Hidden Beauty a short film by Olga Sapzhnikova

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Hello from Steve Thompson / Thompson Communications!

Dubai filmmaker Olga Sapozhnikova's short film "Hidden Beauty" is the story of four of her "heroes." Her first heroine is Jamilya, who is the only woman in United Arab Emirates who works with four hundred men in an ambulance service, and who has saved many people from fires, accidents and collapsed buildings.

Her story was so inspiring, that the ruler of Dubai: His Royal Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, came to her home to personally express his gratitude for her service to their country. (An event depicted in the film.) As the single mother of five children, in "Hidden Beauty" Jamilya shares her opinions on the beauty of women, especially Arabian women.

You can see Olga explain in her own words why she made this film at:
www.olgasapozhnikova.com/video%20interview.html

You can download a copy of our current press release at:
www.cinemanewswire.com/Hidden_Beauty.html

Olga Sapozhnikova is currently available for interview by telephone from Dubai, and will be in the Los Angeles area next week and is available for telephone interview by request.

(As always, thanks for receiving these notices. To be removed from my list for this film just return this e-mail with "Remove" in the subject line.)

Best Regards,
Steve Thompson

Thompson Communications
580 Haddon Avenue
Collingswood, NJ 08108

609-386-0019

PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release

Press Contact:
Stephen C. Thompson
Thompson Communications
609-386-0019
steve@thomcomm.net

"Hidden Beauty" Profiles Four Fascinating, Determined Women:
Their Beauty, Their Accomplishments, and Their Aspirations
Within the Constraints of Contemporary Arab Society

June, 2009 -- Dubai, United Arab Emirates -- For anyone seeking genuine, first-hand insight into the role of women in today's Arab society, and what Arabic women can truly accomplish within Arabic society, "Hidden Beauty"is a powerful, must-see film.

The film begins by portraying the outward beauty of Arab women, but then transcends their physical beauty and enters the very soul of today's Arabic women.

In only twenty-six minutes, filmmaker Olga Sapozhnikova profiles the lives of four beautiful, strong, resilient women who have proven themselves on their own terms within the traditionally male dominated Arab society. Shot in Dubai, the film reveals the lives of Sapozhnikova's "heroes." The first three women profiled are Arab women who have created impressive lives for themselves. The story of the fourth woman begins with her reasons for her decision to leave her native Finland, and move to the Gulf to find an Arabic man to marry, adopting and embracing Arabic culture in the process.

Many Arab women are hesitant to discuss personal issues with anyone, much less a documentary filmmaker, but Sapozhnikova earned each woman’s trust, and helped them to open up and share their true, inner feelings. In the West, women have re-examined and questioned the role that marriage plays in their lives. But in traditional Arab culture, it is still most important for a woman to be married and have children. One of Sapozhnikova’s “heroes” has five children, yet she is recognized as one of the most respected people in the country in her field. Sapozhnikova notes “Being a mother does not stop her from being successful. On the contrary, she receives extraordinary career and personal support from her children.”

Hailing from Russia, Olga Sapozhnikova served as a Russian diplomat in Japan. After a six year stint with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Russia, she developed an interest in filmmaking.

Her first film "Harem"was about famous UAE women and has been telecast on Russian television.

Sapozhnikova is intrigued by the roles of both men and women in contemporary Arab culture. "It is a privilege to be a woman in a society where the man assumes the responsibility of protecting the woman. So no matter how successful she becomes, she still knows she can fall back on someone."

"Hidden Beauty" is a story she was compelled to tell. "My movie is an inspiration to those who feel they lack opportunities. My film will show them that anything is possible."

"Hidden Beauty" is an engaging film on many levels, one which will enlighten both men and women, providing viewers with a truly extraordinary experience.

# # # #

www.olgasapozhnikova.com

Olga Sapozhnikova is available for interview by telephone

and will be in the Los Angeles area next week

from Suncay June 28th through Friday July 3.


Contact:
Steve Thompson / Thompson Communications
580 Haddon Avenue; Collingswood, NJ 08108
609-386-0019
steve@thomcomm.net

Arab play among new Steppenwolf Theater productions

Steppenwolf Presents

5^th Annual First Look Repertory of New Work:

Honest, Sex with Strangers & Ski Dubai

July 22 – August 9, 2009

CHICAGO (July 1, 2009) – Steppenwolf Theatre Company presents the 5^th annual First Look Repertory of New Work, featuring three developmental productions of new plays presented in rotation and accompanied by a series of events around the development of new work. First Look Repertory of New Work runs July 22 – August 9, 2009 in The Merle Reskin Garage Theatre, 1624 N. Halsted St. All tickets are $20.

