Lee Scheingold Lecture in Poetry and Poetics: Naomi Shihab Nye and Lena Tuffaha – 2021

Last year saw the cancellation of the 3rd Annual Lee Scheingold Lecture in Poetry and Poetics due to the ongoing pandemic. While we’re still unable to gather in person, this year the University of Washington English Department and the Lee Scheingold Lecture in Poetry and Poetics are thrilled to host Naomi Shihab Nye on Thursday, April 29, 2021, 5:00-6:30 PM (PT). We are also excited to welcome Lena Khalaf Tuffaha, winner of the 2018 Washington State Book Award, who will be in conversation with Naomi following her reading. We’re grateful to graduating senior Owen Oliver who will be offering a welcome/land acknowledgment prior to the reading. Please join us for an evening of poetry and conversation with these wonderful writers.

The University of Washington is committed to providing access and reasonable accommodation in its services, programs, and activities. If any accommodations are needed in the completion and submission of this form please contact UW English Department; 206-543-9552; Karla Tofte, ktofte@uw.edu.

All registrants will be entered into a drawing to win one copy of Naomi’s and Lena’s most recent books.

Many thanks to Suhad Khatib for granting permission to use her beautiful work, “The Return” in the poster. And many thanks to Dilara Elbir for her design.

Artist Bios:
Naomi Shihab Nye describes herself as a “wandering poet.” She has spent 40 years traveling the country and the world to lead writing workshops and inspiring students of all ages. Nye was born to a Palestinian father and an American mother and grew up in St. Louis, Jerusalem, and San Antonio. Drawing on her Palestinian-American heritage, the cultural diversity of her home in Texas, and her experiences traveling in Asia, Europe, Canada, Mexico, and the Middle East, Nye uses her writing to attest to our shared humanity. Naomi Shihab Nye is the author and/or editor of more than 30 volumes. Her most recent book is Voices in the Air: Poems for Listeners. Her new book of poems is entitled The Tiny Journalist (BOA Editions Ltd., April 2019).

Lena Khalaf Tuffaha is a poet, essayist, and translator. She earned a BA in Comparative Literature at the University of Washington and an MFA in Poetry at the Rainier Writing Workshop of Pacific Lutheran University She is the author of the full-length poetry collection, Water & Salt, winner of the 2018 Washington State Book Award for Poetry, and the chapbooks Arab in Newsland (2016) and Letters from the Interior (2019). Her work has been published in journals including Blackbird, Kenyon Review Online, Michigan Quarterly Review, New England Review, Poetry Northwest, TriQuarterly, and the Academy of American Poets’ Poem-A-Day feature. Her poems have been widely anthologized and have received the Robert Watson Literary Prize and multiple Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominations. She is the recipient of a 2019 Artist Trust Fellowship, and has served as the inaugural Poet-In-Residence at Open Books: A Poem Emporium in Seattle. You can learn more about her work at www.lenakhalaftuffaha.com.

Suhad Khatib (b. 1979) is a multimedia artist who was born in Oman, raised in Jordan and been living in the US for the past 14 years. Her work was shown in Montreal, Connecticut, Berkeley, New York, San Francisco and Amman. She describes her work as “an intentional study on healing and identity.” Suhad is also a public speaker on the subject of Palestine, theology, feminism and community organizing. Her practice extends to design and filmmaking. Notably, she is the designer behind prominent social justice campaigns that have shaped our understanding of recent history like: #Ferguson2Palestine, #ISupportRasmea and #ShowMe15. In film, she was one of the founders of the film industry in Jordan, wrote and directed multiple short films, finished residency programs by Sundance Film Institute, Dubai Film Connection, and Euromed Audiovisual Program. Most notably, she was the co-writer of the most watched Jordanian comedy series! Suhad currently resides in San Francisco, CA. https://suhadkhatib.com/