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Hold Your Workshops, Classes & Seminars at Levantine Cultural Center. Call 310.657.5511. Event Rentals |
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 Iraqi-American Playwright and Actor Heather Raffo and Her One-Woman Show, "Nine Parts of Desire," Are the Talk of New York and Los Angeles |
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Articles of Note
Palestinian Samia Dodin Talks to Israeli Sami Shalom Chetrit Lian Ensemble Concert Review Turkish news: Snow—the new novel by Orhan Pamuk Can Jews/Arabs Make Peace Through Music? By Ghada Karmi In Search of Fatima—a review of Ghada Karmi's memoir "Heart" of Arab Music by Jim Motavalli Persians on the Pacific by Tara Bahrampour Tariq Ali On Poetry In Turbulent Times in the Mideast (audio) |
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Al-Andalus to Jerusalem:
Levantine Festival at the John Anson Ford  Al-Andalus with Tariq Banzi, Julie Banzi and flamenco dancer Ana Montes Click Here To Read Three Articles on the Concert |
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Crossroads of Culture
read about
the event
 Jan.
24 (Thurs), 7:00 pm—"Crossroads of Cultures" at LACMA
with Novelist Gina Nahai, Actress Bahar Soomekh, Nasrin RahimiehThe lives of Jews and Muslims, inextricably intertwined in pre-revolutionary Iran and in Southern California—home to the largest population of Iranians outside Tehran—will be the subject of this literary encounter. Novelist Gina B. Nahai, author of Caspian Rain, along with film, television and stage actor Bahar Soomekh (Crash) and Dr. Nasrin Rahimieh, director of the Samuel M. Jordan Center for Persian Studies and Culture at UC Irvine, will engage in a lively public conversation, and offer dramatic readings from Nahai’s novel—a stirring lyrical tale that offers American readers a unique insight into Iranian culture. Gina B. Nahai is the best-selling author of Sunday’s Silence, Moonlight on the Avenue of Faith, and Cry of the Peacock. Her novels have been translated into 16 languages, and are taught at a number of universities and high schools nationwide. She is a contributing author to The Modern Jewish Girl’s Guide to Guilt, which won the 2005 Jewish Book Award. Her writings have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, and Los Angeles Magazine. She is the recipient of a 2002 Simon Rockowner Award, and a contributor to The Jewish Journal of Los Angeles and The Huffington Post. A professor of creative writing at the University of Southern California, Nahai is also a frequent lecturer on the contemporary politics of the Middle East, has been a regular guest on CNBC as well as a number of local television and radio news programs, and has guest-hosted on NPR affiliate KCRW (The Politics of Culture). A judge for the Los Angeles Times Book Awards (Fiction, First Fiction), she has lectured at a number of conferences nationwide, and served on the boards of PEN Center USA West, The International Women’s Media Foundation, and B’nai Zion Western Region. She is a member of the International Women’s Forum, and has been recognized for her writing by Hadassah, as well as Jewish National Fund, and Brandeis University. Nahai’s first novel, Cry of the Peacock (Crown, 1991) told, for the first time in any Western language, the 3,000-year story of the Jewish people of Iran. It won the Los Angeles Arts Council Award for Fiction. Her second novel, Moonlight on the Avenue of Faith (Harcourt, 1999), was a finalist for the Orange Prize in England, the IMPAC award in Dublin, and the Harold U. Ribalow Award in the United States. Her third novel, Sunday’s Silence (Harcourt, 2001), is the tale of a Kurdish Iranian Jew living among Christian fundamentalists in the United States. Her fourth novel, Caspian Rain, was published in September 2007 by MacAdam/Cage. Nahai holds a BA and a Master’s degree in International Relations from UCLA, and an MFA in Creative Writing from USC. She is a former consultant for the Rand Corporation, and has researched the politics of pre- and post-revolutionary Iran for the United States Department of Defense. She lives in Los Angeles. She’s currently at work on a new novel, In the Kingdom of the Pearl Canon. Visit her web site. Bahar Soomekh is quickly becoming one of the most sought after actresses in Hollywood. Born in Tehran and raised in Los Angeles, Bahar’s life experience of immigrating to the U.S. and balancing old and new world values bears a striking resemblance to that of her character, Dorri, in the Academy Award© winning film Crash. The esteemed ensemble cast includes Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, Brendan Fraser, Terrence Howard and many others. Bahar was seen starring as Lynn in the Lions Gate thriller, Saw III, directed by Darren Lynn Bousman and in the Paramount film Mission Impossible III, directed by J.J. Abrams, with Tom Cruise, Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Ving Rhames. Currently, Bahar is starring in The Oaks, a pilot for Fox from Shawn Ryan, creator of The Shield and The Unit. Notable television appearances include a recurring role on Daybreak, Bones and The Unit.  Nasrin
