Spring in Palestine
2022-04-07 18:00 - 21:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | WA
Spring in Palestine is a time when simple, seasonal ingredients are transformed into a delicious family meal. In this class NADIA TOMMALIEH will introduce you to Palestinian home cooking via classic dishes remembered from her childhood, with stories of spring foraging traditions. You’ll make sorar freekeh bil lahmeh (baked freekeh and beef pastries); salatet betinjan bil laban (fried eggplant salad); hindbeh bil zeit (sautéed dandelion greens with pomegranate molasses and lemon); and, for dessert, mhalabiyeh bi ma’ elzaher (milk pudding infused with orange blossom water, topped with crushed pistachios and dried rose petals).

Arabic Chat Hour
2022-04-07 19:00 - 20:00, 2022-04-14 19:00 - 20:00, 2022-04-21 19:00 - 20:00, 2022-04-28 19:00 - 20:00, 2022-05-05 19:00 - 20:00 UTC | WA
Whether you’re a native speaker or learner, this is a great chance to practice listening and speaking in Arabic!
Zoom room number: 8116-385-7344

2022 Online Film and Discussion MidEast Series: Sumud
2022-04-08 20:00 - 21:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | WA
THE SPRING 2022 ONLINE FILM AND DISCUSSION SERIES

The theme for this year’s Film Series is Sumud. This is a Palestinian word that means “Steadfastness” or “Steadfast Perseverance.” It is a cultural value in Palestine. There is no possible way Palestinians can defend themselves in the face of one of the most well-equipped military powers in the world. They practice “sumud” which sometimes is an act of making breakfast, sometimes walking the children to the checkpoint on the way to school, sometimes, joining a peaceful protest at a blocked crossroad, just to say “We are here!”

In this series we will meet a young Israeli woman who also practices her own sumud as she resists joining the Israeli military. We will discover what sumud looks like in the devastation we call “Gaza”, and in the tragedy we call “Hebron.”

To receive links to the film (watch on your own time within 48 hours of the discussion) and the Zoom discussion, send a message to seattlemideastfocus@gmail.com

APRIL 8, 8 P.M. (discussion)
GAZA
Gaza brings us into a unique place beyond the reach of television news reports to reveal a world rich with eloquent and resilient characters, offering us a cinematic and enriching portrait of a people attempting to lead meaningful lives against the rubble of perennial conflict.
Learn more here.
with host:
special guest:

APRIL 22, 8 p.m. (discussion)
MISSION: HEBRON
and SKIES ABOVE HEBRON
In Mission: Hebron six young Israeli men who served in the army from the age of 18 give an account of their mission in Hebron, a Palestinian city in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Footage documenting numerous appalling situations corroborates their compelling stories, from soldiers taking pot shots with rubber bullets and conducting humiliating searches of passersby to arresting ten-year-olds and turning entire households upside down. What effect did these military duties have on their moral compass? Looking back and growing older, how do they feel about this mission now?
Learn more here.
Skies above Hebron is a coming of age story depicting three boys coping, each in his own way, with physical and mental obstacles enclosing life in their Palestinian hometown of Hebron.
Learn more here.
with host:
special guest:

MAY 6, 8 P.M. (discussion)
LITTLE PALESTINE: DIARY OF A SEIGE
During the Syrian civil war, the district of Yarmouk, home to thousands of Palestinians, became the scene of dramatic and ferocious fighting. Little Palestine: Diary of a Siege is a film that follows the destiny of civilians during the brutal sieges, imposed by the Syrian regime, that took place in the wake of the battles. With his camera, Abdallah Al-Khatib composes a love song to a place that proudly resists the atrocities of war
Learn more here.
with host:
special guest:

MAY 20, 8 P.M. (discussion)
200 METERS
Mustafa lives on the Palestinian-controlled side of the wall, and Salwa and their children on the Israeli side. One day he gets the call every parent dreads: his son has been in an accident and is in the hospital. He will do anything to reach his son, and after being denied access through the checkpoint on a technicality, Mustafa embarks upon a journey to cross the border illegally.
Learn more here.
with host:
special guest:

Cooking Class: Street Foods of the World
2022-04-10 18:00 - 20:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | Whisk, 10385 Main St, Bellevue, WA, 98004, United States
Want to expand your culinary passport? Are you looking for a new dish to spice up your repertoire? Do you dream of tasty treats on foreign streets, but haven’t been able to get away? If the answer is yes, this class is for you! Join Chef Drew Flanders in this hands-on class where you will prepare simple but flavor-packed dishes inspired by foods sold in the markets, festivals, and by street vendors from around the world. From Morocco to Japan, Mexico to Senegal, in this class you will prepare and enjoy a variety of flavors and textures from the simple perfection of the taco, the warm comfort of “Japanese pizza”, to the glory of two different types of grilled-meat-on-a-stick!
Make, eat and enjoy street foods from

Morocco – Chermoula Chicken
Mexico – Alambres- Steak and Bacon Tacos with Salsa Verde
West Africa – Spicy Peanut-Dusted Beef Skewers
Japan – Okanomiyaki – Seafood Pancakes

Participants will have the option of enjoying wine or beer as street food is always best with a beverage!

Poetry Across Languages with Fady Joudah, Tomás Q. Morín, and Niina Pollari
2022-04-11 15:00 - 16:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | WA
The New York Public Library’s World Literature Festival celebrates books and writers from around the world and reflects the languages spoken in our communities. Discover free author talks, resources, book recommendations, and more for all ages in world languages.
Join the Library as we welcome Fady Joudah, Tomás Q. Morín, and Niina Pollari in conversation in English in the panel “Poetry Across Languages”.
This event is ONLINE ONLY.
Register Here!

Fady Joudah has published five collections of poems: The Earth in the Attic; Alight; Textu; a book-long sequence of short poems whose meter is based on cellphone character count; Footnotes in the Order of Disappearance; and, most recently, Tethered to Stars. He has translated several collections of poetry from the Arabic and is the co-editor and co-founder of the Etel Adnan Poetry Prize. He was a winner of the Yale Series of Younger Poets competition in 2007 and has received a PEN award, a Banipal/Times Literary Supplement prize from the UK, the Griffin Poetry Prize, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. He is an Editor-at-Large for Milkweed Editions. He lives in Houston, with his wife and kids, where he practices internal medicine. Photo credit © Cybele Knowles.
Tomás Q. Morín is the author of the collection of poems Machete and the forthcoming memoir Let Me Count the Ways, as well as the poetry collections Patient Zero and A Larger Country. He is co-editor with Mari L’Esperance of the anthology, Coming Close: Forty Essays on Philip Levine, and translator of The Heights of Macchu Picchu by Pablo Neruda. He teaches at Rice University and Vermont College of Fine Arts. Photo credit © Jorge Sanhueza-Lyon.
Niina Pollari is a poet and Finnish translator. She is the author of the poetry collections Path of Totality (Soft Skull 2022) and Dead Horse (Birds, LLC 2015), and the translator of Tytti Heikkinen’s The Warmth of the Taxidermied Animal (Action Books 2012).
Join the staff of the Yorkville, Belmont and Bronx Library Center libraries for this exciting literary conversation.
Note: Program will be recorded.

P&P Live! Luma Mufleh — Learning America (virtual)
2022-04-12 17:00 - 18:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | WA
Click Here to register for this virtual event.
Learning America traces the story of how Mufleh grew a group of kids into a soccer team and then into a nationally acclaimed network of schools for refugee children. The journey is inspiring and hard-won: Fugees schools accept only those most in need; no student passes a grade without earning it; the failure of any student is the responsibility of all. Soccer as a part of every school day is a powerful catalyst to heal trauma, create belonging, and accelerate learning. Finally, this gifted storyteller delivers provocative, indelible portraits of student after student making leaps in learning that aren’t supposed to be possible for children born into trauma–stories that shine powerful light on the path to educational justice for all of America’s most left-behind.
Luma Mufleh is the founder of Fugees Family, with schools now in Georgia and Ohio and an expanding footprint bringing educational equity to refugee resettlement communities across America. Her TED Talk on educational justice for refugee families was viewed more than 1.7 million times.