The First Look Repertory of New Work 2009 productions are:

Honest

Written and directed by ensemble member Eric Simonson

Wednesday, July 22 – Sunday, August 9, 2009

Featuring Martin McClendon, Katherine Cunningham, Erik Hellman, Lucas Neff and Kelly O’Sullivan.

Guy, author of a best-selling memoir about his downward spiral into drug addiction and homelessness, comes face-to-face with a prying reporter, snooping for a scandal. Their tense showdown over truth versus creative license leads to shocking revelations that could jeopardize both their livelihoods.

Sex with Strangers

By Laura Eason

Directed by associate artist Jessica Thebus

Thursday, July 23 – Sunday, August 9, 2009

Featuring Amy J. Carle and Stephen Louis Grush.

Ethan Strange is a hot young scenester whose online journal of sexscapades have turned him into the “it” boy of the blogosphere. Olivia is an attractive 30-something whose own writing career has crapped out. After they hook up, sex turns into dating and dating into something more—but their online exploits threaten to destroy their real-life connection.

Ski Dubai

By Laura Jacqmin

Directed by Lisa Portes

Friday, July 24 – Sunday, August 9, 2009

Featuring ensemble member James Vincent Meredith with Cliff Chamberlain, Hillary Clemens, Jennifer Coombs, Sadieh Rifai and Rani Waterman.

Rachel, a young Environmental Friendliness Consultant, moves from New York to steamy Dubai to work on a man-made island teeming with skyscrapers and luxury hotels. Trying to uphold her “green” principles in a hotbed of capitalism, she navigates a stream of quirky displaced internationals battling loneliness and isolation in a flashy, modern pseudo-city.

The First Look 2009 Playwrights

Laura Eason is the author of more than 15 plays, both original works and adaptations. Previous productions at Steppenwolf include When the Messenger is Hot (also at 59E59, NYC), A Tale of Two Cities and Huck Finn. Her plays have been produced and developed in New York at New York Theatre Workshop, WET, New Georges, MCC, Andhow and Vital Theatre and produced regionally at Lookingglass, Walkabout, Two River Theater and Theatre Schmeater. Laura is an Affiliated Artist of New Georges and a playwright member of the Women’s Project Lab in New York and an Ensemble Member and the former Artistic Director of Lookingglass Theatre in Chicago.

Laura Jacqmin is the winner of the 2008 Wasserstein Prize, a $25,000 award for emerging female playwrights. Her plays have been produced and developed with Ars Nova, 2econd Stage Theatre, Aurora Theatre Company, Victory Gardens Theater and The 24 Hour Plays Off Broadway at the Atlantic Theater. Jacqmin will be the artist-in-residence at the Center on Age and Community in Milwaukee this fall and is an adjunct faculty member at Carthage College.

Eric Simonson, a Steppenwolf ensemble member since 1993, recently completed a documentary on the late Studs Terkel for HBO. He received a Tony^® nomination for his direction of Steppenwolf's The Song of Jacob Zulu with Ladysmith Black Mambazo and directed an Oscar^®-nominated documentary about the acclaimed South African singing group. Simonson received an Oscar^® for Best Documentary Short for his film A Note of Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman Corwin in 2006. Other directing credits at Steppenwolf include Carter’s Way (also playwright), Slaughterhouse-Five (also adaptor) and Nomathemba (Hope). His new play Fake will be presented during Steppenwolf’s 2009-2010 Season.

The designers for First Look 2009 are: Kevin Depinet (sets), Myron Elliott (costumes), J.R. Lederle (lights) and Joseph Fosco (sound). Jonathan Templeton is the Lead Stage Manager, Jonathan Nook and Lauren Hickman are the Stage Managers, Kimberly Senior and Ed Sobel are the Program Directors and Whitney Dibo is the Program Assistant.

The First Look Repertory of New Work also includes First Look 101, a unique three-month experience that takes enrolled participants on a backstage journey through all aspects of the new play development process – from the first rehearsal to the final performance. The program is limited to 101 members and is open to anyone interested in, and wanting to know more about, creating new plays. First Look 101 runs June 1, 2009 – August 9, 2009. This year’s First Look 101 is SOLD OUT.