Rahimieh (moderator) is Professor, Comparative Literature, School
of Humanities, Maseeh Chair and Director, Dr. Samuel M. Jordan Center
for Persian Studies and Culture, School of Humanities, University
of California Irvine. She received her Ph.d. in Comparative Literature
from the University of Alberta. She has focused on intercultural encounters
between Iran and the West, modern Persian literature, literature of
exile and displacement, women’s writing, and post-revolutionary
Iranian cinema. Her publications include Oriental Responses to
the West: Comparative Essays on Muslim Writers from the Middle East
(Brill, 1990) and Missing Persians: Discovering Voices in Iranian
Cultural Heritage (Syracuse University Press, 2001). Her reviews
and articles have appeared in Iranian Studies, Comparative Literature
Studies, Iran Nameh, The Middle East Journal, The Comparatist, Thamyris,
Edebiyat, International Journal of Middle East Studies, Canadian Literature,
and New Comparison. She is currently working on a book-length study
of women’s life writing in Persian. Visit
her page.Presented by Levantine Cultural Center and LACMA’s Art of the Middle East Department, with support from Poets & Writers.and OC PC Magazine. This program produced with community support from Mina Eghbal, Kamran Nahai, Bijan, Nahai, Shari Rezai and Angela Yadegar. “Crossroads of Culture” takes place at LACMA’s Bing Auditorium, 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles CA 90036, Thursday, January 24, 2008, at 7 pm and is free to the public. Ample parking is available. Advance reservations are required. Call 310.657.5511. or email info@levantinecenter.org. |
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| Volunteer with Levantine Cultural
Center's Programming Committee
Bring your ideas, enthusiasm and support to the Center by participating in our Programming Committee, which cooperates with our Board of Directors in creating new arts programs in the months ahead. Visit our volunteer opportunities page. To get on the reservation list for the next meeting, email us now! |
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| Levantine Cultural Center Seeks
Community Leaders
Levantine Center's Board of Directors is continually seeking to work with new volunteers who may be invited to join the board. We welcomes inquiries—we are actively searching for more people with our passion and conviction! Our core group of volunteers consists of diverse members of the community who are of Middle Eastern/Mediterranean heritage or who have a strong professional or artistic interest in furthering our mission. Our volunteers work on literary, film, fine art, music and educational programming. Our Advisory Board is also in formation. Advisory board members
are known professionally in their own communities and offer valuable
counsel and services to the organization; they are eligible to attend
the organization's annual retreat and receive other benefits. |
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| LEVANTINE CULTURAL CENTER Cultures of the Middle East & Mediterranean 1012 S. Robertson Blvd., Suite C, Los Angeles CA 90035-1537 310.657.5511/657.5522, info@levantinecenter.org |
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| Founded in 2001, Levantine Cultural Center is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that advocates for, educates about, and in general promotes and supports Middle Eastern and Mediterranean contemporary arts and traditional cultures. We present or cosponsor programs of music, literature, art, film/video, publications, new media and more, often from educational and historical perspectives. While acknowledging the value of entertainment, we emphasize scholarship and substance. We are strongly multidisciplinary and non-sectarian, do not embrace any political or religious doctrine, and are committed to the principle of cross-cultural cooperation. We support the strengthening of ties between all cultural, ethnic and religious communities of the Middle East/West Asia/Levant, as well as between all peoples of Middle Eastern descent in diaspora. | |
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