Lynn

Sadly I don't have time to write a longer post but for now I wanted to present the BTL class of 2009, as photographed by Tarek Eltayeb, one of their teachers. And yes, they are just as cool as they look.

Top row, L to R: Iya Ghassib (Jordan), Nadia El Malt (Lebanon), Hussein Youneiss (Lebanon), Ahmad Ezery (Israel), Majd Iwidat (Palestinian Authority), Irene Ghattas (Palestinian Authority), Lora Abaza (Syria), Bana Aassy (Israel). Bottom row, L to R: Bashar Al-Sawaftah (Jordan), Nael Roby (Israel), Zaid Al-Nassir (Jordan), Yara Abou Fakher (Syria).

Why the inaugural session of Between the Lines happened in Chicago rather than Iowa City.

Take some teenagers from the Middle East and bring them to Iowa for two weeks to study creative writing alongside American teenagers. That's Between the Lines in a nutshell. (Check out the site for details.)