First Look Repertory of New Work is a developmental process that culminates in performance before an audience, rather than in a staged reading or workshop presentation. Scripts undergo significant revision during the workshop/rehearsal process and may be revised even after being publicly presented during First Look. They are presented with full, if minimal, design support because in Steppenwolf’s view, the design process is an integral aspect of play development. The intent is to prime the plays for future production at other theaters across the country.

First Look has gained both local and national recognition since its inception in 2005. Seven of the twelve plays presented during First Look’s first four seasons have enjoyed subsequent world premieres at other theaters, including: Jason Wells’ Perfect Mendacity produced at Asolo Repertory Theatre in Florida; Wells’ Men of Tortuga also at Asolo (followed by a second production at Profiles Theater in Chicago); Butcher of Baraboo by Marisa Wegrzyn produced by 2econd Stage Theatre in New York; 100 Saints You Should Know by Kate Fodor produced by Playwrights Horizons in New York; Spare Change by Mia McCullough produced by Stage Left Theatre in Chicago; Gary by Melinda Lopez produced by Boston Playwrights’ Theatre in Massachusetts; and When The Messenger is Hot by Laura Eason produced by 59E59 Theaters in New York.

Individual tickets to First Look Repertory of New Work cost $20. A First Look Pass to all three plays is available for $45. Tickets are available at www.steppenwolf.org or by calling Audience Services at 312-335-1650. First Look 101 costs $75 ($45 for students with valid ID) and includes access to all First Look 101 events, plus tickets to all three First Look Repertory productions. This year’s First Look 101 is SOLD OUT.

Steppenwolf is located near all forms of public transportation and is wheelchair accessible. Street and lot parking are available. Assistive listening devices are available for every performance.

Special thanks to The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust for supporting new American plays at Steppenwolf Theatre Company and for their sponsorship of the First Look Repertory of New Work.

Committed to the principle of ensemble performance through the collaboration of a company of actors, directors and playwrights, Steppenwolf Theatre Company's mission is to advance the vitality and diversity of American theater by nurturing artists, encouraging repeatable creative relationships and contributing new works to the national canon. The company, formed in 1976 by a collective of actors, is dedicated to perpetuating an ethic of mutual respect and the development of artists through on-going group work. Steppenwolf has grown into an internationally renowned company of 42 artists whose talents include acting, directing, playwriting, filmmaking and textual adaptation.

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Saffron Dreams explores experience of Muslims in America

PRESS RELEASE

Kristina Lycett
PO Box 204352
Austin, TX 78720-4352
512-924-7674
kristina.lycett@gmail.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 9, 2009

Muslim-American novelist explores identity

In the wake of the upcoming anniversary of 9/11, new novel seeks to crush stereotypes and examines the changed landscape of Muslim America

To commemorate the anniversary of the biggest catastrophe in American history, President Barack Obama signed into law an act that establishes September 11 as an annually recognized National Day of Service and Remembrance. In a few short weeks, we will be forced to ask ourselves this question again: what is that we remember? Who do we blame? Once again we will be confronted with our own perception of the actual perpetrators and those who share their race and faith.

“Saffron Dreams,” a novel by Muslim-American author Shaila Abdullah, tackles the volatile subject of Muslim identity in America at a time when it is needed the most. Arissa Illahi, the main character of Abdullah’s new novel, is a Muslim artist and writer living in New York City with her husband. On the morning of September 11, 2001, her husband goes to work never to return. Arissa, a devastated widow must await the birth of her unborn son while dealing with the after effects of a monumental tragedy and a wounded city that reacts harshly to her symbol of faith––her veil. “Saffron Dreams” allows us to see the ways in which human beings triumph over circumstances wrenched from their control and gradually find ways to re-adjust their dreams and move forward.

