Read an interview with Alcalay.

Reza Aslan is a research associate at the University of Southern California’s Center on Public Diplomacy. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Religion from Santa Clara University, a Master of Theological Studies from Harvard University, a Master of Fine Arts in Fiction from the University of Iowa, and is currently a Doctoral Candidate in History of Religions at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

He has served as a legislative assistant for the Friends’ Committee on National Legislation in Washington D.C., and was elected president of Harvard’s Chapter of the World Conference on Religion and Peace, a United Nations Organization committed to solving religious conflicts throughout the world.

Until recently, he was both Visiting Assistant Professor of Islamic and Middle East Studies at the University of Iowa and the Truman Capote Fellow in Fiction at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. He has written for the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, Slate, Boston Globe, the Washington Post, the Nation, and others, and has appeared on Meet The Press, Hardball, The Daily Show, The Tavis Smiley Show, Real Time with Bill Maher, The Colbert Report, and Nightline.

His first book, No god but God has been translated into half a dozen languages and was short-listed for the Guardian (UK) First Book Award.

Born in Iran, he now lives in Santa Monica and New Orleans, where he is the Middle East commentator on Marketplace and a regular Op-Ed contributor to the Los Angeles Times. Visit rezaaslan.com.  Read an inteview with Aslan.

Exiled Iraqi poet, writer and filmmaker Sinan Antoon is a doctoral candidate in Arabic literature at Harvard University and teaches Arabic at Dartmouth. He has published articles and poems in both Arabic and English in The Nation, al-Ahram Weekly, MERIP, al-Adaab, as-Safir, and an-Nahar. His poems were anthologized in Iraqi Poetry Today. His first novel (I`jaam) was published by Dar al-Adab in Beirut and is being translated into English. A collection of his poems (in Arabic) was published by MERIT Books in Cairo. He is Senior Editor at the Arab Studies Journal. In the fall of 2005, Sinan presented a paper, "Debris and Diaspora: Iraqi Culture Now," at a symposium on Contemporary Art and Culture in Iraq at the University of North Texas. He presented a second paper, "In the Vocative Case: The Poetry of Saadi Youssef," at the Middle East Studies Association of North America’s annual conference in Washington, D.C.

Sinan has appeared on NPR’s All Things Considered to discuss the poetics and politics of the Iraqi Constitution. In 2004 he directed "About Baghdad," a documentary, with Bassam Haddad, Maya Mikdashi, Suzy Salamy and Adam Shapiro. In July of 2003, the exiled writer and poet returned to his native Baghdad with a team of independent filmmakers, artists and poets to document the effects that decades of oppression, war, sanctions and occupation have had on his city. The result is a fascinating mosaic of opinions, perspectives, desires and memories that offers a picture far more complex than the limited one presented by mainstream US media. About Baghdad pays tribute to the brave people of Baghdad as they struggle to come to terms with the tragic fate of their beloved city. Read some of Sinan Antoon's poetry and an interview. Read an interview with Antoon and Amy Goodman.



Sami Shalom Chetrit is a dissident Israeli poet, educator, filmmaker and historian whose latest book The Mizrahi Struggle in Israel: 1948-2003, has just been translated into Arabic by Samir Ayash and published by Madar (Ramallah). Chetrit received his Ph.D in 2001 from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Department of Political Science, writing on Mizrahi politics in Israel. He received a Master of International Affairs in 1991 from Columbia University, with a specialization in Middle Eastern studies. He was born in 1960 in Morocco and grew up in an immigrant working class neighborhood in the port city of Ashdod. His published poetry includes Poems in Ashdodians, poems from 1982-2002 (Andalus, 2003). Several of his poems appear in English translation in the anthology Keys to the Garden (City Lights 1999), edited by Ammiel Alcalay. In 2003 he co-produced and directed with Eli Hamo (cinematography and editing) the documentary film The Black Panthers (in Israel) Speak. His forthcoming collection of poems in English is Poems in Ashdodian (Beyond Baroque Books, 2007). Read an interview with Chetrit by Samia Dodin.

