[Los Angeles-June 24, 2010]—Described by the New York Times as a writer who "draws sharp, funny, earthy portraits of the fault line separating Muslim women from their Western counterparts," Arab-American writer Mojha Kahf makes a rare Southern California appearance at the Levantine Cultural Center, on Wednesday, July 14, where she will read from, sign and discuss her books, The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf and E-mails from Scheherazad.

Born in Damascus, Syria, Kahf is recognized for her vivid portrayals of Muslim life in the United States and Islamic feminism. An assistant professor in the English Department and Middle Eastern Studies Program at University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, she has published three books: a novel, The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf, a volume of poetry, E-mails from Scheherazad, and an academic work, Western Representations of the Muslim Woman. Her poems have been published in literary magazines and journals such as Mizna, Banipal, The Paris Review, Tiferet: A Journal of Literature and Spirituality, and Atlanta Review, as well as W.W. Norton's anthology Language for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from the Middle East, Asia, and Beyond and Hayan Charara's Inclined to Speak: An Anthology of Arab American Poetry. Her poetry has even been projected on the façade of the New York Public Library as installment art. Her recent poem, "Ghazal for Iranians Who Don't Hate Arabs," appeared in the June issue of the Levantine Review.

Mohja Kahf, literary reading/book signing, Levantine Cultural Center, 5998 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles CA 90035 (street parking, located betweeen Fairfax and La Cienega). Suggested donation $10 ($15 with signed book), light refreshments included. Seating limited, RSVPs suggested: 310.657.5511.

About The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf

Syrian immigrant Khadra Shamy is growing up in a devout, tightly knit Muslim family in 1970s Indiana, at the crossroads of bad polyester and Islamic dress codes. Along with her brother Eyad and her African-American friends, Hakim and Hanifa, she bikes the Indianapolis streets exploring the fault-lines between "Muslim" and "American."

When her picture-perfect marriage goes sour, Khadra flees to Syria and learns how to pray again. On returning to America she works in an eastern state - taking care to stay away from Indiana, where the murder of her friend Tayiba's sister by Klan violence years before still haunts her. But when her job sends her to cover a national Islamic conference in Indianapolis, she's back on familiar ground: Attending a concert by her brother's interfaith band "The Clash of Civilizations," dodging questions from the "aunties" and "uncles," and running into the recently divorced Hakim everywhere.

Beautifully written and featuring an exuberant cast of characters, The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf charts the spiritual and social landscape of Muslims in middle-America, from five daily prayers to the Indy 500 car race. It is a riveting debut from an important new voice.

###