2009 Between the Lines

2009's Between the Lines was the first to take place on the University of Iowa campus. Twelve students from Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, and Syria joined 76 Iowa Young Writers' Studio participants in our version of "summer camp" -- where writing and literature, not hikes and campfires, are the main focus. BTL students attended morning English-language seminars with their IYWS peers, and an afternoon Arabic-language creative writing workshop (led by teachers and IWP alumni Tarek Eltayeb and Iman Humaydan). They took time out for fun as well, visiting Adventureland (an amusement park) and a bowling alley, among other places.

BTL and IYWS students at orientation. The Stretch writing exercise starts each weekday.
Students experimented with different forms of creative writing at the Arabic-language workshop. Showing off skills at the Arabic-language workshop.
BTL students shared their favorite Arabic-language authors with IYWS students. In this Stretch exercise, students had to create sentences with words that were taped on their foreheads.
Shooting hoops at sunset. For several BTL students, this was their first time in a bowling alley.
It's not a photography mistake...this is what BTL students look like in the funhouse mirror at Adventureland. BTL class of 2009. Standing, left to right: Iman Humaydan (faculty, Lebanon), Christopher Merrill (IWP director), Tarek Eltayeb (faculty, Austria), Zaid Al-Nassir (student, Jordan), Soumer Daghastani (chaperone, Syria), Bashar Al-Sawaftah (student, Jordan), Nael Roby (student, Israel), Ahmad Ezery (student, Israel), Majd Iwidat (student, Palestinian Authority), Bana Aassy (student, Israel). Kneeling/sitting, left to right: Basima Takrouri (chaperone, Palestinian Authority), Irene Ghattas (student, Palestinian Authority), Nadia Tellawi (chaperone, Jordan), Hussein Youneiss (student, Lebanon), Asma Abu Dahab (chaperone, Jordan), Lora Abaza (student, Syria), Nadia El Malt (student, Lebanon), Yara Abou Fakher (student, Syria), Iya Ghassib (student, Jordan).

Happening Now

  • In a recent Haaretz piece, Odeh Bisharat describes the efforts of the Arab-Jewish solidarity movement Standing Together to collect food for needy Gazans as well as build a long-term political coalition.

  • Among the upcoming titles at the lively regional CEEOL Press is 1945 and Other Stories., an English translation of Gábor Szántó’s Hungarian original.

  • An excerpt from Lidija Dimkovska’s most recent novel [Personal Identity Number] appears in the July 2024 issue of World Literature Today.

  • The Spring 2024 issue of the Michigan Quarterly Review features an excerpt from Amira-Géhanne Khalfallah’s new novel Onboard the Amsterdam or, the Last Voyage of Ibn Battûta,  surveying the burning topics of migrancy, radicalization, and exile. 
     

  • In an opinion piece for NYTimes, Veronica Raimo plumbs the (shallow) depths of Italian women’s media representation.

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