Hundreds of libraries have acquired “Saffron Dreams” since its release and the book has generated a great deal of interest in the book review world. “Abdullah handled a controversial subject and made the book about our common humanity, rather than about the differences that divide us,” says Swapna Krishna of S. Krishna Books. A master storyteller and an award-winning writer, Abdullah crafts her characters to enhance her themes of tolerance and hope. The novel is a memorial to the victims of 9/11, a source of strength for the survivors, and a vehicle of understanding for those struggling to make sense of the conflict between the East and West. “The author manages to tell this tale with such a delicate touch, never falling into the maudlin and never giving Arissa the powers of a superhero,” notes Jenclair in A Garden Carried in Your Pocket. “A beautifully written narrative that looks at the aftermath of September 11 with a slightly different perspective, the book unfolds and blossoms with an unexpected tenderness while never denying the myriad effects of tragedy.”

Shaila Abdullah is an award-winning author and designer based in Austin, Texas. Her debut book, "Beyond the Cayenne Wall," is a collection of stories about Pakistani women struggling to find their individuality despite the barriers imposed by society. The collection won the Norumbega Jury Prize for Outstanding Fiction and the DIY Festival Award.

Hailed as "highly recommended" by Library Journal, “Saffron Dreams” (978-1-932690-73-6 paperback, 978-1-932690-72-9 hardcover, Modern History Press, 2009) can be purchased through local and online bookstores. Review copies are available upon request. For more information and an online media kit, please visit www.shailaabdullah.com.

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National Geographic Entertainment to release "Amreeka" beginning Sept. 4

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC ENTERTAINMENT TO RELEASE 'AMREEKA' IN US:
OPENS SEPT. 4 IN NEW YORK AND LOS ANGELES

Other Cities Around the U.S. Will Follow

LOS ANGELES (June 24, 2009)—National Geographic Entertainment (NGE) will release Cherien Dabis’ comedy “Amreeka” in New York and Los Angeles on Friday, Sept. 4, 2009, with a national rollout to follow. “Amreeka” premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, at New Directors/New Films (a co-presentation of The Museum of Modern Art and The Film Society of Lincoln Center) and in Directors Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival, where it won the FIPRESCI prize.

“Amreeka” tells the adventures of Muna, an indomitable woman from the West Bank who moves to the promised land of small town Illinois with her teenage son, Fadi. In America, as her son navigates high school, Muna works hard and dreams of a new life. Nisreen Faour stars as Muna; Melkar Muallen plays her 16-year-old son. Also in the cast are Hiam Abbass, Alia Shawkat, Yussef Abu-Warda and Joseph Ziegler.

Written and directed by Dabis, “Amreeka” was produced by Christina Piovesan and Paul Barkin. Alicia Sams, Cherien Dabis and Greg Keever were executive producers; Liz Jarvis and Al-Zain Al-Sabah were co-producers.

This National Geographic Entertainment Presentation is a National Geographic/Imagenation Abu Dhabi Release in association with Levantine Entertainment, A First Generation Films Production, an Alcina Pictures/Buffalo Gal Pictures/Eagle Vision Media Group Production produced in association with Manitoba Film & Music, Rotana Studios and Showtime

Arabia.

Earlier in her career Dabis was a recipient of a 2007 National Geographic All Roads Film Project seed grant for her short film “Make a Wish.”

National Geographic Films President Adam Leipzig said, “‘Amreeka’ is a great culture clash comedy, and with it Cherien Dabis has announced herself as one of the great new talents in film. It is both funny and moving in its depiction of the hectic work it takes to attain the American dream. This international story is a perfect fit for National Geographic as we aspire to inspire people to care about our world. Since Cherien received one of the first National Geographic All Roads grants, working with her on ‘Amreeka’ is especially exciting.”

Dabis added, “While ‘Amreeka’ is a very personal film, it’s a universal story about family, the sacrifices we make for those we love and the often elusive search for belonging. I have no doubt that we’ve found the right home for it.”

(OVER)

AMREEKA (PAGE 2)

The release schedule for “Amreeka”:

Sept. 4 New York

Los Angeles

Sept. 18 Chicago

San Francisco

Detroit

Washington, D.C.

Boston

New York and Los Angeles: Check local listings for additional theaters Orange County, Calif.

Sept. 25 Philadelphia

Dallas

Houston

Austin

Seattle

Oct. 2 Miami

Orlando, Fla.

Jacksonville, Fla.

Portland, Ore.

Atlanta

San Diego

Albuquerque

Minneapolis

Please note, as with all films, dates are subject to change. Check local listings for theaters screening the film in each city.

For group sales info, go to amreekagroupsales@gmail.com. For more information about the film, visit www.amreeka.com.