Anahid Keshishian Aramouni teaches Armenian Language and Literature courses as part of the Grigor Narekatsi Chair of the UCLA Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures (NELC). Dr. Aramouni is a member of the Society for Armenian Studies, Middle Eastern Studies Association,  Arvest Art and Literary Association. From 1970 to 1977 she was a member of the Literary and Theatrical Divisions of the Etchmiadzin Cultural Center. Anahid received her BA in Armenology from the University of La Verne in 1993. She received her MA in Philology from Yerevan State University in 1997 and in 1999 she received her Ph.D. in Philology, from the Institute of Literature of the Armenian Academy of Sciences. From 1980 to 1987 she served as the executive of the Art and Literature Division of the Armenian Society of Los Angeles. From 1986 to 1988 Aramouni was the executive editor of the 80s Literary Group. In 1999-2000 she was been honored by the UCLA Armenian Student Association for her dedication to teaching with the Person of the Year Award.

Anahid Keshishian Aramouni was born in Iran and repatriated to Armenia in 1970. From 1975 to 1979, Aramouni worked as a researcher at the Museum of Ararat Valley in Etchmiadzin and in 1977 she became a Certified Researcher of the Armenian Ethnographic Museum. From 1977 to 1979 she worked as a member of the excavation team for burial sites at St. Hripsime, Metzamor and Vagharshapat, for the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography. From 1984 to 1986 Anahid Aramouni worked as the assistant manager of the Armenian Observer. In 1986 she became the editor of the 80s Social Literary Magazine. From 1987 to 1988 she worked as a research associate at the Armenian History Archives of the Armenian Review, Boston, Massachusetts. In 1989 she became the Curriculum Developer of the Davitian-Marimian Educational Foundation. In 1997 Anahid Aramouni became a lecturer at the UCLA Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures where she presently offers courses in the Armenian Language and Literature.



Elias Khoury is currently the Global Distinguished Professor of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at New York University. Born in Beirut in 1948, He is the author of eleven novels, four volumes of literary criticism, and three plays. Since 1975, with the publication of his first novel, he has been in the Beirut vanguard of new Arabic literature, which was seeking to create new dimensions in the movement of modernism.

Khoury’s commitment to Palestinian human rights began when he visited a refugee camp in Jordan at age nineteen. Khoury has been an advocate ever since, devoting his energies to the Palestine Research Center in Beirut and speaking out in articles, essays, and through his fiction. Khoury is the editor in chief of the cultural supplement of Beirut’s daily newspaper, An-Nahar. In 1998, he was awarded the Palestine Prize for Gate of the Sun, and in 2000, the novel was named Le Monde Diplomatique’s Book of the Year. Elias Khoury is a public intellectual and a cultural activist who plays a major role in contemporary Arabic culture and in the defense of the liberty of expression and democracy. Khoury's latest novel to be translated into English is Yalo.

"In Humphrey Davies's sparely poetic translation, Gate of the Sun is an imposingly rich and realistic novel, a genuine masterwork." —
Lorraine Adams, New York Times

Listen to an interview with Elias Khoury.


Laila Lalami was born in Rabat, and educated in Morocco, where she earned her B.A. in English from Université Mohammed V in Rabat. She earned her M.A. from University College, London, and her Ph.D. in linguistics from the University of Southern California. Her work has appeared in The Boston Globe, The Los Angeles Times, The Nation, The New York Times, The Washington Post and elsewhere, and has been widely anthologized. Her debut book of fiction, Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits, was published in the fall of 2005 and has since been translated into Spanish, Dutch, French, Portuguese, and Italian. She was short-listed for the Caine Prize for African Writing in 2006. She is currently Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at the University of California Riverside. Visit her site.


