2011 Between the Lines

2011 saw the most diverse set of BTL participants to date, representing Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Tunisia. In addition to their creative writing study in both English and Arabic, students took part in a variety of activities ranging from a discussion of the events of the "Arab Spring" to a tour of an authentic Mississippi River tugboat to a children's-bookmaking workshop hosted by youth nonprofit 826 Chicago. For most of them, this was their first visit to the States, and we did our best to make it memorable.









Egyptian poet Yasser Abdel-Latif at the Arabic creative writing workshop. At Shambaugh House, students discuss the events of the “Arab Spring.”
Basketball break. Panel discussion on “Young Writers and Writing” at the Iowa City Book Festival.
Guest lecturer and Palestinian-American author Ibtisam Barakat leads a class. Students discuss forms of Arabic and English poetry.
Learning Arabic. Late afternoon at Oak Street Beach, Chicago.
Students write and design children’s books at 826 Chicago. The BTL class of 2011. Standing, left to right: Ghada Abdel Aal (chaperone, Egypt), Maha Zeidan (student, Israel), Roua Seghaier (student, Tunisia), Maisa Farid (student, Morocco), Yasser Abdel-Latif (faculty, Egypt/Canada), Lana Najjar (student, Israel), Kecia Lynn (IWP staff), Johnny Yaacoub (student, Lebanon), Abed El Yaacoub (student, Lebanon), Hind Rahmoun (student, Algeria), Khaled Khalifa (faculty, Syria), Mohammad AlHemaid (chaperone, Saudi Arabia). Kneeling, left to right: Sally AlHak (student, Egypt), Saria AlMidani (student, Syria), Hadeel AlHaddad (student, Bahrain), Oussama Ghajjou (student, Morocco).

Happening Now

  • To mark PEN International’s centennial, Words Without Borders has published a sampler of works by writers committed to freedom of expression. Algerian novelist and scholar Med MAGANI is among them.

  • A fall harvest of book reviews coming in: of The Others by Sarah BLAU (translated from the Hebrew by Daniella Zamir); of LO Yi-Chin’s Farewell, translated from the Chinese by Jeremy TIANG; of Véronique TADJO’s In the Company of Men…

  • A fascinating interview with IWP’s Senior Advisor, professor Peter Nazareth, retired from UI’s English Department in spring 2021, after nearly five decades of teaching.

  • Word reaches us that poet HU Xudong  胡续冬, who also taught comparative and world literatures at Peking University (Beida), specializing in Latin American literatures, passed away unexpectedly. RIP, Hu Xudong…

  • We note with sadness the passing of Hiroshi SAKAGAMI 坂上 弘, whose long novelistic career garnered him major literary and cultural honors. A former president of the Japan Writers’ Association, he was until his retirement also the director of Keio University Press.

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