Cooking Class: The Moroccan Kitchen
2022-04-12 18:00 - 20:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | Whisk, 10385 Main St, Bellevue, WA, 98004, United States
In this hands-on class you’ll be swept off to another continent to experience the exotic spices and fresh herbs of classic North African cuisine. This authentic Moroccan menu highlights traditional ingredients that are easy to find here. You’ll learn about using preserved lemons, couscous, saffron and fenugreek in the savory dishes and ground almonds, honey and orange blossom water in dessert. Make a fork-tender chicken dish baked in a traditional, earthenware dish called a tagine. Chef Barbara Sowatsky will show you that “spiced” doesn’t have to mean “spicy” as she takes you step-by-step through this flavor-layered menu.
You will make:
Tagine-Baked Chicken with Meyer Lemons and Olives
Couscous with Saffron, Mint and Basil
Cucumber and Tomato Chopped Salad
Sweet, Almond-Stuffed Dates

SIFF - Arab movies and movies involving Arabs
2022-04-14 - 2022-04-24 | WA
SIFF was quite disappointing this year when it comes to Arab films. Here are the three Arab films I found:
A Tale of Love and Desire (Tunesia)
Where: In person only: Tuesday, April 19, 6:30pm at AMC Pacific Place and Wednesday, April 20th at 3:30pm at Majestic Bay.
Sparks fly between literature students Ahmed and Farah in Leyla Bouzid’s seductive sophomore feature, when their study of erotic Arabic poetry moves beyond the classroom.
https://www.siff.net/festival/a-tale-of-love-and-desire
Costa Brava, Lebanon
Where: In person only: Friday, April 15, 1:30pm at AMC Pacific Place and Saturday, April 16th at 8:00pm at SIFF Cinema Uptown
A family moves from the squalor of Beirut to a green oasis: an off-the-grid chicken farm miles away. Then one day the squalor comes looking for them as plans are announced for a landfill right next door.
https://www.siff.net/festival/costa-brava-lebanon

Feathers
Where: In person only: Saturday, April 16, 9:00pm at AMC Pacific Place and Monday, April 18th at 3:30pm at Ark Lodge Cinemas
Egyptian patriarchy and misogyny are the targets and absurdism is the weapon as a man, via a birthday-party magician, is transformed into a chicken and his downtrodden wife realizes this may be a change for the better.
https://www.siff.net/festival/feathers-x27287
——————————————————————————————–
And I hesitate to list these because they do not center Arab voices but they involve Arabs. Please watch trailers and read before deciding to watch these movies. They seem to be sympathetic to the Arab world but still come from the colonizer’s point of view.

Ahed’s Knee
Where: Virtual and Sunday, April 17, 8:30pm at AMC Pacific Place and Tuesday, April 19th at 3:00pm at Ark Lodge Cinemas
In this emotionally charged semi-autobiographical movie, Israeli writer/director Nadav Lapid’s alter ego fights against state pressure and for artistic freedom as he is working on a film about a Palestinian activist.
https://www.siff.net/festival/aheds-knee

The Olive Trees of Justice
Where: Virtual and Saturday, April 16, 2022 at 2:30pm at SIFF Cinema Uptown

The only French film shot on location during the Algerian War, The Olive Trees of Justice also won the inaugural Critics Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1962. American-born director James Blue (from Portland, OR), working with a mainly non-professional cast, clandestinely filmed in Algiers and the surrounding countryside under the pretext that he was making a documentary about the wine industry. Jean (Pierre Prothon), Algerian-born but long a resident of Paris, returns home to visit his dying father (Jean Pélégri, author of the autobiographical novel on which the film is based). His father, a pioneering colonist, once owned a prosperous vineyard, long since lost to creditors. In frequent flashbacks, Jean nostalgically remembers his idyllic childhood on the farm with Arab friends but realizes those days are gone. Amid tanks and bomb-disposal units prowling the city streets, Jean looks up old friends, encountering colonial oppression and racial inequity that he barely notices. Little seen at the time of its release just after Algeria achieved independence, this neorealist gem deserves rediscovery.

https://www.siff.net/festival/the-olive-trees-of-justice
The First 54 Years, an Abbreviated Manual for Military Occupation
Where: In person only: Where: Virtual and Monday, April 18, 6:00pm at at Ark Lodge Cinemas and Thursday, April 21st at 1:00pm at AMC Pacific Place
Testimony from Israeli soldiers, speaking out for the first time as part of the “Breaking the Silence” project, is pieced together to reveal how their nation’s occupation of Palestinian territory has lasted so long.
https://www.siff.net/festival/the-first-54-years-an-abbreviated-manual-for-military-occupation

Play: Selling Kabul
2022-04-22 - 2022-05-22 | Seattle Rep – LEO K. THEATER, 155 Mercer St, Seattle, WA, 98109, United States
Taroon once served as an interpreter for the U.S. military in Afghanistan. After the Americans have withdrawn, their promises of protection and safety are no longer there. He now spends his days in hiding from growing presence of the Taliban as he anxiously awaits news from the hospital on the eve of his first child’s birth. What are the consequences of taking sides during wartime?