Mark LeVine a scholar, musician and activist with well over a decade of experience living and working in the Middle East, from Morocco to Iraq. As an guitarist and 'oudist he has worked with Mick Jagger, Ozomatli, world music artist Hassan Hakmoun and blues and jazz greats Dr. John and Johnny Copeland. As an activist he has worked with various groups within the global peace and justice movement and spoken at some of its seminal gatherings, such as the Prague S26 Countersummit against the IMF in 2000. As a journalist he has written widely in the US and European press, including Le Monde, the Christian Science Monitor, Middle East Report, and Asia Times. As a scholar he has held positions at the International Center for Advanced Studies at New York University, the Society for Humanities at Cornell University, and the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy. LeVine is presently Associate Professor of Modern Middle Eastern History, Culture and Islamic Studies at the University of California, Irvine. His other books include Twilight of Empire: Responses to Occupation (co-editor, Perceval Press, 2003), Overthrowing Geography: Jaffa, Tel Aviv and the Struggle for Palestine (University of California Press, 2004) and Religion, Social Practice, and Contested Hegemonies: Reconstructing Muslim Public Spheres, (co-editor, Palgrave Press, 2005).Two of his most recent books are Why They Don't Hate Us, Unveiling the Axis of Evil (One World 2005) and Heavy Metal Islam, Rock, Resistance, and the Struggle for the Soul of Islam, forthcoming from Random House (July 2008). Read an interview with LeVine.

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Lebanese-Palestinian-American scholar and writer Saree Makdisi has already carved a niche for himself in academic and intellectual circles. The author of Romantic Imperialism: Universal Empire and the Culture of Modernity and William Blake and the Impossible History of the 1790s, Makdisi, also a prolific writer on politics, will publish his third book on Palestine with Norton, Palestine Inside Out: An Everyday Occupation (May 2008). He has written in publications ranging from Studies in Romanticism, the Oxford Encyclopedia of British Literature, Race and Imperial Culture, and the Cambridge Companion to English Literature, 1740-1830, to the South Atlantic Quarterly, Boundary 2, Critical Inquiry, and the London Review of Books. On a two-week visit to Cairo recently, Makdisi gave three lectures at Ain Shams University and the American University in Cairo on "The revival of Orientalism", "William Blake" and the "Palestinian Nakba."

Nezam Manouchehri is a filmmaker, writer and actor. His film "Letters from Iran" (2004), a documentary which he wrote, produced and directed has been previewed in CCCB in Barcelona, with a magnificent review in the Spanish daily, El País, and had its official world premier at the 2005 Los Angeles Film Festival. "Letters" was also an official selection of Asiatica Mediale Film Festival in Rome with an extensive reviews in the Italian daily Il Manifesto. Nezam has played in a number of Iranian films including the award-wining film "Deserted Station." His latest film as director/producer is "A World Between," a sixty-minute documentary on Iran as seen through the eyes of a young Iranian American. Manouchehri has written and translated for a number of years and has been published in prestigious publications including the Guardian and Geo. His book A Treasure in the Ruins is currently awaiting publication. Visit his web site.


Nina Menkes—An acclaimed independent filmmaker with six films to her credit, Menkes has an MFA with honors from the UCLA Film School. She has taught directing at the USC film school, California Institute of the Arts and at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII)-Bollywood's premiere film academy. A first-generation American with roots in Israel, Menkes has lived and worked extensively throughout the Middle East, including Egypt, Morocco, the West Bank and Jerusalem. "Heatstroke," her upcoming film project executive-produced by Gus Van Sant, is a "mirage-like mystery set in Los Angeles, California and Cairo, Egypt during the feverish heat of a contemporary summer. The film's root is a violent -- possibly sexual -- early trauma that sits in the psychic closet of two sisters and this event's ripple effects against two very different cultural landscapes." Her latest work, "Massacre,"  now in post-production, she describes as, "An experimental documentary feature that explores brutal violence through in-depth interviews with six mass murderers, who participated personally in the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacre." Shot entirely on location in Beirut, Lebanon. Visit Nina's web site.



