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Susan Muaddi Darraj: Writing & Literature as Forms of Care
April 14 @ 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm
“Award-winning Palestinian-American author and professor shares how writing is her form of caregiving and self-care.
In this moderated discussion, Susan Muaddi Darraj explains how a culture of care features into her career as a writer, mother, and activist. Susan has published several books from the perspective of Palestinian-American mothers living in the U.S., such as A Curious Land, The Inheritance of Exile and chapter book series Farah Rocks for 2nd-5th graders. Her new book, Behind You Is the Sea, is an exciting new novel that gives voice to the diverse residents of a Palestinian-American community in Baltimore.
From young activists in conflict with their traditional parents to the poor who clean for the rich, Behind You Is the Sea paints a portrait of lives which intersect across divides of class, generation, and religion. Funny and touching, the novel brings us into the homes and lives of three main families: the Baladis, the Salamehs, and the Ammars—Palestinian immigrants who’ve all found a different welcome in America. Their various fates and struggles cause their community dynamic to sizzle and sometimes explode.
Behind You Is the Sea faces stereotypes about Palestinian culture head-on and, shifting perspectives to weave a complex social fabric replete with weddings, funerals, broken hearts, and devastating secrets.
This program is co-presented with the Anthropology of Motherhood project, which seeks to engage in the complex, varied aspects and experiences of motherhood, caregiving, parenting, nurturing, and maternal labor. Using a maternal lens as a starting point, the project seeks to expand upon the idea of a broader culture of care and its possibilities as it intersects with feminism, social justice issues, and activism in the invaluable work of our panelists.
This reading will be followed by a moderated discussion with Fran Flaherty, Sara Tang, and Amy Bowman-McElhone, an audience Q&A, and a book signing. You can purchase your own copy of Behind You Is the Sea at City of Asylum Bookstore.“
More info: https://cityofasylum.org/program/susan-muaddi-darraj-writing-literature-as-forms-of-care/