About National Geographic Entertainment

National Geographic Entertainment (NGE) includes National Geographic Films (NGF) , which co-presented the 2005 Academy Award-winning “March of the Penguins” and 2004 Oscar-nominated film “The Story of the Weeping Camel,” and National Geographic Cinema Ventures (NGCV), which released both domestically and internationally the 3-D concert film “U2 3D” in 2008 to critical acclaim. NGCV set giant-screen box office records with “Mysteries of Egypt,” and recently with “Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure.” Adam Leipzig is president of NGF, Lisa Truitt is president of NGCV and Mark Katz is president of distribution of NGCV.

NGE combines into a single operating group National Geographic’s Cinema Ventures, Films, Kids Entertainment, Home Entertainment and Music & Radio. NGE is part of National Geographic Global Media, bringing together all of National Geographic’s editorial platforms in order to streamline collaboration and further support the Society's mission. Founded in 1888 to “increase and diffuse geographic knowledge,” National Geographic works to inspire people to care about the planet. It reaches more than 360 million people worldwide each month through magazines, books, digital media, television, radio, music and film. It funds more than 250 scientific research, exploration and conservation projects each year and supports an education program promoting geography literacy. For more information, visit www.nationalgeographic.com.

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Book Review: In Afghanistan: Two Hundred Years of British, Russian and American Occupation, David Loyn

What the World needs to know about Afghanistan?

Book Review: In Afghanistan: Two Hundred Years of British, Russian and American Occupation, David Loyn

By Aladdin Elaasar

Afghanistan is hotter than ever. As the fight against the Taliban is raging, this timely book is well-needed more than before. In Afghanistan: Two Hundred Years of British, Russian and American Occupation, veteran award-winning BBC foreign correspondent David Loyn brings an insider account about what is really happening there.

In this page turner, readers will get a first rate account into the history and the dynamics of politics in Afghanistan and struggle for the soul of this captivating, yet impoverished and devastated country.

From Alexander the Great to the Soviet Union failing miserably, Afghanistan has suffered through capitalism, communism, and the ferocious Taliban. Afghanistan proved to be the last straw, or the last nail in the coffin of many empires.

As the fight intensifies against the back-warded Taliban in both Afghanistan and Pakistan, the world is gasping for the end of the dark rule of the Taliban harboring the most dangerous terrorist organization, al-Qaida and its leaders bin-Laden and Zawahri.

From the Soviets eyeing it strategic location, to Jihadists who poured into this country with the blessings of many Arab regimes, the billions of petrodollars that found its way to the pockets of bin-Laden, and many other terrorists and warlords, Afghanistan has been the fighting grounds for many brutal proxy wars.

Now the war is heading into Afghanistan’s backyard, Pakistan on the verge of explosion, as its leadership and military have for years played a reluctant and dubious role in receiving Western and American aid, while turning a blind eye over the creeping of the Taliban, Wahabism, money laundering and grave human rights abuses.

From the comfortable Western armchair in an age of soap operas, reality TV, and sound-bites news, Westerns are mor e puzzled about what is happening in an area that seems incomprehensible.

In Afghanistan presents an eye-opening detailed account of who’s who in Afghanistan and what the struggle is all about. This highly-recommended book is a must-read for all of those hoping to understand and get a firsthand account of the story of this long-suffering nation; the exploitation of its women, men and children in refugee camps and poppy fields.

Aladdin Elaasar is author of “The Last Pharaoh: Mubarak and the Uncertain Future of Egypt in the Volatile Mid East” and Silent Victims: The Plight of Arabs and Muslims in Post 9/11 America. Elaasar has been a commentator on Middle Eastern affairs on American TV and Radio, and a media and cultural consultant. Email: omaraladin@aol.com

Arab American National Museum issues book awards

NEWS

Contact: Kim Silarski

313.624.0206

ksilarski@accesscommunity.org

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

2009 ARAB AMERICAN BOOK AWARD WINNERS SPOTLIGHT THE ARAB AMERICAN EXPERIENCE

Dearborn, MI (June 24, 2009) – Established American literary luminaries and compelling new voices inspired by global events are represented among the winners of the 2009 Arab American Book Award presented by the Arab American National Museum.
This national literary competition, the only one of its kind in the U.S., is designed to draw attention to books and authors dealing with the Arab American experience. The program has attracted increasing numbers of submissions in its three-year history and this year, a new award category was added for poetry.