Shida Pegahi is a highly sought-after dancer and choreographer. She is the founder and artistic director of Ney Nava Dance Theatre, as well as the artistic director of Pacific Arts Center & Dance Studios in Los Angeles. A native of Tehran who came to the United States in 1975, Shida has worked in the arts successfully for over 20 years as a professional dancer, dance instructor and choreographer. Studying at the National Ballet Academy of Iran and at the School of Royal Ballet in England, from the age of eight, Shida trained extensively in classical ballet, modern, jazz, ethnic and a range of cultural and ethnic dance categories, including African, classical Saudi Arabian, Eastern European and Central Asian (regional dances of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Armenia).

Shida received her B.A. from Ohio University and for several years she performed with the West Coast Dance Company, Westside Ballet Company, Avaz International Dance Theatre, Sufi Dance Theatre, and Dance Electric. She is also a stage actress and performance artist who has appeared at the Japanese American National Museum, Beyond Baroque, Levantine Cultural Center and other locations in Southern California.


Babak Nahid is Founder and President of nonprofitopia.org, a peer-based non-profit consultancy dedicated to helping nonprofit organizations fulfill their mission. A non-profit management consultant, educator and publisher, Babak has launched and led innovative, sustainable programs that help improve quality of life for diverse populations at world-class organizations including the University of California, Relief International, Doctors Without Borders and the American Red Cross. He is also the founder and publisher of Suitcase, an international journal of culture and human rights.

An Angeleno born in Iran and educated in the UK and the US, Babak is currently exploring new ways in which technology and the Internet can help inspire, empower and grow progressive communities and organizations by enabling collaborative problem-solving, knowledge bartering, and an open global exchange of social and cultural capital. His organization is Nonprofitopia.

Raffo's other recent acting credits include: Sarah Woodruff in the world premiere of The French Lieutenant's Woman, Fulton Opera House. Off-Broadway: Over The River and Through the Woods, the Off Broadway/National Tour of Macbeth (Lady Macbeth), The Merry Wives of Windsor (Mistress Page) and The Rivals all with The Acting Company. Regionally: Othello (dir. Jack O'Brien), Romeo and Juliet (dir. Daniel Sullivan), As You Like It (dir. Stephen Wadsworth), Macbeth (dir. Nicholas Martin), and Comedy of Errors (dir. John Rando) all with The Old Globe Theatre in San Diego.

Raffo received her BA from the University of Michigan, her MFA from the University of San Diego and studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, London. Originally from Michigan, she now divides her time betwee New York and Los Angeles. Her father is from Iraq and her mother is American. She dedicates "Nine Parts of Desire" to the many members of her family still living in Baghdad today and to the Iraqi women she has interviewed. Visit her web site.

John Schneider is an internationally recognized guitarist, composer, author and broadcaster whose weekly television and radio programs have brought the sound of the guitar into millions of homes for the past twenty years. He holds a Ph.D. in Physics & Music from the University of Wales, music degrees from the University of California and the Royal College of Music [London], and is past President of the Guitar Foundation of America. For the past two decades, the artist has performed almost exclusively on the Well-Tempered Guitar which uses different patterns of fretting according to the key, or the tuning system required. A specialist in contemporary music, Schneider's The Contemporary Guitar (University of California Press) has become the standard text in the field.

He has performed in Europe, Japan & throughout North America, and has been featured soloist at New Music America, NPR's "Performance Today"and WNYC's "New Sounds." Most recently he has been featured in New York's American Festival of Microtonal Music, Denver's Microstock '95 & '97, California's annual Mozart Festival, and Southwest Chamber Music's Radical P.A.S.T. He works as a music Professor at Pierce College in Los Angeles, and is music critic for Soundboard magazine.

Since 1997, John has been the Artistic Director of MicroFest, a yearly festival of microtonal music in Los Angeles. John Schneider began broadcasting on KPFK in 1978 when he created and hosted three Noon Concert programs: Music of the Americas (Mondays), Jazz at Noon (Wednesdays) & Soundboard: The Art of the Plucked String (Fridays). Currently he hosts the Thursday edition of KPFK's Global Village.