Written by: Sylvia Khoury (of French and Lebanese descent)

2022 Online Film and Discussion MidEast Series: Sumud
2022-04-22 20:00 - 21:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | WA
THE SPRING 2022 ONLINE FILM AND DISCUSSION SERIES

The theme for this year’s Film Series is Sumud. This is a Palestinian word that means “Steadfastness” or “Steadfast Perseverance.” It is a cultural value in Palestine. There is no possible way Palestinians can defend themselves in the face of one of the most well-equipped military powers in the world. They practice “sumud” which sometimes is an act of making breakfast, sometimes walking the children to the checkpoint on the way to school, sometimes, joining a peaceful protest at a blocked crossroad, just to say “We are here!”

In this series we will meet a young Israeli woman who also practices her own sumud as she resists joining the Israeli military. We will discover what sumud looks like in the devastation we call “Gaza”, and in the tragedy we call “Hebron.”

To receive links to the film (watch on your own time within 48 hours of the discussion) and the Zoom discussion, send a message to seattlemideastfocus@gmail.com

APRIL 22, 8 p.m. (discussion)
MISSION: HEBRON
and SKIES ABOVE HEBRON
In Mission: Hebron six young Israeli men who served in the army from the age of 18 give an account of their mission in Hebron, a Palestinian city in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Footage documenting numerous appalling situations corroborates their compelling stories, from soldiers taking pot shots with rubber bullets and conducting humiliating searches of passersby to arresting ten-year-olds and turning entire households upside down. What effect did these military duties have on their moral compass? Looking back and growing older, how do they feel about this mission now?
Learn more here.
Skies above Hebron is a coming of age story depicting three boys coping, each in his own way, with physical and mental obstacles enclosing life in their Palestinian hometown of Hebron.
Learn more here.
with host:
special guest:

MAY 6, 8 P.M. (discussion)
LITTLE PALESTINE: DIARY OF A SEIGE
During the Syrian civil war, the district of Yarmouk, home to thousands of Palestinians, became the scene of dramatic and ferocious fighting. Little Palestine: Diary of a Siege is a film that follows the destiny of civilians during the brutal sieges, imposed by the Syrian regime, that took place in the wake of the battles. With his camera, Abdallah Al-Khatib composes a love song to a place that proudly resists the atrocities of war
Learn more here.
with host:
special guest:

MAY 20, 8 P.M. (discussion)
200 METERS
Mustafa lives on the Palestinian-controlled side of the wall, and Salwa and their children on the Israeli side. One day he gets the call every parent dreads: his son has been in an accident and is in the hospital. He will do anything to reach his son, and after being denied access through the checkpoint on a technicality, Mustafa embarks upon a journey to cross the border illegally.
Learn more here.
with host:
special guest:

Sisters in the Mirror: A History of Muslim Women and the Global Politics of Feminism
2022-04-25 14:00 - 16:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | WA
Hiwar Maftuh (Public Conversation)

April 25, 2022
4:00 PM – 5:30 PM

Location
Virtual via Zoom

Calendar
Download iCal File

Join the Arab American Cultural Center, the Women’s Leadership and Resource Center, and Prof. Nadine Naber for a conversation with Elora Shehabuddin, Professor of Transnational Asian Studies and Core Faculty, at the Center for the Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality at Rice University, about her new book Sisters in the Mirror: A History of Muslim Women and the Global Politics of Feminism.
About the Book: Stretching from the eighteenth-century Enlightenment era to the War on Terror present, Sisters in the Mirror shows how changes in women’s lives and feminist strategies have consistently reflected wider changes in national and global politics and economics. Elora Shehabuddin presents a unique and engaging history of feminism as a story of colonial and postcolonial interactions between Western and Muslim societies. Muslim women have found themselves having to negotiate their demands for rights within other forms of struggle—for national independence or against occupation, racism, and economic inequality. Through stories of both well-known and relatively unknown figures, Shehabuddin recounts instances of conflict alongside those of empathy, collaboration, and solidarity across this extended period. Sisters in the Mirror is organized around stories of encounters between women and men from South Asia, Britain, and the United States that led them, as if they were looking in a mirror, to pause and reconsider norms in their own society, including cherished ideas about women’s roles and rights. These intertwined stories confirm that nowhere, in either Western or Muslim societies, has material change in girls’ and women’s lives come easily or without protracted struggle.
About Author: Elora Shehabuddin is Professor of Transnational Asian Studies and Core Faculty, Center for the Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality, at Rice University. She is author of Reshaping the Holy: Democracy, Development, and Muslim Women in Bangladesh, coeditor of Gender and Economics in Muslim Communities, and associate editor of the Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures.
Event is co-sponsored by Global Asian Studies and Gender and Women’s Studies
Zoom auto-captioning will be available. For questions or accessibility, contact us at arabamcc@uic.edu or 312-413-3253