Four winners emerged from the 35 books published during 2008 that were submitted for consideration; two honorable mentions were also selected, all by genre-specific review committees:

Winner - Fiction

A Map of Home: A Novel by Randa Jarrar

Winner - Non-Fiction

How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Being Young and Arab in America by Moustafa Bayoumi
Winner - Poetry (new category this year)

breaking poems by Suheir Hammad
Winner - Children/Young Adult

Honeybee: Poems & Short Prose by Naomi Shihab Nye

Honorable Mentions (both Non-Fiction)

Encyclopedia of Arab American Artists: Artists of the American Mosaic by Fayeq Oweis and

Palestine Inside Out: An Everyday Occupation by Saree Makdisi

Descriptions of this year’s winning books and short biographies of their authors appear below. All of these titles are available for purchase in the Museum Store, while Museum Members may check out these titles free from the AANM Library & Resource Center.

An invitation-only gala award ceremony for the winning authors, publishers and their guests will be held at the Arab American National Museum on November 7, 2009.

Submissions are currently being accepted for the 2010 Arab American Book Award. Authors and publishers may call 313.624.0223 or email klalonde@accesscommunity.org for nomination forms and criteria.

The Arab American Book Award program encourages the publication and excellence of books that preserve and advance the understanding, knowledge, and resources of the Arab American community by celebrating the thoughts and lives of Arab Americans. The purpose of the Award is to inspire authors, educate readers and foster a respect and understanding of the Arab American culture.

The winning titles are chosen by groups of selected readers including respected authors, university professors, artists and AANM staff. The AANM first gave these awards in 2007 for books published in 2006.

*****************************
2009 Arab American Book Award Winners

(presented to books published in 2008)

Winner: Adult Fiction

A Map of Home: A Novel
By Randa Jarrar
Other Press

Funny, charming and heartbreaking, A Map of Home by Randa Jarrar is the kind of book Tristram Shandy or Huck Finn would have narrated had they been born Egyptian-Palestinian in the 1970s. The novel features Nidali, the rebellious daughter of an Egyptian-Greek mother and a Palestinian father, who narrates the story of her childhood in Kuwait, her teenage years in Egypt (to where she and her family fled the 1990 Iraq invasion), and her family’s last flight to Texas. Jarrar mixes humor with a sharp, loving portrait of an eccentric middle-class family with a daughter who endures several hardships throughout her life’s story, including the humiliation of going through a check point on a visit to her father’s home in the West Bank; the fights with her father, who wants her to become a famous professor and stay away from boys; the end of her childhood as Iraq invades Kuwait on her 13th birthday; and the scare she gives her family when she runs away from home.

Randa Jarrar grew up in Kuwait and moved to the U.S. after the first Gulf War. Her award-winning fiction has appeared in the Oxford American, Ploughshares, and numerous journals and anthologies. She is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Michigan, where this book won a Hopwood Award. She currently lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan. A Map of Home is her first novel.

Winner: Adult Non-Fiction

How Does It Feel to Be a Problem?: Being Young and Arab in America By Moustafa Bayoumi Penguin Press
How does it feel, to be a problem? W.E.B. Du Bois first posed this question in his seminal treatise The Souls of Black Folk, and now, over a century later, Moustafa Bayoumi explores the same question through the first-hand accounts of seven young Arab Americans living in Brooklyn. Their answers reveal the passions, frustrations, struggles, aspirations, and ultimately, the undeterred hope harbored by the inspiring young people featured in Bayoumi’s portraits. How Does It Feel to be a Problem? is an important and necessary book, in which Bayoumi’s subjects answer Du Bois’century-old question, just as they start to grasp how it feels to be a part of the solution.

Moustafa Bayoumi is coeditor of The Edward Said Reader and an associate professor of English at Brooklyn College, the City University of New York, where he lives. His writing has appeared in The Best Music Writing 2006, The Nation, The London Review of Books, and The Village Voice, among several other publications.

Winner: Children or Young Adult

Honeybee: Poems & Short Prose
By Naomi Shihab Nye
Greenwillow Books

Honey. Beeswax. Pollinate. Hive. Colony. Work. Dance. Communicate. Industrious. Buzz. Sting. Cooperate. Where would we be without them? Where would we be without one another? In 82 poems and paragraphs, Naomi Shihab Nye alights on the essentials of our time - our loved ones, our dense air, our wars, our memories, our planet - and leaves us feeling curiously sweeter and profoundly soothed.