Professor Ella Habiba Shohat teaches cultural studies and Middle Eastern studies at New York University. She has lectured and published extensively on issues having to do with race, gender, Eurocentrism, Orientalism, post/colonialism, transnationalism and diaspora, often transcending disciplinary and geographical boundaries. A substantial part of her work has examined theses issues in relation to the question of Arab Jews. Her books include: winner of the Katherine Singer Kovacs Award Kathrine Unthinking Eurocentrism (co-authored with Robert Stam, Routledge, 1994), Taboo Memories, Diasporic Voices (Duke University Press, 2006), Israeli Cinema: East/West and the Politics of Representation (University of Texas Press, 1989), Talking Visions: Multicultural Feminism in a Transnational Age (MIT 1998), as well as the co-edited volumes, Dangerous Liaisons: Gender, Nation and the Postcolonial Perspectives (University of Minnesota Press, 1997), Multiculturalism, Postcoloniality and Transnational Media (Rutgers University Press, 2003), and The Cultural Politics of the Middle East in the Americas to be published by the University of Michigan Press. Flagging Patriotism: Crises of Narcissism and Anti-Americanism, in collaboration with Stam, was recently published by Routledge Press, and currently they are in the final stages of writing The Culture Wars in Translation (to be published by NYU press).



Terence Ward is the author of the acclaimed memoir Searching for Hassan, which recounts the story of he and his family's return to Iran after an absence of more than 25 years. The film rights were purchased by James Ivory and the screenplay is being written in Tehran by Kambouzieh Partovi, with the film to be directed by Bahman Gobadi. Terence recently wrote to tell us that, "They are taking gamble, but they really believe that the film could 'make history' by presenting a different face of the extraordinary people in Iran...who are so far removed from the lunatic politicians. In fact, everyone now agrees that Bush and Ahmedinejad are two heads of the same coin."

Searching for Hassan is the wondrous and touching story of the Wards' quixotic journey, ultimately rewarded by an emotional reunion with their lost friend. They travel into an unimaginably rich Persian past, to the very origins of civilization, and across the landscape of contemporary Iran, a surreal kaleidoscope of ancient traditions and Western pop culture. Ward creates a vivid portrait of Islam's unique imprint and explores the deep conflicts between Iran and its Arab neighbors, anticipating the new "Great Game" now being played out in central Asia. Ward's keen knowledge of Iranian culture and history, infused with the urgency of his personal journey, reveals a country that is both wildly alien and inextricably linked to the American imagination.

Terry was born in Boulder, Colorado, and spent his childhood in Saudi Arabia and Iran. He speaks Arabic, Italian, Greek, Indonesian, and Farsi and has been a management consultant advising corporations and governments in the Islamic world. He divides his time between Florence, Italy and New York. Recently he spoke in Rome with Israeli novelist A. B. Yehoshua on "Multi-culturalism and Literature in the Global Conflict."



Elio Zarmati—A native of Egypt, Elio Zarmati is a consultant to software and hardware companies in the area of dubbing and subtitling motion pictures and streaming video, Elio is currently the CEO of VoxWorks. As the former President and CEO of Gelula & Co., Inc., a company he built into the world's premier provider of subtitles for DVD in thirty-four languages, Elio has been instrumental in developing industry-wide processes and standards for both theatrical and DVD release of subtitled films.

Joyce Zonana, born in Cairo and raised in New York City, earned her Ph.D. in English at the University of Pennsylvania. Before coming to BMCC (Borough of Manhattan Community College) in 2006, she taught for 15 years at the University of New Orleans, where she was also Director of Women’s Studies. Several chapters from her forthcoming memoir, Dream Home: From Cairo to Katrina, an Exile's Journey , have appeared in journals and books, including Meridians, International Sephardic Journal, Jewish Women’s Literary Annual, and Becoming American: Personal Essays by First Generation Immigrant Women. Her scholarly articles, on feminist theory and 19th century British literature, have appeared in Hudson Review, Signs, Victorian Poetry, Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature, and Journal of Narrative Technique.