2023: An Amazing Year Ahead

An amazing and productive year ahead! I am developing my first poetry manuscript and working on several short new memoir pieces. It will be filled with creativity and many new literary/artistic works. 

In March, I will be presenting at AWP literary conference (www.awpwriter.org) in Seattle on the panel “Formal Resistance: Mixed- Genre/Transgenre/Multimedia of Color In(ter)ventions.” There will be a powerhouse of artists presenting and I hope to see you there. 

Later in the year, I will be launching a new website that will include amazing Artists Resource Pages with free downloads to spark creativity! Made for literary artists, visual artists, and creatives of all kinds. Yes, resources at no cost! On the resource page, you will find specially designed journal pages that will tempt you to write when you are supposed to be doing something else. Yes, they are that good! Creative writing prompt worksheets will give you lots to contemplate. The downloads will not only inspire you to be creative but also get organized with creative calendars, timeline projectors and project listing forms. Not to mention, sharing my personal Spotify playlist for creatives to listen to while they are creating.

Other plans include:

 • Read and research creative structures for memoirs.

 • Complete the curation of historical items for the LGBTIQ archives donation.

 • Continue studying Palestinian Tatreez, an Indigenous Arab form of embroidery. 

• Adabiyat Book Club

 • Attend the OutSummit 2023 (Outright International https://outrightinternational.org/ )

 • And many other exciting activities, that I will announce as the plans become reality.

Thank you for letting me share this year with you. 

Closing Out the Year Strong!

In 2022, I had some awesome accomplishments! Even though life was very busy, I wrote several new poems, sent in several submissions for publication and continued studying Palestinian Tatreez (Indigenous Arab embroidery). 

The AWP literary conference (www.awpwriter.org) was held in March and I attended virtually. I was a presenter on the panel  “n/evergreen: Arab/Indigenous Ecopoesis & Environmental Literatures.”

President Biden signed into law that… April is now Arab American Heritage Month. I cried when I read the news. This is such a wonderful achievement that so many people worked hard to make a reality. For the first Arab American Heritage Month media campaign, the Radius of Arab American Writers, Inc. (www.rawiwriter.org) included one of my writing prompts in their promotions… what an honor.

 I enjoyed the Adabiyat Book Club and reading! I read many books this year. I joined the Shahrazad Squad; a group of creatives coming together to share stories, diasporic experiences, grow creative connections and empower activism. I look forward to doing more with them in the future.

In December, I attended the virtual global Outright Summit put on by Outright International, an organization advocating for human and civil rights for the international LGBTIQ community. What a hard-working organization. We heard from very courageous activists, from all over the globe, that are advocating for human rights and facing down violence to do so. Some of the presentations are available on the Outright International YouTube Channel. I highly recommend checking that out.

Throughout the year, I have been working on several projects and also have some literary work pending publication in 2023.

Thanks for checking out my blog. I hope you have a great rest of the year.