Author Visit: Hudda Ibrahim: What Color is My Hijab?
2022-04-27 14:00 - 16:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | WA
Join Somali American author Hudda Ibrahim as she shares her picture book, What Color is My Hijab?
Please register.
You will be emailed a link no later than one hour before the program start time. If you do not see an email, check your Junk or Spam folder.
Reasonable accommodation for people with disabilities is available by request. Email access@kcls.org at least seven days before the event. Automated closed captioning is always available for online events.

Spring in Palestine
2022-04-27 18:00 - 21:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | the Pantry, 1417 NW 70th Street, Seattle, WA, 98117

Bakar: live at the Neptune
2022-04-27 19:00 - 22:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Neptune, 1303 Northeast 45th Street, Seattle, WA, 98105, United States
Musical influences cited by Bakar include Madlib and Foals.[19][11] He has described his music as “schizophrenic”, and said that he attempts to “bridge the gap” between different music genres.[19] Ones to Watch described his style as a “melting pot of indie, rap, rock, and punk”.[44]
https://www.facebook.com/yeaabk
EVENT NOTES

Wednesday, April 27, 2022
Doors at 7:00 pm
Show at 8:00 pm
General Admission
All Ages / Bar w/ Valid ID
$23.00 in advance
$28.00 day of show
(not including fees)
Proof of COVID vaccination required for entry. Patrons unable to be vaccinated can show proof of negative COVID PCR test. Click here for details.

Bakar is of Yemeni and Tanzanian descent

Mizna Film Series: RESTORED/RECOVERED: ALGERIAN FILMMAKING IN DIASPORA: NAHLA
2022-04-28 - 2022-05-01 | WA
The spring 2022 season of the Mizna Film Series highlights recently restored works by Algerian filmmakers in diaspora. Curated by Mizna’s Film Programming Coordinator Ahmed Abdulmageed, the two-month segment presents films produced during the global leftist movements in the 1970s. This selection celebrates Algerian filmmakers and their collaborators, Farouk Beloufa, Djouhra Abouda, and Alain Bonnamy, who captured the political complexities of the moment, as well as the rhythmic and aesthetic make-up of their diasporas, by breaking away from traditional filmic forms.
APRIL 27–MAY 1 2022: NAHLA (dir. 1979, Farouk Beloufa)
In April, Mizna presents Nahla, Farouk Beloufa’s only feature film, which follows a group of leftist friends in Beirut at the beginning of the Lebanese Civil War. An exploration of war through journalism, photography, and cinematography, Nahla is a political film and a love story. The film stars the Lebanese actor Yasmine Khlat and features a soundtrack composed by the renowned Lebanese musician Ziad Rahbani.
Available virtually April 28–May 1, 2022 in the US ONLY. TICKETS

Arab American Heritage Month Celebration
2022-04-28 16:00 - 17:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | WA
April is Arab American Heritage Month! The Association of Lutheran of Arab and Middle Eastern Heritage (ALAMEH) is hosting an online celebration on Thursday, April 28 at 7 p.m. Eastern time. The event will feature speakers Samer Khalaf, national president of the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee and Jonathan Kuttab, executive director of Friends of Sabeel North America. Join us to discuss of Arab American heritage in the United States, advocacy, justice, combating discrimination and more.
Please register ahead of time at bit.ly/ALAMEHCelebration

Spring in Palestine: Cooking Class
2022-04-28 18:00 - 21:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | the Pantry, 1417 NW 70th Street, Seattle, WA, 98117

Book Talk: You Have Not Yet Been Defeated with Sanaa Seif and Sharif Abdel Kouddous (Zoom)
2022-04-29 15:00 - 17:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | WA
The Palestinian Feminist Collective proudly presents

YOU HAVE NOT YET BEEN DEFEATED
A book talk with Egyptian revolutionary, Sanaa Seif & renowned, independent Egyptian journalist, Sharif Abdel Kouddous

Friday, April 29th
6:00 pm EDT // 5:00 pm CDT // 3:00 pm PDT
REGISTER HERE

The PFC invites you to a virtual book talk with Egyptian revolutionary, Sanaa Seif, former political prisoner and sister of Alaa Abd el-Fattah, as she discusses his long anticipated book, “YOU HAVE NOT YET BEEN DEFEATED” with renowned, independent Egyptian journalist, Sharif Abdel Kouddous.

