#  Middle Eastern Literatures in the 21st Century 

 



####  calendar\_today Date and Time 

 **April 3 - April 4, 2014** 

 04:00PM - 06:00PM EDT 

####  pin\_drop Location 

 **CGIS South, Belfer Case Study Rm S020, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, MA**  



 

 



 

**The CMES Working Group on Middle East Literature in Transition: New Frontiers in the 21st Century** is pleased to present the conference

**Middle Eastern Literatures in the 21st Century**

Organized by CMES Director William Granara

This conference will assess literary and cultural production in the first decade of the 21st century Middle East. Scholars and students from nine universities and across the Harvard campus will present on recent works from emerging writers, poets, and artists who exemplify the most exciting and innovative trends in Turkish, Hebrew, Persian and Arabic literary culture. The conference will begin with a key-note address by Sinan Antoon, Iraqi novelist, poet and professor of Arabic Literature at the Gallatin School of New York University.

***Program***

**April 3, 2014** [CGIS South 020, Belfer Case Study Room, 1730 Cambridge Street](http://www.map.harvard.edu/?ctrx=760699&ctry=2961925&level=9&layers=Campus%20Base%20and%20Buildings,Map%20Text)

**4:00-4:15 pm** **Welcome**: William Granara, Gordon Gray Professor of Arabic; Director, CMES  
 **4:15-6:30** **Panel I: *Arabic Literature in Exile***  
   
 *Chair*: Sandra Naddaff (Harvard University)  
 Benjamin Smith (Harvard University): *Writing Egypt from the American Urban Landscape*  
 Simon Williams (Oxford University): Budrus: *The Graphic Novel & Narratives of Protest in Israel-Palestine*  
 Claudia Esposito (U Mass Boston): *Exilic Voices in Contemporary Italo-Maghrebi Literatures*  
 Yousif Hanna (Harvard College): Hail Mary: *An Iraqi Novel and its Novelist*  
  
**6:30** **Keynote address**: Sinan Antoon (Harvard, 2008; Gatlin School, NYU)  
  
 *The Arabic Novel in the 21st Century: Writing Against the Political Maelstrom*  
  
**April 4, 2014** [CGIS South 020, Belfer Case Study Room, 1730 Cambridge Street](http://www.map.harvard.edu/?ctrx=760699&ctry=2961925&level=9&layers=Campus%20Base%20and%20Buildings,Map%20Text)

**9:00-10:45 am** **Panel II: *New Directions in Israel Literature***  
  
 *Chair*: Irit Aharony (Harvard University)  
 Daniel Behar (Harvard University): *Mourning & Dancing: Mordechai Galili’s Long Poems*  
 Sadia Agsous (INALCO, Paris, France): *Sayed Kashua, a Palestinian writing in Hebrew*  
 Golan Moskowitz (Brandeis University): *Queer Affect & the Israeli Graphic Narrative of the 21st Century*  
 Danielle Drori (NYU): *Pseudo-biblicism, Parody, and Prophecy in Klil Zisapel’s* The Zionist Comedy  
  
**10:45-11:00** Break  
 **11:00 am-12:45 pm** **Panel III: *Persian Literature***  
  
 *Chair*: Olga Davidson (Ilex Foundation)  
 Chad Kia (Harvard University): *A Woman's Voice in Contemporary Afghan Fiction*  
 Daniel Rafinejad (Harvard University): *The Unusual Short Fiction of Mitra Eliyati*  
 Sheida Dayani (NYU): *Of Poetry and Its Translation*  
 Parisa Hashemean (GSD, Harvard): Keep Out All Your Logics: *Poetry and Painting of Amin Mansouri*  
  
**12:45-2:00 pm** Lunch break  
  
**2:00-3:45 pm** **Panel IV: *Turkish Literature***  
  
 *Chair*: Himmet Taskomur (Harvard University)  
 Ceyhun Arslan (Harvard University): *Exile in the Past: Literary Heritage in Selim İleri’s* Mel’un   
 Efe Murat Balikçioğlu (Harvard University): Heves: *Experimental Poetry in Turkey*  
 Roberta Micallef (Boston University): *The Trauma of a Political Prisoner in the Family: The Yildiz Family*  
 Hacı Osman Gündüz (Tufts University): *İhsan Oktay Anar: The Ottoman Past and Magic Realism*  
  
**4:00-5:45 pm** **Panel V: *Arabic Literature Post 9/11***  
  
 *Chair*: Margaret Litvin (Boston University)  
 Allison Blecker (Harvard University): *Almond Trees & Olive Groves: Eco-nostalgia in* Sa’akunu bayna al-lawz  
 Khaled Al-Masri (Swarthmore College): When Men Become Wolves: *Hassan Blasim’s Poetics of Madness and Pain*  
 Luke Leafgren (Harvard University): *Muhsin Al-Ramli: Writing Iraq in the post-Saddam era*  
 Sami Alkyam (Harvard College): *The Rape of the Female Body as Allegory for the Rape of a Nation*

**Contact:** [Liz Flanagan](mailto:elizabethflanagan@fas.harvard.edu)  
**Sponsor(s):** Made possible with support from the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the Dean of the Division of Social Science, and the Donald T. Regan Lecture Fund.



 

 



 

 See also:- [ Conference/Workshop ](/eventseries/conferences)
- [ Working Group: Middle East Literature ](/eventseries/working-group-middle-east-literature)
- [ Literature ](/research-field/literature)
- [ 2013-14 ](/academic-year/2013-14)
 
 

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