September 11th 2014, 7pm: Bookseller Brian Sheffield will be leading a discussion on the topic of Post-9/11 Arab American Poetry in Old Capitol Books. Free and open to everyone.
The attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001 had much more than a physical impact on the skyline of New York; ideas of patriotism, national identity, what it means to be American have been greatly effected by the collective “trauma” of 9/11. Questions about whom or what counts as American have reverberated across racial and cultural lines, leading sometimes to social exclusion or even worse.
This seminar looks at the effect of attacks in the poetry of Arab-American writers, whose responses to 9/11 show an alternative and under-examined perspective to the cultural shifts which have since taken place.
We will read the work of some of America’s best poets, including Suheir Hammad whose poetry, filmmaking, and plays have won her the The Audre Lorde Writing Award in 1995 and 2000, The Morris Center for Healing Poetry Award in 1996, and a Tony Award in 2003.
Old Capitol Books 