This is a solidarity event with political prisoners in Egypt in affirmation of the power of feminist organizing in the face of repression and counter-revolution in Egypt. The PFC stands with our Egyptian comrades and people across the globe facing the heteropatriarchal, imperial systems of militarized policing, prisons, and repression.

YOU HAVE NOT YET BEEN DEFEATED embodies ideas of protest and freedom of expression from the world-renowned Egyptian political prisoner and activist collected in English for the first time. With a foreword by Naomi Klein.

“The text you are holding is living history.” — Naomi Klein, from the forward
Alaa Abd el-Fattah is arguably the most high-profile political prisoner in Egypt, if not the Arab world, rising to international prominence during the revolution of 2011. A fiercely independent thinker who fuses politics and technology in powerful prose, an activist whose ideas represent a global generation that has only known struggle against a failing system, a public intellectual with the rare courage to offer personal, painful honesty, Alaa’s written voice came to symbolize much of what was fresh, inspiring and revolutionary about the uprisings that have defined the last decade. Collected here for the first time in English is a selection of his essays, social media posts, and interviews from 2011 until the present. He has spent the majority of those years in prison, where many of these pieces were written. Together, they present not only a unique account from the frontline of a decade of global upheaval but a catalog of ideas about other futures those upheavals could yet reveal.

Free Virtual Screening of the Film: 1920: The other side of the Palestinian story
2022-04-30 09:00 - 11:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | WA
SYNOPSIS
A land without a people, and a people without a land” is how the relationship between Palestine and the Jewish people was described by Christian writers in the 1800s. And the 20th-century history of the Middle East has largely been written through these eyes.

Directed by Ashraf Mashharawi
Click here to register for this event.

Saturday, April 30, 2022
12:00 PM 2:00 PM ET

Film director will join us after the film to answer questions and participate in audience discussion.

Sanaa Seif with Sharif Abdel Kouddous (in person)
2022-05-02 18:00 - 20:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Elliott Bay Book Company, 1521 10th Avenue, Seattle, 98122, United States
Making this Seattle visit as part of a national, in-person tour around the U.S. are Egyptian activist, film editor, and one-time political prisoner Sanaa Seif, along with Cairo-based independent journalist Sharif Abdel Kouddous. They will be discussing the extraordinary book of Sanaa Seif’s imprisoned brother Alaa Abd El-Fattah’s writings, You Have Not Been Defeated: Selected Works (Seven Stories). Alaa Abd El-Fattah is probably the highest profile political prisoner currently being held in Egypt – one of many, however, including Sanaa Seif herself until recently.
“You can’t jail a revolution. Alaa Abd el-Fattah is proof. These essays, many handwritten and smuggled from a prison cell, breathe life into the 2011 moment, what shaped its revolutionary possibilities and terrible betrayals. This book is a memory of Tahrir Square that still reverberates like a heartbeat throughout the world.”– Nick Estes.
“In a totalitarian system where even ideas are punishable with imprisonment, this collection of essays from one of Egypt’s most high-profile political prisoners is like an oasis in a desolate landscape. Part manifesto, part memoir, and part record of some of Abd El-Fattah’s trial scenes that are more than worthy of Kafka, the book contains passages smuggled out from Cairo’s infamous Tora prison.”– Ruth Michaelson, The Guardian.
“Written with blood and fire, You Have Not Yet Been Defeated is a brilliant and devastating testament by one of Egypt’s great revolutionaries.”– Molly Crabapple.
This is scheduled to be a live/in-person program at Elliott Bay Book Company. Registration is optional.

