Simon Shaheen & Naomi Shihab Nye in Concert + Talkback

7:30 p.m. EDT Friday, Sept. 18, 2020

Simon Shaheen & Naomi Shihab Nye in Concert + Talkback

Free with RSVP; $10 suggested donation

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Let music and poetry end your week on a sweet note with a night of exclusive performances by world renowned artists, musician Simon Shaheen and writer/poet Naomi Shihab Nye, followed by a live talkback! 

Simon Shaheen dazzles his listeners as he deftly leaps from traditional Arabic sounds to jazz and Western classical styles. His soaring technique, melodic ingenuity, and unparalleled grace have earned him international acclaim as a virtuoso on the ‘oud and violin. As a composer, Shaheen has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, Meet the Composer, the Jerome Foundation, Continental Harmony, and Yellow Springs Institute. In addition to performing with his two bands, Qantara and the Near Eastern Music Ensemble, Shaheen tours as a solo artist internationally and as a lecturer throughout the academic world promoting awareness to Arab music through numerous lectures and workshop presentations. Shaheen is currently an instructor at Berklee School of Music, and directs the Arabic Music Retreat each summer at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts.

Naomi Shihab Nye was born in St. Louis, Missouri. Her father was a Palestinian refugee and her mother an American of German and Swiss descent, and Nye spent her adolescence in both Jerusalem and San Antonio, Texas. Nye is the recipient of numerous honors and awards for her work, including the Ivan Sandrof Award for Lifetime Achievement from the National Book Critics Circle and the Paterson Poetry Prize, among others. The Poetry Foundation named Nye the Young People’s Poet Laureate for 2019 to 2021, making her the first Arab American to earn this honor. Known for poetry that lends a fresh perspective to ordinary events, people, and objects, Nye’s experience of both cultural difference and different cultures has influenced much of her work. Nye is also considered one of the leading female poets of the American Southwest. In addition to poetry, Nye has written fiction for children, poetry and song recordings, and poetry translations. She has also published a book of essays and edited several anthologies.