Naomi Shihab Nye is a poet, essayist, and novelist. She has received a Lannan Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and four Pushcart Prizes. Her collection 19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East was a finalist for the National Book Award. She is the author of two acclaimed novels for teens, Habibi and Going Going, and her essay "Maintenance" appeared in The Best American Essays, 1991, edited by Joyce Carol Oates. School Library Journal said of her collection of essays, Never in a Hurry, "The author has the ability to perceive and describe her surroundings so skillfully that readers are drawn into these experiences and are enriched in the process." Naomi Shihab Nye describes herself as "a wandering poet." She calls San Antonio, Texas, home.

Winner: Poetry

breaking poems
By Suheir Hammad
Cypher Books

In breaking poems Suheir Hammad departs from her previous books with a bold and explosive style to do what the best poets have always done: create a new language. Using "break" as a trigger for every poem, Hammad destructs, constructs, and reconstructs the English language for us to hear the sound of a breath, a woman's body, a land, a culture, falling apart, broken, and put back together again.

Suheir Hammad’s work has appeared in dozens of anthologies and numerous publications. She was a co-writer and original cast member in the Tony-award winning Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry Jam on Broadway. An Amherst College Aaron Copeland Fellow, she stars in the movie Salt of this Sea. The author of Born Palestinian, Born Black; Drops of This Story and Zataar Diva, Suheir has won several awards for her writing, including The Audre Lorde Poetry Award, a Van Lier Fellowship and a Sister of Fire Award.

2008 Honorable Mentions

Honorable Mention: Non-Fiction

Encyclopedia of Arab American Artists: Artists of the American Mosaic By Fayeq Oweis Greenwood Press

The Encyclopedia of Arab American Artists is an exceptional volume of reference that focuses on the contribution of Arab American artists across the mediums. The book includes profiles and interviews of well known Arab American artists that have been featured in museums and galleries throughout the world, but have never before been featured in a reference book. Whether they be in traditional media such as painting and calligraphy, or more sophisticated media such as digital work and installation, the pieces highlighted in the Encyclopedia of Arab American Artists represent the rich culture of Arab Americans which attempt to capture the beauty of heritage, the struggles of growing up in war-torn countries, the identity conflicts of female artists in male-dominated societies, and the issues surrounding migration to a Western culture very different from one's own.

Fayeq Oweis is an Arab American artist and a professor of Arabic language and culture at Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, California. He has a Ph.D. in interdisciplinary studies with a focus on Arabic and Islamic arts. As an artist, he designed the exterior entranceway murals and the calligraphy of the dome interior of the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. He has also exhibited his Arabic calligraphic compositions throughout the United States and was an artist-in-residence at the Art Institute of Chicago in February 2007.

Honorable Mention: Non-Fiction

Palestine Inside Out: An Everyday Occupation By Saree Makdisi W.W. Norton

Palestine Inside Out by Saree Makidisi depicts the day to day life of Palestinians living in Gaza and the West Bank, and their often shocking existence under Israeli control. Through eye-opening statistics and day-by-day reports, Makdisi shows how Palestinians have seen their hopes for freedom and statehood culminate in the creation of abject “territories” comparable to open-air prisons. In devastating detail, Palestine Inside Out reveals how the “peace process” institutionalized Palestinians’ loss of control over their inner and outer lives.

Saree Makdisi is a professor of English and comparative literature at UCLA. He lives in Los Angeles, California.

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The Arab American National Museum documents, preserves, celebrates, and educates the public on the history, life, culture, and contributions of Arab Americans. It serves as a resource to enhance knowledge and understanding about Arab Americans and their presence in this country. The Arab American National Museum is a project of ACCESS, a Dearborn, Michigan-based nonprofit human services and cultural organization. Learn more at www.arabamericanmuseum.org and www.accesscommunity.org .

The Arab American National Museum is a proud Affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Read about the Affiliations program at http://affiliations.si.edu .

The Museum is located at 13624 Michigan Avenue, Dearborn, MI, 48126. Museum hours: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday; noon-5 p.m. Sunday. Closed Monday, Tuesday; Thanksgiving, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. Admission is $6 for adults; $3 for students, seniors and children 6-12; ages 5 and under, free. Call 313.582.2266 for further information.

