Three award winning writers, poet Samiya Bashir, journalist and author Alia Malek, and fiction writer Susan Muaddi Darraj will perform short excerpts of their work. After the performance, they will join Dr. Mejdulene Shomali for a moderated conversation on writing, gender, race, and religion in the U.S.. During the conversation, writers will discuss the useful and dangerous ways racial, ethnic, and religious identities do and do not overlap; how race, gender, and religion inform the writing and reception of their work; and how they use genre and form to navigate cultural expectations for their writing, especially when those expectations are tied to their perceived or real identities.

A book signing and reception will follow the program.

Sponsored by Office of the Provost; the College of Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities; the Dresher Center for the Humanities; the Gender, Women’s, + Sexuality Studies Department; the Language, Literacy, and Culture Program; the Modern Languages, Linguistics, and Intercultural Communication Department; the Media and Communication Studies Department; the English Department; and the Women’s Center.