Bana Hilal and the Orange County Friends of the Levantine Cultural Center present Syrian American poet/novelist Mohja Kahf, who makes a rare Southern California appearance in support of the Levantine Cultural Center at the Woman's Club of Laguna Beach, on Tuesday, September 28, where she will read from, sign and discuss her books The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf, and E-mails from Scheherazad. As the New York Times wrote, "Mohja Kahf, an Arab-American writer, draws sharp, funny, earthy portraits of the fault line separating Muslim women from their Western counterparts."

A portion of the proceeds benefits the LCC, a nonprofit that champions a greater understanding of the Middle East and North Africa by presenting artistic and educational programs that bridge political and religious divides.

Kamran PashaNovelist and screenwriter Kamran Pasha will be reading from, signing, and discussing his newly published historical novel, Shadow of the Swords (Simon & Schuster's Atria Books, 2010), as well as his first novel, Mother of the Believers: A Novel of the Birth of Islam (Washington Square Press. April 2009), at the Levantine Cultural Center on September 12, 2010 (note, dated changed from 9/9). The American Muslim has described Pasha's fictional account of the Prophet Muhammad's teenage wife as "pivotal in our communications about Islam," while Reza Aslan, author of the highly-acclaimed, No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam, has said of Pasha's work, "a brilliant, beautiful historical novel unlike anything I've read in years." 

In his latest outing, Etgar Keret demonstrates how the short story is his playground—a platform of the anthropology of the absurd, the dream and the passion that he portrays. Keret was just awarded the Chevalier (Knight) medallion of France's Order of Arts and Letters in July 2010.

Etgar Keret
By Omri Herzog

(Suddenly, a Knock on the Door, by Etgar Keret; Kinneret Zemora-Bitan [Hebrew], 179 pages, NIS 84)

With his new short-story collection, Suddenly, a Knock on the Door, Etgar Keret is once again the talk of the town. I have been witness to several conversations about him. They included admiration of his talent, of course; a Keret-style remark about the public relations assault that has accompanied the book's publication; and several complaints too. Two in particular: Why doesn't Keret write a novel rather than keeping on with the short stories—after all, it could be great if he would take the plunge; and another comment about the fact that the new book is meant from the outset for translation into foreign languages: It contains almost no "Israeliness," whatever that means (Humus? Military service? A comment on "the situation"?); Keret is no longer one of us, and we feel somewhat betrayed—now he belongs to the world.

Reviewed by David Shasha

My Father's Paradise: your purchase in part benefits Levantine Cultural CenterTowards the end of Ariel Sabar's extraordinarily compelling retelling of his family's history in Iraqi Kurdistan, he makes a brilliant observation that encapsulates his tale and is emblematic of the broken stories of so many Middle Eastern Jews. Recalling his father's feverish memories of his fractured past-a past of rich traditions that were destroyed over the course of successive exiles-he states:

Dreams, I recalled now, had long been a refuge from his life's incongruities. During his first year in the United States, he once told me, he dreamed he was in New York, all alone in Grand Central Station. All at once, the train doors swept open and all of Zakho's Kurds poured out onto the platform. Dreams were a place where fragments could be made whole. (pp. 278-279)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Camillia Shofani
Levantine Cultural Center: 310.657.5511

 SEPTEMBER 12, 2010 LITERARY READING AND BOOK SIGNING AT LEVANTINE CULTURAL CENTER WITH MUSLIM-AMERICAN HOLLYWOOD SCREENWRITER KAMRAN PASHA

[Los Angeles—August 10, 2010]—Popular Hollywood screenwriter Kamran Pasha will be reading from, signing, and discussing his newly published historical novel, Shadow of the Swords (Simon & Schuster's Atria Books, 2010), as well as his first novel, Mother of the Believers: A Novel of the Birth of Islam (Washington Square Press. April 2009), at the Levantine Cultural Center on September 12, 2010 (note, dated changed from 9/9). The American Muslim has described Pasha's fictional account of the Prophet Muhammad's teenage wife as "pivotal in our communications about Islam," while Reza Aslan, author of the highly-acclaimed, No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam, has said of Pasha's work, "a brilliant, beautiful historical novel unlike anything I've read in years."

You might not be caught dead reading a sex column, but if you were, you certainly wouldn't expect it to be written by a woman wearing a hijab.

Born in Damascus, Syria, Mohja Kahf is known for capturing Muslim life in the United States and promoting Islamic feminism. An assistant professor in the English Department and Middle Eastern Studies Program at University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, she further emphasizes that donning the hijab does not correlate with oppressiveness as she unabashedly writes on subjects such as sex and gender roles that are often considered taboo.

[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.