Art Show: Shadow Time: Claire Cowie, Fay Jones, and Mary Ann Peters
2022-05-03 - 2022-06-26 | Studio E, 609 S Brandon St, Seattle, WA, 98108, United States
“Shadow Time: Claire Cowie, Fay Jones, and Mary Ann Peters” at studio e

May 3, 2022—June 26, 2022 | Reception Saturday, May 14th, 5-7PM at studio e in Georgetown, Seattle
James Harris Gallery in coordination with studio e is pleased to present a group exhibition titled “Shadow Time.” This cross-generational show features the work of three women who use personal histories as the thematic ideas for their work. “Shadow Time” explores aspects of memory and how it remains buried in the unconscious until a catalyst brings it to the fore. The three artists have deep connections to the Northwest, and have all worked individually with admiration for one another’s work. They share some commonality, but mostly each artist’s oeuvre is distinct. This show is the first time multiple works by Claire Cowie, Fay Jones and Mary Ann Peters will be on view together at studio e gallery.
studio e 609 S Brandon St, Seattle, WA 98108 (206) 762-3322 studioegallery.net

The Art of the Short Story: Small Odysseys (Zoom)
2022-05-03 17:30 - 19:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | WA
Small Odysseys celebrates the latest gems of contemporary short fiction–striking and joyful, the collection elucidates the character of the current literary landscape. Join Small Odysseys’ editor and contributors as they discuss this thrilling and impactful collection of works.

Authors participating include:
Edwidge Danticat, Omar El Akkad, Hannah Tinti, and J. Robert Lennon

Palestine Comfort Food at the Pantry
2022-05-04 18:00 - 21:00, 2022-05-06 10:00 - 13:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | the Pantry, 1417 NW 70th Street, Seattle, WA, 98117
When NADIA TOMMALIEH thinks back on the comforting dishes of her childhood, what comes to mind are hearty dishes that feed the whole family and keep them satisfied through the winter months. Join us in class to cook some of Nadia’s favorites along with her. On the menu: fattet hummus bil lahmeh (layered dish of brothy chickpeas, seasoned lamb, toasted pita, and tahini yogurt sauce); kibbet batata bil lahmeh (fried potato and bulgur wheat “kibbeh” stuffed with caramelized onions and minced lamb), salatah arabia (Arab-style salad with cucumbers, tomatoes, radishes, and mint in citrus olive oil dressing), and housset silik bil zeit (Swiss chard and olive oil stew with pomegranate molasses).

2022 Online Film and Discussion MidEast Series: Sumud
2022-05-06 20:00 - 21:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | WA
THE SPRING 2022 ONLINE FILM AND DISCUSSION SERIES

The theme for this year’s Film Series is Sumud. This is a Palestinian word that means “Steadfastness” or “Steadfast Perseverance.” It is a cultural value in Palestine. There is no possible way Palestinians can defend themselves in the face of one of the most well-equipped military powers in the world. They practice “sumud” which sometimes is an act of making breakfast, sometimes walking the children to the checkpoint on the way to school, sometimes, joining a peaceful protest at a blocked crossroad, just to say “We are here!”

In this series we will meet a young Israeli woman who also practices her own sumud as she resists joining the Israeli military. We will discover what sumud looks like in the devastation we call “Gaza”, and in the tragedy we call “Hebron.”

To receive links to the film (watch on your own time within 48 hours of the discussion) and the Zoom discussion, send a message to seattlemideastfocus@gmail.com

MAY 6, 8 P.M. (discussion)
LITTLE PALESTINE: DIARY OF A SEIGE
During the Syrian civil war, the district of Yarmouk, home to thousands of Palestinians, became the scene of dramatic and ferocious fighting. Little Palestine: Diary of a Siege is a film that follows the destiny of civilians during the brutal sieges, imposed by the Syrian regime, that took place in the wake of the battles. With his camera, Abdallah Al-Khatib composes a love song to a place that proudly resists the atrocities of war
Learn more here.
with host:
special guest:

MAY 20, 8 P.M. (discussion)
200 METERS
Mustafa lives on the Palestinian-controlled side of the wall, and Salwa and their children on the Israeli side. One day he gets the call every parent dreads: his son has been in an accident and is in the hospital. He will do anything to reach his son, and after being denied access through the checkpoint on a technicality, Mustafa embarks upon a journey to cross the border illegally.
Learn more here.
with host:
special guest:

Brunch on the Patio: Nineveh Assyrian Food Truck
2022-05-07 11:00 - 14:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Whitewood Cider Co., 728 4th Ave E, Olympia, WA, 98506, United States
Join us for Assyrian Brunch on the Patio with Chef Lisa David of Nineveh.
Event Link has menu details!
Date: Saturday May 7th at 11am
Only 18 spots available – email heather@whitewoodcider.com if you have seating preferences.
21+
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