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"Under the Cover of War" -- the Palestinian Nakba

60 years since Al-Nakba (the Catastrophe) of 1948
Arabicus Books & Media presents an important new book.

Under the Cover of War
The Zionist Expulsion of the Palestinians

Rosemarie M. Esber

“Helps to balance documentation and diaries by one side . . . the suffering of those
who fled is all too evident.” -- Robert Fisk, The Independent

Ø Under the Cover of War explains in detail how the Jewish Agency used the cover of war to expel more than 400,000 Palestinian men, women and children from some 220 villages, towns, and cities before May 15, 1948 when the British relinquished the Palestine mandate and Israel became a state.

Ø Incorporates a Palestinian narrative of their expulsions by including some 130 new interviews with refugees from Jordan, Lebanon, and the United States.

Ø Provides an invaluable case study for U.S. military planners on how not to end a military occupation by describing how the scuttled British withdrawal from Palestine, in just six months, contributed to civil war and the creation of Palestinian refugees.

A MUST READ FOR THE MILITARY!
“I am more convinced than ever after reading this we need more attention to the problems in this region to have any kind of peace in the future.” -- Jerzee Devil

Watch the You Tube Trailer: http://youtube.com/watch?v=pUEq9GgS4F4
Robert Fisk, The Independent:
Under the Cover of War “helps to balance documentation and diaries by one side with verbal recollection on the other. The book does not spare the Arabs—least of all the Arab atrocities or the Iraqi volunteers who turned up to fight for Palestine but didn't even know their geography—yet the suffering of those who fled is all too evident.”

“Here for example, is Abu Mohamed from the village of Saqiya, east of Tel Aviv describing what happened on 25 April, 1948: ‘Jews entered the village and started shooting women, men, and old people. They arrested girls, and we still don't know what happened to them. They came from the settlement that was near the village. They used Bren guns. Then armoured vehicles entered the centre of the village. Fourteen were killed that day. Two women could not run so they were killed in the village. The villagers ran together in the direction of al-Lid (Lod, the site of Ben Gurion airport in Israel today). After that, families started to leave separately. We left everything in the village. We thought it would be a short trip and we would come back.’”

Publishers Weekly, web pick of the week 11/24/08:

In her first effort, researcher and writer Esber takes readers on a dramatic inquest of modern Israel’s beginnings and the Arab conflict over Palestine. Reviewing historical accounts, Esber reveals that after WWII many of Europe's expelled Jews sought to regain their roots in Palestine. This meant the expulsion of the Palestinian Arab community who lived there; with the tacit approval of the United Nations, Palestinians were cruelly evicted from their homes and lives, subject to demonization and, according to Esber, a campaign of ethnic cleansing. Esber’s account abounds with first hand accounts from Arab victims recounting the terror they faced at the hands of Zionist forces. This gripping historical account illuminates the plight of Palestinians following the War, too long overshadowed in the media and historical record by the atrocity of the Holocaust; placing them back to back, Esber demonstrates a tragic domino effect, in which victims become aggressors and survival becomes a matter of fighting back.

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Under the Cover of War is an important resource for anyone seeking to understand the full story of the 1948 Palestine war and the roots of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Rosemarie Esber meticulously documents and poignantly recounts the first phase of the Zionist conquest of Palestine and the expulsion of the indigenous Palestinians—an estimated 84 percent were children under 15, pregnant and nursing mothers, the elderly, and the infirm.
As this compelling history shows, the human tragedy of Palestine’s ethnic cleansing entailed the demonization of the Palestinian Arabs, the incitement of violence by Jewish nationalist leaders, and a weak response from an apathetic international community. War provided a cover for systematic expulsions and the founding of the State of Israel on Palestinian land, while British colonial officials did little but watch.

An array of unpublished military and diplomatic sources supports the Palestinians’ own account of their Nakba (catastrophe or disaster), based on new, original refugee interviews. This little-known story of human suffering makes a convincing case that redressing Palestinian losses is vital for regional and world peace.

The author, Rosemarie M. Esber, Ph.D., is a researcher and writer with degrees from the University of London and The Johns Hopkins University.

For Immediate Release
ISBN: 978-0-9815131-7-1
Hardback, 440 pages, 40 illustrations, appendices,
bibliography, index, $29.95

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