ON March 8th, in celebration of International Women's Day 2000, the New York City
underground was sweeten ed with prose and poetry as the Asian American Writers' Workshop hosted the
first event in a potential monthly reading series that will sponsor the education of orphan girls.
The event was to benefit the Help the Afghan Children Inc's project to educate Kabul street children. The
program educates young girls while providing them with housing, food, clothing and land mine awareness lessons.
The following writers dedicated their talents at the workshop:
- Suheir Hammad, a New York City-based Palestinian-American poet, read her latest poems about women and survival. Her
first collection of poems, Born Palestinian, Born Black, and her memoir, Drops of This Story, were published in 1996.
- Bruna Mori, a widely published poet, freelance journalist, and writer for Razorfish.com, read a collection of abstract poems.
- Annemarie Kattan Jacir, a New York-based Palestinian filmmaker, award winning screenwriter, poet and activist read poetry that
dealt with the experience of Palestinian exiles and family.
- Zahera Saed read a few poems from a manuscript-in-progress that relates to the Soviet-Afghan war and the experience
of Afghan exiles.
- Meena Alexander, poet and author of most recently The Shock of Arrival: Reflections on Postcolonial Experience, River and
Bridge (poetry) and Manhattan Music: A Novel, read from her latest collection of poems.
- Tara Bahrampour, author of the memoir To See And See Again: A Life in Iran and America, and journalist for the New York Times,
closed the evening by reading excerpts from her book.
The audience welcomed the writers with a warm reception.
Audience member Ahimsa Timoteo Bodhran stated, "The program built bridges and acknowledged the linkage between Arab/Middle
Eastern people, South Asian people, and Asian people as a whole."
Barbara Nimri Aziz, producer of Radio Tahrir on 99.5FM WBAI radio, said: "A wonderful reading with some good strong sisters.
"There was a very special kind of audience with a special energy."
The success of this event would not have been possible without the generosity of the writers and organizations who donated their
talent and time and helped gather the audience.
A number of organizations helped with the event: Help the Afghan Children Inc. (HTACI), Virginia-based non-profit humanitarian
organization; the Afghan Women's Organization of San Diego; the Radius of Arab American Writers Inc., RAWI; the
South Asian Women's Creative Collective, SAWCC; Jeannie L.Wong, Administrative Director, and Quang Bao, Managing Director, of
the Asian American Writers' Workshop; the newly established Up-Set press; and Knightsbridge International, a nonprofit
organization dedicated to providing humanitarian assistance and disaster relief around the world,
presented a $360 check that will guarantee that one little girl will receive a year's worth of housing, food,
clothing, and an education.
Volunteers also aided with the night.
Mohsin Ali Jafri, Jawiaira Jilani, Charu Gupta, Sharif Saed, and Mrs. Saed who baked treats for the night; Robert
Booras, Executive Director of Up-Set press and editor/producer of the Sunset Park Art & Writing Newsletter (S.P.A.W.N)
for donating the profits from his literary zine to the benefit; and the necessary connections and support of Flouran
Wali.
All proceeds went to Help the Afghan Chidren Inc. For more information about HTACI, visit their website at www.htaci.com or email
Executive Director, Suraya Sadeed at HTACI@msn.com.
Anyone interested in either reading, performing or joining the monthly reading event, please e-mail Zahera Saed at:
guavamoon9@aol.com.
Other work by Zahera Saed:
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